LEWISTON —The winless record for the Greely girls’ hockey team was a bit deceiving.

Despite having no wins in their first two outings, the Rangers didn’t exactly have the easiest of schedules. Starting with Winslow and then St. Dom’s, Greely played the two top teams in the current Eastern standings to kickoff this season.

“There were two 6-5 losses and both games it was a late goal that beat us,” said Greely coach Nate Guerin. “The record wasn’t necessarily reflective of the work they’ve been putting in.”

Wednesday night, there was nothing deceiving about the Rangers’ effort. Greely scored four goals in the first period and barely looked back in a 7-2 win over Lewiston.

“It’s a little bit of a monkey off our backs,” said Guerin. “Now that that’s out of the way, maybe we can get to work and try to get in a little groove here.”

C.C. Hodgkins scored three goals while Meg Finlay had three assists for Greely. Megan Labbe added a  goal and a pair of assists.

Lewiston (1-2-1) got a goal and assist from Sara Marden.

“We talked going in that Greely was as honest a team as you’re going to find,” said Lewiston coach Ron Dumont. “They roll three lines or better. All their kids are tenacious. They’re a very clean hockey team and they play the way you’re supposed to.”

Lewiston struggled against Greely’s consistent offensive attack. The Rangers controlled the puck and were able to set up countless chances for much of the game. Lewiston goalie Sarah Turner made some fine saves but faced just too much pressure to keep the Rangers at bay completely.

“I told the girls that they’re going to be right on top of you and they don’t give up,” said Dumont. “We need to get acclimated to the speed and when they’re going to contest you every time you touch the puck.”

Greely (1-2) scored twice in the first 2:22. The first goal came from at 1:06. A shot was saved Turner. Hodgkins tipped in the rebound past the outstretched arm and glove of a sprawled Turner.

Then at 2:22, Finlay dished a pass through the slot to Etta Copenhagen at the left side. She had an open net and didn’t miss for the quick 2-0 lead.

Greely made it 3-0 with 3:55 left when Labbe dug the puck out of the corner and fed Hodgkins in front for a one-timer. Then Mikaela Finnegan wristed a loose puck upstairs with 1:30 left to make it 4-0.

“They were emotionally pretty pumped up and ready to go tonight,” said Guerin. “It showed right from the start.”

Lewiston got on the board with 15 seconds left in the first when Marden’s shot from the neutral zone appeared to be headed wide but went in off goalie Maggie Bower.

Greely outshot Lewiston 20-5 in the first period, but the Blue Devils settled down and made it pretty much a 2-2 game the rest of the way. The shots were 16-7 the last two periods, in favor of Greely.

“We’re a young team with a few veteran kids and a lot of new kids,” said Dumont. “It’s a learning process. Once we try to master that and weather that storm, maybe instead of three or four goals we allow only one or none. “

The Rangers made it 5-1 just 3:59 into the second when Hodgkins netted the hat trick with a backhander of a loose puck at the right circle.

Lewiston answered that at 4:57 when Marden set up a Natalie Rousseau goal. Greely added a Delaney Curtin wrister 1:30 into the third to make it 6-2. The Rangers added a late goal  by Labbe with nine seconds left.

“I’m proud of the kids,” said Dumont. “I told them to try to keep this reasonable and try to find small victories.  We played it pretty much 2-2 the rest of the way. So I’m not entirely disappointed.”

kmills@sunjournal.com