AUBURN — Kyle Holtet made it look easy.

For much of Wednesday’s hockey game, the shots were plentiful but the goals were not.

But when the Saints junior forward broke the tie with a well-placed wrister midway through the final period, it opened the offense. The Saints scored four goals in the final eight minutes of play to beat Waterville 5-1.

“Brad Berube had a burst of speed coming over the red line,” said Holtet. “He kind of lost it. I picked it up and fired it.”

The Saints had outshot Waterville 7-1 to open the period at that point. Holtet’s shot beat Panther goalie Cody Thibodeau high and inside the right post.

From there, the Saints didn’t look back and rarely missed. That goal came with 8:15 remaining. St. Dom’s scored three more times, all in the span of 31 seconds.

“It did take a while,” said St. Dom’s coach Steve Ouellette. “Obviously, their goalie was having a great night. It took a little while and made me a little nervous. Even though we played some exhibitions, we still had guys that were acting a little nervous out there at times.”

Holtet finished with a goal and an assist as did Troy Haefele in St. Dom’s season opener. Chris Tarr had a pair of assists while Spencer Martin, Danny Nadeau and Calvin Stewart all had goals.

“The first two periods we came out a little slow,” said Holtet. “We came out in the third period and the last 10 minutes, we really picked up our game and played as a team.”

Waterville was coming off a 6-0 loss to Lewiston and found itself hemmed in for the first 90 seconds of the game. The Purple Panthers started to even out play and skated with the Saints the rest of the first period.

St. Dom’s took the lead with 1:02 left in the first when Will Desmarais blasted a shot from the point. It was saved and Martin put in the rebound in front.

Though the Saints outshot Waterville 12-6 in the first and 12-7 in the second, St. Dom’s couldn’t add to the lead.

“We were pounding them with shots the whole game,” said Holtet. “Their goalie played fairly well. We just couldn’t put the puck away.”

It was Waterville that scored in the second thanks to a great effort by J.T. Whitten. He stole the puck at center ice and battled two Saints defenders for it. After Waterville turned that effort into a shot on St. Dom’s goalie Austin Christopher, Whitten popped in the rebound with 7:35 left in the second.

Waterville even had a late power play in the second and got a nice bid by Dalton Denis that Christopher saved. The Saints had a power play to start the third. Though St. Dom’s didn’t score on it, it set the tone for the pressure to come.

After Holtet broke the tie, Nadeau put in the rebound of a Haefele shot. Then Haefele and Stewart added goals to break it open.

“We obviously had more than 40 shots,” said Ouellette. “The offense wasn’t a problem. The defense wasn’t really a problem. It was just Waterville hanging around and that’s what they do.

“It’s a relief to get that first one. I was pleased on the night. The boys worked hard.”

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