Girls hockey: Lewiston/Oak Hill ekes out win over rival Edward Little/Leavitt/Poland

AUBURN — If you don’t succeed, try again.

Lewiston/Oak Hill freshman Kylie Dulac was stopped on a wrap-around attempt in the second period, but she scored on another opportunity late in the third period to give the Blue Devils a 3-2 girls hockey win over rival Edward Little/Leavitt on Wednesday.

Dulac said she made an adjustment on her second attempt.

“I worked on bringing it around faster, keeping it closer to my toe and stick,” Dulac said. “Honestly, I think it went in the same direction and I think it hit off one of the girls skates.”

Red Hornets coach Dana Berube said he wished he took a timeout just before the goal was scored.

“I don’t know if it went off one of our players’ stick or skate, but give them credit … she was a factor all night,” Berube said of Dulac.

The goal came with 1:37 remaining in the game. It was Dulac’s second point of the game.

“She doesn’t get discouraged,” Lewiston coach Scott Laberge said. “I told her, ‘If you have a good shot take it.’ She has a good hockey IQ.”

Laberge said the Blue Devils’ play improved throughout the contest.

“A little tighter than we were hoping for,” Lewiston coach Scott Laberge said, “We came out a little flat in the first period and let them get a lead on us. We didn’t play particularly well, but the effort was there, but the decision-making was not adequate. Definately improved from the second period on, and I thought they improved the last two periods in making the right decisions.”

Kylee Spugnardi scored both Red Hornets’ (6-10) goals.

“She has all the skill in the world and it worked out well for her,” Berube said. “She has been the leader of the team for several years. She takes on a lot of pressure on herself and we have talked to her to free her mind up.”

The two teams struggled to get any offense going early in the first period, with both icing the puck multiple times.

Midway through the first, Red Hornets defenseman Avery Cologna banked a pass off the boards to Spugnardi, who got behind the Lewiston defense and beat Lewiston goalie Tatum Hunt (18 saves) with a wrist shot.

“I thought she got her head up, and we have been working on trying to come up ice — that was a good tap-to-tape pass,” Berube said of Cologna’s pass. “Kylee went down and finished.”

The Blue Devils (10-7) had a power play late in the period but didn’t generate any shots on goal.

Lewiston went shorthanded early in the second period, but Crew Langeley and Kylie Dulac both chased down the puck in the offensive zone and Langeley, with Dulac providing a little screen, fired a shot past Red Hornets goalie Izzy Jalbert (19 saves).

“I wasn’t trying to do that,” Dulac said of setting up a screen. “I lost the puck and it ended up going straight to where Crew’s stick was. She had a great shot to put it in the back of the net.”

Spugnardi scored her second goal of the game when she generated speed at the Red Hornets’ defensive blue line and cruised through the neutral zone untouched. She was all alone in the offensive zone and ripped a shot past Hunt for a 2-1 lead 5:31 into the second.

Lewiston/Oak Hill’s Taylor Melvin evened the game a minute or so later with a shot from the slot.

Spugnardi went for the hat trick midway through the third period, but her shot was stopped by Hunt. That scoring chance came after the Blue Devils had a few chances on a power play.

“She had a couple of (saves) where she was in the right position,” Laberge said of Hunt. “There was a couple of them where I thought they were going in, and she got something on them. She did a great job. From Day 1 we thought it was going to be a long season, and she has improved 100 percent from the beginning of the year.”

Lewiston kept the puck in its offensive zone for a good portion of the third period but didn’t create any grade-A opportunities. The Red Hornets had two opportunities late in the game to break the deadlock, but they came up empty.

“I thought there was pressure at the beginning of the game, and going into the third with a 2-2 tie wasn’t the best,” Dulac said. “There was more pressure towards the end of the game.”