What a difference a month makes.
Fresh off her game-winning goal in double overtime three days earlier, Frechette scored four goals Saturday as the Blue Devils completed an undefeated season with a 5-2 victory over Falmouth in the state championship game at the Androscoggin Bank Colisee. It’s the second state title for the program.
For Frechette, it was all about sending the seniors off in style.
“I was playing for my team and more for the seniors than anything because I want the seniors to go out happy,” Frechette said. “Go out with a nice win in the state championship. That’s what they need and that’s what the team needs.”
Frechette started the scoring 4:24 into the contest and ended it with an empty-netter with 2:21 left. The sophomore forward accounted for five goals and two assists during the playoffs.
Her first came on Lewiston’s first power play of the game. In the final seconds of a interference penalty to Falmouth’s Martina St. Angelo, Lewiston’s Erin Hubbard found Frechette alone to the right of goaltender Alexandra Hurdman. Frechette’s sharp-angle shot snuck past the stick-side shoulder of Hurdman as the Blue Devils (20-0-1) took their only lead 4:24 into the first period.
There would be no late-game heroics needed for the Blue Devils on Saturday. Lewiston added two more goals in the first period, Frechette adding her second to make it 3-0.
Lewiston’s only other title came in the first year of Maine Principals’ Association-sanctioned competition in 2009. The championship that year was also played on Feb. 14, a tidbit Lewiston coach Ron Dumont hadn’t forgotten.
“The last time we won it was Valentine’s Day,” Dumont said. “It’s a great day for me, a lucky day. We were in this dressing room. They came right out and played fantastic.”
Before Frechette took full control of the limelight, Erica Lemieux split the Yachtsmen defense before lifting a shot near post that deflected off Hurdman before crossing the goal line.
For Lemieux, a senior, a state championship is the ultimate sendoff.
“It’s the best feeling ever, especially as a senior,” Lemieux said. “It’s the best way to end anything. It’s awesome.”
The final three Blue Devil goals came off the stick of Frechette. Her second, a shot over Hurdman’s blocker following a Falmouth turnover in its own end, gave Lewiston a 3-0 lead heading into the first intermission.
“We came in thinking that if we come in and play as a team and we all contribute, we’ll be able to dominate and win the game,” Frechette said.
The Yachtsmen (16-5) got on the board via the power play at 10:58 of the second period to climb within 3-1. After a failed clear by the Blue Devils, Camden Carrier fired a puck through heavy traffic past Lewiston goaltender Paige Fontaine.
“I felt after the first period we got our legs back, we weren’t nervous anymore,” Falmouth coach Rob Carrier said. “We kept fighting to get that first one.”
Frechette had the answer, and it was her favorite among her four-goal night.
Less than a minute into the third period, Frechette carried the puck into the zone with a defender draped all over her. Despite being tripped on the play, Frechette kept her balance and backhanded a shot from her knees, going 5-hole on Hurdman as Lewiston went up 4-1.
“We knew and we’ve seen and we’ve read the articles,” Rob Carrier said of Frechette. “If a team’s going to beat you, odds are it’s going to be one of the super stars and she stepped up in a big game. Hats off to her.”
A second power-play goal by the Yachtsmen, this one from Evelyn Clement, gave the Western Maine champions a pulse with 4:02 left.
Falmouth pulled Hurdman before the ensuing faceoff with Lauren DeBlois in the box for cross-checking immediately following Falmouth’s second goal. Still, with two fewer skaters on the ice, Frechette found the back of the net. She punctuated Lewiston’s undefeated season with the empty-netter with 2:21 remaining.
Having scored four goals in the state championship game, it was clear who Dumont gave the game puck to.
“I was kidding her that we’re senior-laden and we only have one game puck,” Dumont said. “I was kind of in between — Paige did a great job, a lot of the seniors did a great job — but when you score the fourth one you kind of force my hand so I gave her the puck.”
Fontaine finished with 27 saves in her final game. Hurdman had 33 saves.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
