With more than 150 games in the books, the girls’ hockey season comes down to one, final contest.
Four teams were eliminated at the conclusion of the regular season. Another 10 saw their season end during the playoffs, some in heartbreaking fashion.
Now that the dust has settled, only two teams remain — the top seed from each region. Lewiston and Falmouth meet Saturday afternoon at 3 p.m. at the Androscoggin Bank Colisee. This is the Blue Devils’ second consecutive trip to the title game and fourth in program history.
The Blue Devils (19-0-1) and Yachtsmen met less than a month ago, with Lewiston posting a 4-0 victory in the same building in which they’ll play the state final. Lewiston’s success over Falmouth in the regular season doesn’t mean a whole lot in the playoffs, Blue Devils coach Ron Dumont said.
“It’s not identical, but it’s along the same lines as Auburn (Leavitt/Edward Little/Poland), not so much the number of times we’ve played them, but it’s a one-game shot,” Dumont said. “It was 4-0, but I don’t think the score was indicative of how much they compete. We need to be prepared. I think they’ve gotten better based on what I’ve seen. They’re well-coached. Their passing was really, really good. When you can make those short passes and connect and work good like that, it can cause problems for the other team being us.”
Erin Hubbard scored twice and Jaylin Cloutier and Lauren DeBlois each netted a goal as the Blue Devils tallied two in the second and two in the third in their win against Falmouth. Lewiston outshot the Yachtsmen 23-11.
“It’s one of those things where we’ll look back at what we did well and try to correct the mistakes we made and from there try and generate our own offense and try to limit their quality scoring chances,” Falmouth coach Rob Carrier said.
The Blue Devils enter the final game of the season undefeated, though their season was less than a minute from ending in the regional final against the Red Hornets. Erica Lemieux scored with 43.2 seconds left in regulation before Allison Frechette buried the game-winner in double overtime.
Lemieux and Frechette are two of 14 players on the roster who were part of last year’s state runner-up squad. The five seniors on Falmouth’s roster were freshmen the last time the Yachtsmen played for a state title.
The Blue Devils are hoping they can use that experience to their advantage.
“We learned that we need to come out hard and not let the crowd bother us,” Lemieux said. “It’s just a normal game and we need to leave it all out there.”
Along with the nerves that come with playing in a state title game, Lewiston is also dealing with the pressure of finishing a season undefeated. Scarborough completed that feat last year when it finished 21-0, topping the Blue Devils in the championship game.
“To be undefeated is a lot of pressure,” Lewiston goaltender Paige Fontaine said. “We’re coming into this game with a big target on our back. We’re going to have the heart to fight the whole game. We’re going to have to play our best.”
Fontaine anchors a defense that’s allowed just 16 goals this season. She’s allowed just one goal in two postseason games, making 47 saves. The Blue Devils haven’t allowed more than three goals in a game this year. Falmouth is one of 12 shutouts Lewiston has posted.
“They’re very fast upfront,” Carrier said. “They have very good defensemen and excellent goaltending. It’s going to require a lot of discipline on our part defensively and we’re just going to have to see if we can grind some good shots, some good scoring opportunities in the offensive end.”
The Yachtsmen (16-4) haven’t lost since their first encounter with Lewiston. They’ve strung together eight straight wins, eliminating defending state champion Scarborough in the regional final. During that stretch, Falmouth has outscored its opponents 48-10 and hasn’t been held under four goals in each game.
“We know they’re a strong team,” Lemieux said. “They have good goaltending. They have good players. They’re a strong team. We know they’re a good team so we don’t want to take them lightly. Just score first and keep the intensity up the whole game.”
Falmouth received goal contributions from four skaters in its 4-2 win over the Red Storm on Wednesday. With a roster full of capable scorers, Dumont is focusing on the Yachtsmen as a whole instead of on individual players.
“We’re aware of the people that can move the puck and score, but my personal feeling is if you get too focused on one person you kind of lose the whole picture,” Dumont said. ” They’re the type of team that they’re not a one-dimensional, one-person team. They’re built where the load is spread among everyone, which is problematic because you have a lot of people you need to pay attention to as a group.”
Hanging in the Colisee is a banner honoring the Blue Devils’ 2009 state title, the first MPA-sanctioned championship in girls’ hockey. Lewiston returned to the big game in 2010 and 2014, falling short both times. With a new batch of players, who were either in middle school or elementary school in 2009, a state title six years later would be as special as the first, Dumont said.
“For me, it would be very different,” Dumont said. “There’s a big space there. It’s spaced out enough where there’s no overlap. None of the kids on this team had anything to do with that history. They were youth hockey kids. The first one was special in that we were the first ones to do it. We’ve been back a few times since and this is a good opportunity, where we have a good shot. We need to play and hopefully things go our way and we come out with a victory.”
Send questions/comments to the editors.
