They’ve been picked as the favorite to repeat as Division II State champs, and by the look at things so far, there seems to be little doubt as to why.

After squeaking by Walpole, 4-3, in its season opener, the Duxbury girls’ hockey team got back to form last week with a 10-1 trouncing of Pembroke/Whitman-Hanson and a convincing 7-2 win over Canton last Wednesday night on the road. Now sporting a 3-0 record, the Lady Dragons get a week off before they take on Falmouth next Wednesday afternoon at 5 p.m. at The Bog.

It was all Duxbury early in the first period of last week’s win over Canton, as they dominated the first three minutes of the game with Canton hardly getting out of its own end.

The Bulldogs did manage to get the game’s first power-play chance at the 5:29 mark, forcing goaltender Rachel Myette to make her first save of the game with 5:18 left in the period.

Duxbury continued to pressure the Canton defense and it finally paid off two minutes later when senior captain Martha Findley buried her shot just under the crossbar to give her team a 1-0 lead with 3:22 to go.

The shot total continued to mount for Duxbury as they peppered Canton goalie Emily Buckley, and their lead grew more comfortable when senior Colleen Leddie went in alone on the Canton net and lifted a backhander into the far right corner for a 2-0 lead.

Canton wasn’t about to sit back and let the Lady Dragons run away with things in the second period, as Haley Gaughan fired a high-rising wrist shot into the top corner to cut Duxbury’s lead to 2-1 less than a minute into the period.

It didn’t take long for Duxbury to strike back, as freshman Meredith Wright knocked home a Caroline Shaunessy shot from the point for a 3-1 lead at the 13:33 mark.

The Bulldogs went on the power-play with 9:18 left in the second period and scored right off the face-off, as Meg Lennon picked up the loose puck and beat Myette over her left shoulder to cut the margin to 3-2.

The Lady Dragons would get two more power-play opportunities before the period ended, but could score on neither, setting the stage for what could have been a hectic 15 minutes of action.

Duxbury got the insurance goal it needed three minutes into the third period, as sophomore Jacqui Nolan cruised through the slot and fired to Buckley’s left inside the post for a 4-2 lead. Nolan’s goal seemed to open the floodgates, as goals by Leddie, Shaunessy, and sophomore Liz Collins over a seven-minute span put the game away for good.

The Lady Dragons could have hit double figures, as they out-shot their hosts, 52-12.

“We had some bad decision-making early in the first period,” said Coach Friend Weiler. “We tried to make the extra pass when all we needed to do was simplify things. We just couldn’t seem to get our legs under us. I guess you could say it was a lack of focus. They rectified that in the third period and they need to understand that every team we play is going to give us their best shot.”