LEWISTON — Rarely did Cape Elizabeth/Waynflete/South Portland allow an open shot from the slot during the girls’ hockey state championship game Saturday.
When Lewiston’s Leah Dube found herself in that position in overtime, the freshman forward did what was natural and fired the puck toward the net.
Dube delivered for the Blue Devils, scoring 1:58 into overtime to lift Lewiston to a 1-0 victory at the Androscoggin Bank Colisee.
“I knew that I had to be the one to put the puck in the net. That was my spot,” Dube said.
The state championship is Lewiston’s third, and is particularly sweet after the Blue Devils fell in last year’s state final despite taking an unbeaten record into the game.
“It feels amazing because we were all so upset (after last year’s loss),” Lewiston sophomore Leah Landry said. “This year, we knew that we had to win because we didn’t want to repeat what we did last year.”
Landry set up Dube’s winner with a feed into the slot from behind the net. Dube fired the puck past goalie Katharine Blackburn to give the Blue Devils (20-0-1) their first state title since 2015.
“I knew they thought that I was going to go all the way around (the boards), so instead I stopped and passed it straight back to Leah, who was standing in front. I was hoping that she would put it in,” Landry said. “I was actually really surprised (she was open), but I saw her out of the corner of my eye and I knew that I had to pass it right away.”
The Capers (14-6-1) were denied their first state championship in their first title game appearance. But they gave the Blue Devils everything they could handle, and even outshot Lewiston 20-18 in regulation.
“We were putting a lot of shots on net,” Capers Coach Bob Mills said. “I don’t think we were quite as quick on the rebounds as we would have liked to have been. And it would have been nice to have some odd-player rushes going back, but Lewiston rarely gives those up. And Camree (St. Hilaire) is a good goalie, so credit to her.”
Lewiston Coach Ron Dumont said the 20 shots on goal were probably the most his team faced all year, but St. Hilaire “showed what she’s all about.”
The Capers couldn’t convert on six power-play chances, including the final 2:56 of a five-minute major to start the third period. The Blue Devils went 0 for 3 on the power play.
Even when it was 5-on-5, Lewiston wasn’t able to produce offensively like it had the entire season. Dumont said the Capers had a “wonderful game plan” and they executed it.
“We tried to clog up the middle of the ice a little bit,” Mills said. “They’re very fast, so we tried to negate their speed through the neutral zone, and I thought it worked pretty effectively.”
But one “split second” of an opening, according to Dumont, was all the Blue Devils needed, and Landry and Dube took advantage for the winning goal.
St. Hilaire stopped all 20 shots she faced for her 16th shutout of the season. Blackburn made 19 saves.
The teams had combined to score 205 goals entering the game.
“The end of any season hurts, especially when you lose in overtime,” Mills said. “But the girls played a great game. We got nothing to hang our heads about. I don’t think anyone thought that any team would take Lewiston into overtime at zeroes.”
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