Edward Little’s Colin Merritt and Portland/Deering’s Nicholas Becker jostle to gain access to the puck during Monday afternoon’s game in Auburn. Portland’s Carlos Braceras follows the play from the right. Andree Kehn/Sun Journal Buy this Photo

After his team’s fourth straight one-goal loss, Edward Little coach Norm Gagne said the focus was only going to be on the positives, and that he and his coaching staff needed to stay patient. 

What followed was the Red Eddies’ first and only blowout loss — to rival Lewiston — then five more defeats by two goals or less, including two in overtime. The final loss in that string was another one to Lewiston, albeit by a much closer score (4-2).

That gap in competitiveness with arguably the best team in the state prompted Gagne to say that the Red Eddies “can play with anyone.” 

“We’ve got seven more games, and I think we can win all seven, that’s the way I look at it,” Gagne said after the second Lewiston loss. “But we got to take it one at a time and get better.” 

Three games into those seven, and Gagne’s optimistic outlook has rang true. The Red Eddies (4-10) find themselves on a three-game winning streak, the most recent victory coming against South Portland/Freeport/Waynflete, which is currently in fourth place in the Class A standings. 

“It really started with the Lewiston game, we played hard, we picked up our game and I told them that,” Gagne said after beating Portland/Deering in the middle of the current streak. “I know we lost, but we are doing some good things and I see some good things in the future. It paid off, these last two games we have certainly built off that Lewiston game.”  

Part of the recent boon has come from the Red Eddies being better at crashing the net.

“We missed a lot of opportunities because we weren’t going to the net,” Gagne said. “Good things happen when you go to the net, and that’s what we are trying to do in practice, is for us to see the shot and the other (players) go to the net. We aren’t a fancy team where we are going to go out and create scoring (opportunities), we got to get dirty goals — our dirty goals have to come from going to the net. I think we have gotten a lot hungrier in the last three games, and that’s why we are where we are right now.”  

Also, the players are starting to buy in to what the coaching staff is teaching. 

“We are starting to play in the system coach Gagne set out for us,” EL forward Jack Keefe said. “We are getting momentum from putting the puck in the net.” 

Despite all that positive momentum, the Red Eddies have only moved up one spot in the Heal point standings during their win streak, from 12th to 11th out of 13 teams.

But their is reason for more optimism in the final four games. After facing Class B contender Yarmouth on the road Saturday, Edward Little will play its last three games at home. Those will be against Bangor (which EL lost in overtime to on the road); Biddeford/Massabesic/Old Orchard Beach (which EL beat to start the current win streak); and Falmouth, which has been up and down this season, with a 6-6-1 record. 

SAINTS SHOW SUPPORT, THEN SPIRIT 

When the final member of St. Dom’s first state championship team died last week, all of the current St. Dom’s players (many who were on last year’s title-winning team) showed up to his wake to show their support and honor a former Saint. 

St. Dom’s coach Dan D’Auteuil said the team attended the late Gerard “Gerry” Berube’s wake “all dressed in their state championship jackets” on Wednesday. 

“The family was so impressed and said that Gerry would have been ecstatic,” D’Auteuil said. “It was the second wake they have been to in the last two weeks. One of their teammates (Murphy Randall) lost his godfather, Ray Champagne, to an early heart attack. I have been impressed at how they have handled the wakes for such young kids. Then they played a great game in the battle of last year’s state champions, for Class A and B.” 

Yes, the Saints (10-4) then had to switch into game mode and face defending Class B state champion Greely. D’Auteuil said he thought his team “came out flying and probably played our best first two periods of the year.” 

St. Dom’s gave up two goals in the third period but was able to hold on for the 5-3 victory, one of its biggest of the season. 

ROLL IN THE POLL 

The win over Greely was such a big one for St. Dom’s that it helped the team make a huge jump in the Varsity Maine Top 5 poll. The Saints weren’t in the top five a week ago, but they broke back in this week, and are tied for second with the Rangers behind only undefeated Lewiston (15-0-0). 

Still unbeaten Hampden Academy (10-0-2) of Class B North is in fourth for the second straight week, and Scarborough (8-4-1) rounds out the top five, after being in third last week. 

The victory also boosted the Saints into second place in the Class A Heal point standings. The top four teams will receive a bye into the quarterfinals. 

Sun Journal staff writer Nathan Fournier contributed to this story.