AUBURN — A spectacular first period from Edward Little senior goalie Devin Dumont was just enough to thwart a determined Cony/Monmouth/Hall-Dale comeback in the third period of the Class A North high school hockey quarterfinals Tuesday night at Norway Savings Bank Arena.
Dumont withstood a Cony/Monmouth/Hall-Dale barrage in the first period and made 24 saves overall to lead No. 3 Edward Little to a 4-3 win over the sixth-seeded Rams.
“My goaltender came up big in the first period,” Edward Little coach Craig Latuscha said. “They came out flying and he made some big saves. We were able to capitalize all day on the opportunities that we got.”
Edward Little (11-8-0) will face No. 2 St. Dominic in the semifinals at the Androscoggin Bank Colisee in Lewiston on Saturday. Cony/Monmouth/Hall-Dale ends its season 12-7-0.
Liam Benson scored two goals for the Red Eddies. Bret Sproul scored twice for the Rams, who held a 27-8 advantage in shots.
Trailing 3-0 after two periods, Sproul got the Rams on the board 3:54 into the third by collecting a loose puck in the slot and flipping it over Dumont’s glove.
Benson answered 23 seconds later with his second goal, which proved to be key after Sproul squirted his second goal under Dumont’s left leg at 8:18 and Anthony Brunelle made it 4-3 when he scored off a rebound of a Cameron Wilson shot with 4:49 remaining.
“I’m real proud of the way we came back,” Rams coach Chad Foye said. “We got a couple of breaks here and there that we didn’t get in the first two periods. We had all kinds of opportunities in front. It just never fell for us.”
Dumont was a big reason for that. The Rams put up 11 shots to the Eddies’ three in the first period, including two empty net chances that didn’t find the net.
One shot went wide of the net. Dumont dove to deflect the other with his stick to preserve a 1-0 EL lead midway through the first.
Ben Steele gave the Eddies the 1-0 lead, converting on a two-on-one with Ryan Raby from the left circle at 8:17 of the first. Colby Bilodeau made it 2-0 just 1:39 into the second off of Raby’s second assist.
Benson scored his first with a backhander at 11:56 of the second to make it 3-0.
“Liam got a couple of nice goals,” Latuscha said. “He’s the heart and soul of the team. Beginning of the season, throughout the season, he isn’t putting those pucks in the net. He shows up when it’s on the line.”
Officials only whistled three penalties through the first two periods, but the teams skated four-on-four for 18 seconds late in the third before a hooking call on the Eddies kicked in for the final 1:19. Foye called a time out and pulled goalie Thomas Small, giving the Rams a six-on-four but they weren’t able to test Dumont one last time.
“I’m very pleased overall,” Foye said. “From beginning to end (of the season), I thought we came together as a team really well. I thought everybody improved. We played smarter hockey towards the end of the year and did better moving without the puck. There are a lot of little things we did better at the end of the year and improved on, which is the goal every year, but it just wasn’t enough tonight.”
Randy Whitehouse — 621-5638
rwhitehouse@mainetoday.com
Twitter: @RAWmaterial33
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