Lewiston High School hockey-playing siblings Alex Robert, left, and Sara Robert, are both having stellar seasons for undefeated teams. (Andree Kehn/Sun Journal)
LEWISTON — A snipe top corner coming off the wall. It was a play that looked all too familiar to Jamie Belleau.
But this particular goal wasn’t scored by one of his own Lewiston boys’ hockey players, who were in their locker room preparing for a game to follow. Belleau was taking a moment to catch the Lewiston/Monmouth/Oak Hill girls’ hockey team play at Androscoggin Bank Colisee in the first game of a girls-boys doubleheader earlier this season.
Blue Devils freshman Sara Robert was the one scoring the goal. The inspiration very well could have come from backyard rink sessions with her older brother Alex, who is a junior on the Blue Devils boys’ team.
“It reminds you a lot of Alex,” Belleau said. “If you watch Sara, she sees the ice well, she knows how to use her teammates, she moves the puck well, and you can see a lot of Alex in Sara, in that regard.”
“He has taught me so much. Just from watching him play I can learn new skills to do,” Sara said. “And going out back on our ice rink he really teaches me some new things that I can do, or like what I can work on. He can look at my games and tell me what I did good and what I can work on to get better.
“We do 1-on-1, and he’s really good on me. He’s tough to beat, but he teaches me skills on how to get around people that are good, like good defenders. It’s helpful.”
When asked if he ever lets Sara win, Alex just laughed and said “no.”
But that’s part of being an older brother, and as Alex admits, a role model. He’s been showing his younger sister the ropes since they were both little kids skating on that backyard rink. Alex said hockey is a “family tradition.”
“I’ve always been close with her,” Alex said. “I try to teach her a few things, she teaches me a few things, that we’ve seen in different games, different venues, which I think is pretty cool.
“I learn a lot from her as well. Seeing the different things she does out there, I don’t know where she comes up with it, but I try to watch before my games to try to implement that in my game as well because she pulls a lot of nice moves out there and I kind of want to learn from her. Usually it’s the other way around, but she’s a student of the game and I try to learn a lot from her.”
Class has been in session this season for Sara and her freshmen teammates on the Blue Devils girls’ team, which is undefeated at 11-0. Robert plays on a line with classmates Gemma Landry and Madi Conley. It’s been a dynamic trio on a dynamic team that has taken the state by storm.
“I’m not surprised on how well she’s doing,” Alex said. “She’s worked hard over the last two years in hockey and she puts forth a lot of time and dedication, which really helps and shows on the ice.”
“I expected really high expectations for me and so far we’re undefeated, and that’s really what I was hoping for obviously,” Sara said. “There’s a lot more tougher teams than I expected. There’s a lot of other great hockey players on other teams.”
It’s a similar situation to what Alex Robert came into during his freshman year. He carved out a spot on a Lewiston boys’ team that dominated its way to its first state championship in 14 years.
“Going into my freshman year my goal was to make varsity. And then when I made varsity my goal was to make an impact out there,” Alex said. “So my goals obviously varied and my goals got higher as the season went along.”
Having seen her brother burst onto the scene as a freshman and experience individual and team success has served as both an inspiration and a guide for Sara.
“I lean on him a lot,” Sara said. “If I have questions, I go right to him and he answers them because he’s been in the same situation I’ve been in. He knows how I feel about most stuff that I talk about, and it’s really helpful to hear how he went through something and how he did something when he was a freshman on the varsity team.”
The Roberts have been able to lean on their skills and smarts to make the transition to the high school varsity level. But what Alex had to deal with, and Sara still is, is the physicality of the game.
“Probably the only thing I saw or had any concerns about was she’s not all that big. You’re going from a 14-year-old playing with 18-year-olds, in a lot of instances,” Blue Devils girls’ coach Ron Dumont said. “But you know what, she’s got so much hockey sense — and she’s a good skater — that really hasn’t been a problem. She’s done really, really well. She’s stepped right in.”
Belleau said Alex Robert continues to work on his strength all these years later.
“His ability to maintain possession of the puck, protect the puck, his strength on the puck has improved since his first year,” Belleau said.
Any intimidation didn’t seem to stop Alex as a freshman. He put up 14 goals and 14 assists during his first regular season, and even added a pair of assists during the Blue Devils’ title run. Sara, meanwhile, has eight goals and 12 assists in 11 games so far in her first varsity season.
“Not bad at all,” Dumont said, noting that Sara doesn’t lead the team in either category but is among the leaders in both.
A leader is what Alex has become. Though still only a junior, he was named a captain for the boys’ team this year. That leadership has extended to sage advice he has given his sister that he has acquired in two-plus years playing for Lewiston.
“When I was a freshman I learned that every single thing you do matters now,” Alex said. “Every practice, every shift, everything you do impacts your playing time and impacts your team. And I’ve kind of told her that as she entered this year as a freshman, and told her how much of an impact each thing you do has on the team and has on your ability to make things happen out there. Because everyone’s fighting for a spot and everyone wants to win as a team, so everything you do is important.”
Alex and Sara have both big parts of their respective teams’ successes to far, but both Blue Devils team has talent all around. That’s why they are a combined 18-0 with the girls hitting the home stretch and the boys entering the midway point of their campaign. The Lewiston boys are gunning for their third straight state title, while the girls are trying to win a championship for the first time in three years. The Roberts are hoping their teams can accomplish those feats together.
“We haven’t really looked too far ahead. We always talk about just focusing on the next game because anything can happen, especially in high school hockey,” Alex said. “But we definitely have thought about how cool it would be, to both be wearing a ring in the same year. And just seeing one another do it would be pretty awesome.”
wkramlich@sunjournal.com
Lewiston’s Alex Robert, center, fights his way through Saint Dominic Academy’s Matthew Fletcher, left and Jacob Lewis as he heads to the goal during a game earlier this season. (Russ Dillingham/Sun Journal File Photo)Lewiston’s Sara Robert manuevers the puck between Edward Little/Poland/Leavitt’s Taylor Caillier and Samantha Martineau during an early season matchup at the Colisee in Lewiston. (Andree Kehn/Sun Journal File Photo)
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