Auburn, ME – CMCC Women's Ice Hockey claimed its first win as an official member of the IWCHL Adirondack North division, beating UMaine 5-1 at Norway Savings Bank Arena on a game that was both the team's recognition of its graduating players and Youth Hockey Day. Kylee Spugnardi scored four goals to help lead the team to victory.
Before warm-ups, the team recognized the seven members of its graduating class. McKenna Ridlon, Taylor Gloria San Pedro, Claire Bath, Taylor Melvin, Tatum Hunt, Lauren Hanlon, and Kylee Spugnardi received a framed portrait and were brought onto the ice with their friends and family to take photos.
The emotion of the day carried over into a strong start from the Mustangs. Just 1:31 into the first period, Spugnardi put the hosts in front with the opening goal. The captain pounced on a loose puck after Boardman set up Zoe Trepaney in the left circle for a shot that went wide off the heel of her stick. That turned into an unintentional pass, finding Spugnardi all alone at the back post. She hammered it into the unguarded side of the net past a sprawling Lily Berard to make it 1-0.
A fortuitous bounce also helped CMCC score its second goal with 2:31 remaining in the frame. Mackenzie Grenier's shot from the right point deflected off UMaine player Clare MacDonald's skate. Spugnardi reacted quickly in the slot, snapping a backhand attempt into the bottom corner for a 2-0 lead heading into the second.
There was no let-off to start the middle frame. Spugnardi completed a natural hat-trick and scored her fourth goal of the game less than a minute into the period. The third goal came 11 seconds after the drop of the puck. Fiona Landry passed up the right-wing boards to Boardman, who fed a pass to the slot with Spugnardi driving towards the net. The Red Hornets co-op team product dove headfirst and redirected the puck towards the net, poking it past Berard as the goaltender slid across the crease.
The fourth goal, 24 seconds later, came from Gernier and Zoe Trepaney. Spugnardi took the puck in the right circle, set her sights, and buried a wrister over the blocker and up under the crossbar for a 4-0 lead.
The game was all but sewed up before the intermission when Hanlon made it 5-0. The other Central Maine captain scored her first of the year with 1:50 left on the clock. San Pedro got the puck over to Landry, with the defenseman lugging it all the way from her own zone to set up her blue line partner at the right point. Hanlon glided down the slot before sniping a shot through traffic past the screened netminder.
In the Mustangs goal, Tatum Hunt made her return to the ice after suffering an injury in the team's second game of the year. The former Lewiston Blue Devil turned in a great performance, stopping several breakaway chances from Breanna Reneau. However, she had her shutout spoiled by the UMaine forward in the third period. Reneau deked her way free to the right circle and put her shot just off the goaltender's pads and in at the 4:31 mark.
That would prove to be the only goal of the period, as the Mustangs hung on for their third win of the campaign. Hunt finished with 25 saves to move to 2-1-0 on the year, while Berard made 17 stops for UMaine. Spugnardi's scoring outburst gave her 11 goals in 11 games with three contests remaining. Neither team received a power play opportunity after the only penalties late in the third were offsetting, with Grenier and Sami Malley receiving roughing and game misconduct penalties for a skirmish in the corner.
