LEWISTON — What started as a state championship rematch ended in a rout.
It took a few shifts for Lewiston to shake things out, but after that it was all blue skies. The Blue Devils, playing a road game at their home rink, skated past host Scarborough 7-1 in a Class A boys’ hockey clash Wednesday evening at the Androscoggin Bank Colisee.
“You’re working hard to create opportunities,” Lewiston coach Jamie Belleau said. “We had plenty tonight, and we were fortunate enough to bury a few of them.”
“It wasn’t a good vibe going into this game,” said Scarborough coach Norm Gagne, whose team was missing players due to both injury and sickness.
The Red Storm (5-6-1), who are calling the Colisee home this season, put their first shot on net four minutes in. Just seconds after, the Blue Devils (11-1) put their first goal in.
Senior captain Jeromey Rancourt rang a shot from the right circle off the bottom of the crossbar — as he broke his stick, no less — to put Lewiston on the board. Jack Leblond had the assist.
The Blue Devils continued to apply heavy pressure, but goalie Brandon Wasser and the Scarborough defense kept the net clean. That same defense packed the area in front of the net on a Blue Devils power play in the late stages of the first period and kept Lewiston from putting a shot on net.
One minute after the Red Storm penalty expired, the Blue Devils went end to end to score again. Cody Doyon and Luc Dostie broke out for a 2-on-1, with Doyon’s shot from the left getting blocked by Wasser before Dostie put the puck into an open net on the rebound with 2:33 left in the period.
The Red Storm made a change in net at that point, pulling the junior Wasser for sophomore Christian Vail.
“He was mentally out of the game right there,” Gagne said. “Vail hasn’t played hardly at all, and this was a good chance for him to get in a good, tough match.”
The scoring didn’t stop with the first period coming to an end. The Blue Devils twice found the back of the net in the opening two minutes of the second period.
Lewiston quickly went on a power play, and scored on the man advantage even quicker. Nick Bisson ripped a shot from the point wide left, but Alex Rivet was near the left post to put the rebound in. Rivet scored again 43 seconds later on an assist from Cole Ouellette.
“I think that it was good for us to get off to a good start,” Belleau said. “I think popping a couple goals early was good for these kids.”
Despite giving up the two early goals, Vail looked strong in net in relief for Scarborough, stopping each of the next 12 shots he faced in the period, including four on the Blue Devils’ next period.
“I thought Christian Vail, my goalie, he played a really good game,” Gagne said.
The Red Storm finally went on some power plays of its own, but creating on-target shots against the Lewiston defense proved just as difficult as even-strength situations.
The Red Storm got on the board 50 seconds into the third, scoring on only its second shot on goal of the game. Mason Parks found Egan Bradish, who beat Lewiston goalie Jacob Strout at the right post.
Rivet scored his third goal of the game exactly three minutes later, finishing off a give-and-go-and-give-back with Sam Frechette to complete a natural hat trick.
“We do those same exact plays in practice,” Rivet said. “So doing them in practice and executing them in the game, it’s huge.”
Rivet then assisted on goals by Joe Bisson and Frechette to round out the scoring.
wkramlich@sunjournal.com
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