Lewiston’s Paige Pomerleau is pushed up against the boards by Cape Elizabeth/South Portland/Waynflete’s Abbey Agrodnia during a hockey game at the Colisee in Lewiston in January. Andree Kehn/Sun Journal Buy this Photo
Cape Elizabeth/Waynflete/South Portland is thrilled to be playing in its first girls hockey state championship game, but the Capers aren’t merely happy to have just made the state final.
They believe they can win it as well.
Capers coach Bob Mills said his squad feels it capable of competing against any team, and it’s easy to see why.
The Capers just knocked off Scarborough in the South regional final, after the Red Storm lost only one game all season — to North champion Lewiston, their opponent in Saturday’s state final at the Androscoggin Bank Colisee (3 p.m.).
Also, during the regular season, the Capers gave the Blue Devils one of their biggest scares of the year Lewiston rallied for a win on their way to a 19-0-1 record entering the state final.
“They’re the ones that have probably pushed us the most,” Lewiston coach Ron Dumont said.
The Blue Devils mostly coasted through the regular season before the Capers came to Lewiston in early January and took three different leads before losing 6-3 when the Devils three goals in the final 6:03 of the game.
“We need to compete for three periods and avoid mental mistakes,” Mills said.
The Blue Devils won a second regular-season meeting 5-1, but the four combined goals the Capers scored against them make up more than half of the seven total goals that Lewiston has allowed this year.
“The team we’re playing happens to be the team that we’ve let the most goals up against, and we got ourselves in trouble, so clearly you got respect that, which we would anyway, but (especially) this team,” Dumont said. “So we know it can happen, so we’re going to have to be prepared for that.”
Lewiston has scored more than 100 goals this season, and is the highest-scoring team in the state, but the Capers lit the lamp 85 times during the regular season, an average of 4.72 times per game.
Dumont singled out junior defender Abbey Agrodnia and freshman forward Bella Schifano as key players for the Capers.
“(Agrodnia) is a good defenseman, she can jump in the offense,” Dumont said, “and (Schifano), she’s young but she’s a goal-scorer, you can’t cut her loose.”
Lewiston, meanwhile, might be the deepest team in the state.
“They are experienced, skilled and hungry,” Mills said. “Solid goaltending, effective execution and lots of speed.”
The Blue Devils’ hunger in part comes from a loss in last year’s state final to Cheverus/Kennebunk/Old Orchard Beach, which had to survive double overtime against the Capers in the regional semifinals.
Dumont said his team is even more focused than a year ago, while Mills said his returning core learned some invaluable lessons from their own playoff loss.
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