LEWISTON — The Lewiston boys hockey team’s final win in the 2021-22 season came against Windham/Westbrook/Bonny Eagle/Sacopee Valley in the state prelims.
The Blue Devils opened the new season Saturday with a 5-1 victory over the Trailblazers at The Colisee.
Lewiston coach Jamie King said that he didn’t know what to expect from Windham/Westbrook since it has changed so much since last winter.
“I wasn’t sure what they were going to have and I saw their goaltender (from last season Porter Krause) transferred down to Thornton Academy, ” King said. “I told the kids just to work hard and get pucks to the net.”
Trailblazers assistant coach Ben Haskell said the team does have several new faces in the the lineup this season.
“We lost six seniors last year and we have six freshmen this year,” Haskell said. “We are a young team and I think we had a lot of jitters to start (Saturday’s game). Once we got through the last part of the second period, we started coming together a little bit better.”
Five Lewiston players scored. Cody Dionne and Luke Pomerleau led the way with a goal and an assist.
“It shows depth,” Dionne said of the number of players who scored. “We don’t have just one goal scorer on the team; everybody can put the puck in the net on all four lines. That’s threatening when an (opponent) sees that.”
Colten Daniels gave the Blue Devils a 1-0 lead 77 seconds into the game when he fired a wrist shot from the right circle.
“It’s always nice to score first and being at home for the first game of the season,” King said. “For the kids, it gets the dust off from the summer and gets them going again.”
Lewiston added two quick goals 21 seconds apart later in the first period. Payson Goyette found Adien St. George on the back door for a 2-0 lead. Daven Langelier had the secondary assist.
Sophomore Curtis Plourde then gave the Blue Devils a 3-0 advantage by tipping in a shot from Pomerleau.
“You have to give credit to Lewiston, they are a well-seasoned team, and it was tough,” Haskell said of giving up the two quick scores. “We had breakdowns and they took advantage.”
Lewiston started the second period with a power play after the Trail Blazers received a delay of game penalty for coming out of the locker room 28 seconds after the first intermission horn sounded. However, the Blue Devils didn’t capitalize on the man advantage.
Later in the middle frame, Lewiston went down two men after Jaden Maynard took a five-minute major for hitting from behind and Nate Metiver had a two-minute minor for tripping.
With the Blue Devils on the 5-on-3 penalty kill, Dionne scored a shorthanded tally on a partial breakaway for a 4-0 lead.
Dionne said he scored a few shorthanded goals in his hockey career before.
“It’s not a regular occurrence,” Dionne said with a chuckle.
King said the team just went over 5-on-3s in the final practice of the preseason.
“We did go over that on Friday; we went over the 5-on-3 just to get ready for it,” King said. “You never know if it’s going to happen, you don’t want it to happen, but it’s nice to be able to practice it.”
The Trailblazers were 0 of 3 on the power play and Lewiston went 0 of 1.
Dionne assisted on the Blue Devils’ next goal when he glided behind the Trailblazers’ net and found Pomerleau all alone in the slot. Pomerleau ripped a slap shot by Trailblazers goalie Isaac White (13 saves).
“I am not normally a defenseman, so I like to get low in the (offensive) zone in the middle,” Pomerleau said. “I just kind of slid in and called for the puck. I got a good pass from Cody and shot it.”
Aiden Toy broke Lewiston goalie Ben Cloutier’s shutout bid (12 saves) in the middle of the third period when Toy created a turnover and his backhander went through Cloutier’s five-hole for the goal.
“We were in the offensive zone and Aiden created that turnoff,” Haskell said. “We just had bodies and we were able to bury one.”
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