Lewiston’s Ryan Bossie, left and Jayden Wilson throw off their helmets as they rush to celebrate with goalie Conrad Albert as time runs out to end the game. (Russ Dillingham/Sun Journal)
LEWISTON — The Class A boys’ hockey state title is staying put.
Lewiston beat Biddeford 2-1 in Saturday’s state final at Androscoggin Bank Colisee, giving the Blue Devils their third straight championship.
“It doesn’t get old,” junior captain Sam Frechette said.
This is the first time a Class A team has won three titles in a row since Lewiston did it from 1982-84.
“It certainly helps when you win one. You talk about tradition at Lewiston, well you got a lot of tradition going right now,” Blue Devils coach Jamie Belleau said. “There’s a culture and an expectation, and every group that comes in wants to do the same thing.”
The Blue Devils (19-2) had a series of close calls on offense in the first period, but Tigers (15-7) goalie Owen Sullivan turned away all 14 shots he faced. The closest call came when Frechette’s shot was stopped by Sullivan on the goal line, and just before Dustin Larochelle could get to the momentarily loose puck.
“We knew they’d come out flying,” Biddeford coach Jason Tremblay said. “They had a huge crowd here. And we just weathered the storm in the first period. I thought our goaltender was excellent, especially in the first.”
Sullivan got some help from his teammates and the horn in the closing moments of the first. Evan Paquette held onto Frechette on an attempted breakaway with just over a minute to go, earning Paquette two minutes in the penalty box. Frechette then took a shot from the slot with the clock winding down. It went in, but after the horn sounded to end the period. The call on the ice was confirmed by video replay.
“I knew we didn’t have much time, but I didn’t know it was that close,” Frechette said. “I did stutter-step a little bit.”
The Blue Devils couldn’t take advantage of the power-play time they took into the second period, but less than a minute after Paquette got out of the box, they got onto the scoreboard. Jack Leblond took a behind-the-net feed from Evan Cox and pushed a shot past Sullivan from close range at the left post 1:51 in for a 1-0 lead.
“I just wasn’t trying to force anything. I was just looking, seeing the whole ice,” Cox said. “I didn’t want to force anything, and just saw Jack in the middle, and he put a good shot on it.”
That lead stood into the second intermission, with the Blue Devils killing off one penalty and the Tigers starting another power play in the final minute.
The Tigers couldn’t capitalize on the power play in the third, but soon after it elapsed, a dump-in shot by Ian Couture went off Conrad Albert and sat at the right post before Tyler LaFlamme came charging in and collided with Albert across the goal line. The play was called a no-goal — another video replay upheld the initial call.
“The idea was, did our guy get puck, or did he fall into it? They waived off the goal so, it’s like the NHL, it has to be inconclusive. It was inconclusive. And you’re not going to argue with that,” Tremblay said. “But I thought it actually gave us a little bit of a break to keep our legs going for the next 10 to 12 minutes.”
The call helped out the Blue Devils, but Belleau said his team wasn’t too worried about the outcome of the review.
“It’s better to get momentum from a no-goal call than it would have a goal. But we were focused on, look, if it was a goal, it was a goal. There was almost a whole period left,” Belleau said. “We talked about adversity happening. That might have been the time.”
With the lead still intact, Cox assisted on another goal to put Lewiston up 2-0 with seven minutes left. After taking a long pass from Ryan Bossie, Cox carried the puck into the zone before dropping a pass off the Alex Robert, who slung a shot from the slot past Sullivan (30 saves).
“We know each other, we know where we’re going to be, and we play good together so it worked out good,” Cox said.
The Tigers cut the deficit in half with just over five minutes left. Nick McSorely’s shot was redirected by Logan Magnant in the slot and past Albert (14 saves).
“We made a mistake on that one goal they got,” Belleau said. “We held on the puck a little two long … and they end up in transition and they scored a goal.”
“All of a sudden it’s 2-1, and we’re pressing,” Tremblay said. “We pulled the goalie with 1:27 and … we had four or five chances to tie it, and the goalie came up big on one save, and it is what it is at the end of the day.
