WATERVILLE — The Edward Little/Leavitt/Poland girls ice hockey team arrived at Colby College’s Alfond Rink just 20 minutes before taking the ice to play Winslow/Gardiner. As it turned out, the Red Hornets didn’t need much time to warm up.

The Red Hornets scored a pair of goals in the first seven minutes of the game and cruised to the 7-0 win in the season opener for both teams.

The Hornets first goal came on a power play, when Mariah Vaillancourt put home a rebound at 3:41 of the first. At the 6:06 mark of the period, Vaillancourt fed a nice pass to Madison Simard on a 2 on 1 break, and Simard went high for the 2-0 lead.

The Hornets added two more goals in the second period, with Kaylee Younk’s power play goal on a shot from the point giving them a 4-0 lead late in the period.

“It was a fast-paced game. We stayed with them. Penalties killed us, but that’s something you have to work on,” Winslow/Gardiner coach Chris Downing said.

The Black Tigers are in their first season as a coop team. With the closing of Sukee Arena, ice time is at a premium, and condensed practices have made it tough to work on everything, Downing said.

“We’re getting to know each other,” Downing said.

The Red Hornets added three goals in the third period for the final margin of victory, including two goals in a 24-second span to push the lead to 6-0. Simard’s second goal of the game capped the scoring at 9:44 of the third. Manny Guimond made 14 saves for the shutout.

Cassandra Demers made 23 stops for the Black Tigers.

“This was (Demers’) first varsity game, so I’m pretty impressed with that,” Downing said. “We’ve got to shoot the puck more, and we will.”

Travis Lazarczyk — 861-9242

tlazarczyk@centralmaine.com

Twitter: @TLazarczykMTM