Maine Hockey Journal

St Dom’s defeats Scarborough for girls’ state championship

(PHOTO: RAM Sport)

(PHOTO: RAM Sport)

LEWISTON – The Saints of St. Dominic’s Academy claimed their second state title Saturday night with a thrilling 2-1 victory against the Scarborough Red Storm at the Androscoggin Bank Colisee.

Two power-play goals in the third period claimed the comeback victory for St. Dom’s.

Down 1-0 from a goal in the first period by the Red Storm, Kristina Cornelio caught a pass from Avery Lutraykowski and fired a shot in the bottom-right corner of the goal. The goal came with 12:50 remaining in the third period.

On another power play with under six minutes to go, Izzy Frenette carried the puck into the offensive zone and saw a spot open between the post and the Scarborough goaltender. Frenette shot the puck exactly where it needed to go to take a 2-1 lead.

“I knew that if I put it on net that it would either go in or there would be a rebound,” said Frenette.

With a one-goal lead and time running out, the Saints committed a checking from behind penalty that resulted in a 5-minute power play for Scarborough. The Red Storm got just two shots on goal before they sent a player of their own to the box to negate the man advantage.

The power play continued for Scarborough with 51 seconds remaining in the game, but it didn’t give them enough time to get a shot to tie it.

With just one penalty called in the first two periods, the third period saw four penalties, one of which a five-minute major.

“I thought the refereeing was inconsistent, which I think it’s been inconsistent for the entire year,” said Scarborough’s head coach Caitlin Cashman. “St. Dom’s could handle the aggressiveness. we couldn’t handle the aggressiveness.”

The young Saints team, consisting of 12 underclassmen and three upperclassmen, certainly didn’t fold under pressure. They played much of the game down by a goal but ended up outshooting Scarborough 25-10.

“It’s unbelievable,” said Paul Gosselin, head coach of the Saints. “It’s not usual that you have a team that comes in that strong a talent and with that great result, but you saw that tonight.”

Sami Shoebottom, the glue that solidifies the offensive power for the Red Storm, got the first shot on goal for her squad with 3:02 remaining in the first. Like many times before for Shoebottom, the puck went in the top right corner of the goal to give her team a 1-0 lead.

Shoebottom chipped the puck out of her defensive zone and shadowed the defenseman for the Saints. With the puck along the sideboards, Shoebottom won the battle and skated to the left of the St. Dom’s goalie. She fired the shot from the left faceoff dot to give her team the lead.

The Saints, dressed in their home white uniforms, maintained resilient offensive pressure in the first period. They piled 10 shots on goal but couldn’t solve Scarborough’s goaltender McKenzie Cormier.

“Our defensive unit and out goaltender, I thought they all kind of stood on top of their heads tonight,” said Cashman of her team’s defensive performance.

Cormier, a junior for the Red Storm, came up big in all three periods. With less than 30 seconds to go in the second period, St. Dom’s Bugsy Hammerton had a breakaway opportunity denied by the goaltender. Hammerton did her best to get Cormier out of position but was stymied by the goalie’s right pad on the right-to-left fake.

Payton Winslow, a junior goaltender for the Saints, shut down the Red Storm after allowing a goal on the first shot.

You must be logged in to post a comment Login