Edward Little’s Ben Lane-Robichaud and St. Dominic’s William Fletcher battle for control of the puck during Wednesday night’s hockey game in Auburn. (Sun Journal photo by Andree Kehn)

AUBURN — The lone goal of Wednesday night’s rivalry matchup between Edward Little and St. Dominic Academy happened early enough that the importance of the goal wasn’t so obvious when it went in.

But as time went on, that one goal grew in importance, and it proved to be the only one the Red Eddies needed to win the Class A North boys’ hockey clash, 1-0, at Norway Savings Bank Arena.

Ben Lane-Robichaud took a rebound of Will Cassidy’s wide shot and slipped it into the open net 5:10 into the game. It came on the Red Eddies’ (6-3) first shot on goal of the contest.

“I had told my assistants, I said, ‘You know, getting that first goal would be huge for us tonight. If we can get that first goal, you know, it will energize.’ And we needed that,” EL coach Norm Gagne said. “I wanted them to play with energy. We played with a lot of energy tonight. And we played the body, which we didn’t do last game, and that makes the difference.”

The Saints (5-3) outshot EL 8-5 in the first period, but that advantage slowly turned the other way as the game grew on. The shots were closer after two periods, with St. Dom’s holding a 13-12 edge.

“You know, as the time goes on it gets more crucial, and everything seems to be more important. Which it does, especially when you’re down 1-0. But the kids battled,” said St. Dom’s coach Bob Parker, who noted his team was playing shorthanded by three players. “I mean, the shots that we took, quite a bit of them missed the net. The ones that did find the target were close, but not close enough.”

The close misses were loud for the Saints. Dominic Chasse rang a post in the first, and Jacob Lewis hit another 30 seconds into the second. Lewis fired a shot off the frame again in the third.

“Just hockey, sometimes you need a little bounce, and I think we hit like three pipes tonight. We didn’t just catch a break,” Parker said. “Sometimes you have to earn your breaks, though, you can’t be just given them.”

The shots that did make it inside the target were all stopped by former Saints goalie Devon D’Auteuil, who made 15 saves in net for EL.

“D’Auteuil played a hell of a game,” Gagne said. “D’Auteuil played — you couldn’t ask for a better performance from a goaltender. And he stepped up his game and came up big for us tonight.”

The Saints had one last chance to tie the game when they went on the power play with 1:03 left. They pulled the goalie to give themselves a two-man advantage, and Parker used his timeout.

But the closest they got was a Derek Wolverton point shot off the post with 13 seconds left that the Red Eddies eventually cleared away for good.

“I think that we showed a lot of grit in that last minute-and-three, when you’re going 6-on-4, and those guys busted their butts to get that puck out and do the things they did,” Gagne said.

Gaston Fuksa stopped 20 of 21 shots in goal for the Saints.

wkramlich@sunjournal.com

Edward Little’s Ben Lane-Robichaud and St. Dominic’s William Fletcher race for control of the puck during Wednesday night’s hockey game in Auburn. (Sun Journal photo by Andree Kehn)

St. Dominic’s Dominic Chasse looks to the goal during Wednesday night’s hockey game in Auburn. (Sun Journal photo by Andree Kehn)