“I’m very proud of the team, though. They had a shot in the end, and that’s all you can ask.”
Biddeford only put one more shot on goal the rest of the way, and Lewiston was able to hold on for another title.
Albert stopped a weak-side shot from Colin Petit — who scored Biddeford’s double-overtime game-winner in the regional final — with just over a minute to play. Dustin Larochelle blocked a Liam Turner shot 30 seconds later.
Frechette missed an empty-net chance by blasting a shot off the pipe, but he made up for it by winning the final faceoff of the game with 5.2 seconds left.
“I dropped to one knee and I put it all in it, and it worked,” Frechette said.
wkramlich@sunjournal.com
Biddeford players, coaches and fans react after a goal was disallowed. (Russ Dillingham/Sun Journal)Lewiston’s Jack LeBlond jumps in the air as the puck sails under him while screening Biddeford goalie Owen Sullivan. (Russ Dillingham/Sun Journal)Lewiston’s Alex Robert watches his shot sail into the back of the net for what would be the winning goal during Saturday night’ championship game. (Russ Dillingham/Sun Journal)Despite being tripped up, Lewiston’s Jack LeBlond tries to make a pass. (Russ Dillingham/Sun Journal)Lewiston coaches draw up plans and pump their players up during a time out with less than 2 minutes to go in the game. (Russ Dillingham/Sun Journal)Lewiston and Biddeford players meet at center ice after the game ended. (Russ DIllingham/Sun Journal)Lewiston’s Jacob Story kisses the championship trophy after a 2-1 victory over Biddeford to win the state championship. (Russ Dillingham/Sun Journal)The referee signals no goal as Biddeford’s Tyler LaFlamme crashes into Lewiston goalie Conrad Albert. The ruling was that LaFlamme used his hand to push the puck across the line.Lewiston’s Gunnar Wade uses his body to shield the puck before shoveling a centering pass to a teammate. (Russ Dillingham/Sun Journal)Lewiston’s Jack LeBlond moves in for a backhand shot on Biddeford goalie Owen Sullivan during the first period. (Russ Dillingham/Sun Journal)The puck sails over the shoulder of Biddeford goalie Owen Sullivan as Lewiston players wait to pounce on a rebound during the first period of Saturday night’s state championship hockey game at the Androscoggin Bank Colisee in Lewiston. (Russ Dillingham/Sun Journal)Lewiston’s Sam Frechette tries to redirect a slap shot from the point during Saturday night’s state championship hockey game at the Androscoggin Bank Colisee in Lewiston. (Russ Dillingham/Sun Journal)Lewiston’s Jack LeBlond, middle right, celebrates the first goal of the game Saturday night’s state championship hockey game at the Androscoggin Bank Colisee in Lewiston. (Russ Dillingham/Sun Journal)Lewiston goalie Conrad Albert uses his blocker to redirect a shot into the corner Saturday night’s state championship hockey game at the Androscoggin Bank Colisee in Lewiston. (Russ Dillingham/Sun Journal)Lewiston head coach Jamie Belleau waits outside the locker room with his team before taking to the ice for Saturday night’s state championship hockey game at the Androscoggin Bank Colisee in Lewiston. (Russ Dillingham/Sun Journal)Lewiston fans cheer their team on during Saturday night’s state championship hockey game at the Androscoggin Bank Colisee in Lewiston. (Russ Dillingham/Sun Journal)Lewiston’s Ryan Bossie, left celebrates with teammates after defeating Biddeford 2-1 during Saturday night’s state championship hockey game at the Androscoggin Bank Colisee in Lewiston. (Russ Dillingham/Sun Journal)The Lewiston High School hockey team and coaches pose for a team photo after winning the state championship Saturday night. (Russ Dillingham/Sun Journal)Lewiston’s Ryan Bossie, left defends against Biddeford’s Dustin Larochelle during Saturday’s championship game. (Russ Dillingham/Sun Journal)
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