Maine Hockey Journal

St. Dom’s tallies late goal to knock off undefeated Greely

(PHOTO: RAM Sport)

(PHOTO: RAM Sport)

LEWISTON – Avery Lutraykowski’s late-game heroics forced a 5-4 victory for the St. Dominic Academy Saints over the Greely Rangers in the North Regional Final at the Androscoggin Bank Colisee Wednesday night.

The Saints move on to play the South Region winner Scarborough Red Storm in Saturday’s state championship game at the Colisee.

With 03.7 seconds remaining in the third period with the game tied, Lutraykowski received a pass from Izzy Frenette to the right of the Greely’s goaltender Veronica Todd and fired a shot over Todd’s glove in and into the net.

“It was a team effort,” said Lutraykowski. “The defense passed it up to the forward, and one of the forwards came down and passed it over, and I hit it in. All I thought about was getting it into the net.”

Lutraykowski’s go-ahead goal was preceded by a game-tying goal for the Greely Rangers with just 43.4 seconds showing on the clock.

With the goalie on the bench for an extra attacker, Emilee McGillicuddy was fed a pass through the crease by Courtney Sullivan and dunked the puck into the corner of the goal.

The back-and-forth game inevitably seemed as though it would need overtime to be decided, but Lutraykowski and the Saints had other thoughts.

The game started heavily in Greely’s favor after Danita Storey put two goals on the board in the first period to take a 2-0 lead into the locker room.

5:08 into the game, Storey collected the puck on the sideboards and shielded the puck from the nagging defensemen. Storey curled towards the goalie and backhanded a puck between the leg pads of Payton Winslow.

Just over five minutes later, Storey tucked the puck into the goal again. With Winslow slightly off of the left post, Storey swung the puck around the back of the goal to hit the open spot.

Both goals for Storey were unassisted.

The Saints wouldn’t have any defensive lapses in the second period as they rallied back to take the lead on three consecutive goals.

“I told them on the bench the goals will come. Keep working hard and it will pay off, and it did,” said Paul Gosselin, head coach of the Saints.

Izzy Frenette, who fed Lutraykowski the puck for the game-winning goal, fought for the puck in her offensive zone and wheeled a puck towards the Greely goalie. The shot had eyes, and the puck crossed the goal line.

Down now by just a goal, Frenette put home a rebound in the slot. Lutraykowski skated in on a 2-on-1 and fired an unsuccessful attempt on goal. With players scrambling out front of the goal, Frenette lifted the shot over the pile of players and into the goal.

Lutraykowski, who seemed to have a knack for scoring with seconds remaining, got a breakaway goal with 16.2 seconds remaining in the second period.

With a Saint and a Ranger tied up on the boards in the Greely offensive zone, Lutraykowski picked the puck up and skated in on Veronica Todd. Lutraykowski faked a backhand shot and sent the puck around a sprawling Todd with the forehand.

The Rangers came out of the locker room in the third period with a rehabilitated mindset and a fresh sheet of ice, hoping to forget the period before.

Greely’s Ellie Schad boosted the confidence of the Rangers 20 seconds into the third period when she weaved around the defense and flipped the puck over Winslow’s glove.

Both teams would battle the remainder of the third period tied at 3, but Bugsy Hammerton’s backhanded shot gave the Saints the lead with 2:34 remaining. Frenette shifted the puck across the crease to Hammerton, who redirected it into the goal.

Though the Rangers were able to tie it with under a minute to go, they weren’t able to force the overtime to give their team a chance at victory.

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