AUBURN — St. Dominic Academy girls’ hockey team had its normal start Monday. The Saints started out slow, but the offense picked up as the game went on in a 6-0 victory over Falmouth at Norway Savings Bank Arena.

The game was a battle between the top teams in the state — the Saints are the No. 1 seed in the North, and the Yachtsmen hold that same distinction in the South. The win improves the Saints to 13-0, while Falmouth drops to 11-3 on the year.

“It usually takes us a couple shifts for us to get warmed up,” St. Dom’s coach Paul Gosselin said. “It’s very much the norm for us to get warmed up. Once we get going, the floodgates seem to open.”

The Saints have now outscored their opponents 117-12, and Monday was their fifth shutout of the season.

Bugsy Hammerton had an assist on all three goals of Kristina Cornelio’s natural hat trick, and the pair each had three points to lead the Saints. The other player on the line, Avery Lutrzykowski, had two goals and an assist.

“With that group, usually when one scores the other two gets a little more motivated,” Gosselin said. “They picked the pace up and, like I said, when they work hard, things usually happen.”

Isabel Frenette started the scoring for the Saints 2:53 into the game when she picked up a loose puck in front of the crease.

Falmouth goalie Ally Hurdman kept the game 1-0 for almost the remainder of the first period. She was at her best after Sarah Noyes went to the box for slashing. Hurdman kept St. Dom’s off the board by making four big time saves on the Saints’ power play. It was the only power play of the contest.

Hurdman made 35 saves in the game.

“Ally is an exceptional goalie, great talent,” Falmouth coach Rob Carrier said. “Pretty much any game we step onto the ice, we will get good goaltending. It’s been like that all year long, this is her fourth year starting. So, it’s easy to overlook what she gives us, but what she gives us is a chance to win every game.”

With 26 seconds remaining in the opening period, Cornelio potted her first goal of the game as the Saints went into the intermission with a 2-0 lead.

She unleashed a shot from the slot to notch her second goal of the game 3:14 into the second period.

“I think today was a test of where we rank against teams in the south,” Cornelio said. “I think we got the answer we were looking for. We definitely have things we need to work on and there’s always room for improvement. I think it will be getting past the defensemen and move the puck like we did today.”

The Saints scored two more times late in the second period in a 53-second span. Cornelio completed the natural hat trick at the 11:57 mark. Lutrzykowski, who picked up the secondary assist on Cornelio’s third goal of the afternoon, scored an unassisted effort at the 12:50 mark.

The second period was the turning point, according to Carrier.

“To play anything less than a perfect game would lead to being a long day for us,” Carrier said. “We kind of let it get away from us in the second period; I thought that was where the game really took a turn for St. Dom’s. Going forward, we have to make sure we don’t get into a lull like that.”

The Yachtsmen played better in the third as Saints goalie Payton Winslow needed to make five of her eight saves in the final 15 minutes.

“I want to give a shoutout to my defensemen, they did an excellent job today,” Gosselin said. “There’s a goose egg up there for a reason, they didn’t have many shots. I thought they played the puck well defensively. They moved the puck to the forwards very well. They did a good job.”

Lutrzykowski capped the scoring with 34 seconds remaining in the game, with Frenette picking up the lone assist.

nfournier@sunjournal.com