By Kalle Oakes,Staff Writer

PORTLAND – Lewiston High School has practically lived in, lived with and lived for overtime in the closing chapters of this Class A hockey campaign.

Really, though, what happened Tuesday night at Cumberland County Civic Center was a little bit ridiculous.

What’s even more insane is that the Blue Devils will have to play another game on Saturday night at their home rink.

That’ll be for the state championship, thanks to Tuesday’s 2-1 triumph over Brunswick – in five overtimes – for the Eastern Maine crown.

It was the longest hockey game in Maine high school history. Only two previous games reached a fifth overtime, the last being a Class B regional semifinal between Greely and Falmouth in 1998. But in terms of stop-and-start playing time, Lewiston-Brunswick stands alone.

If the weekend sequel trips the stopwatch anywhere near this 83 minutes, 44 seconds of exhausting but exhilarating hockey, Lewiston head coach Norm Gagne might opt to drain the rest of his 401(k) and spend next winter playing shuffleboard.

Five of Lewiston’s last six games have ended in overtime, including the last two in the playoffs. The Devils are 3-1-1 in those nailbiters.

“I’m calling in sick tomorrow,” said the affable Gagne, who led Waterville to multiple state championships and then served a brief coaching stint at Gorham before taking over the tradition-rich program in his hometown this season.

While Brunswick players and coaches accepted their runner-up laurels at a postgame ceremony, Gagne sat alone on the Lewiston bench, forehead resting heavily on his hands.

One of the many thoughts zigzagging through his head might have been where the game ranked on his all-time list.

That didn’t take him long. Gagne’s longest playoff game at Waterville went to double overtime.

“This is at the top,” Gagne said. “After the second overtime, I had to ask my assistant coaches which overtime it was. I had no idea.”

Probably they didn’t know, either.

The only two reliable measuring sticks were the “period” box on the scoreboard (it read eight when the game ended, so subtract the three periods of regulation play) and the occasional reappearances of the Zamboni (it created new ice after each odd-numbered overtime session).

“I’ve never seen a game like this. Ever,” said Brunswick assistant Dave Boucher, a long-time head coach at Edward Little. “I think we might have had one game (at EL) go two overtimes, and I was involved in a couple in college. But nothing like this at all.”

How did we get here?

Start with two brilliant goaltenders. Brian Nason of Lewiston solidified his reputation as the state’s top senior netminder with 40 saves. Brunswick sophomore Matt Pellerin’s 43 stops confirmed that he’ll be back.

“Sometimes a great goaltender is the best penalty kill,” said Brunswick coach and former Lewiston goalie Mike Routhier.

Oh, right, let’s not forget two tenacious penalty-killing units. Led by Zack Blauvelt, Dan Cloutier, Toby Poirier, Matt Letourneau, Jordan Bourgoin and Kevin Leblanc, the Blue Devils denied all nine Dragons power-play opportunities.

At 1-for-9, Lewiston wasn’t much sharper with the man advantage.

“I think we both killed off some 5-on-3s,” Nason recalled correctly. “I was so proud of our guys. Usually 5-on-3 in hockey means you score, but not against our team tonight.”

Letourneau finally cashed in the game-winner at 6:44 of the fifth OT on a centering pass by Roy from behind the net.

It touched off no greater celebration than among the large student and fan delegations from Cheverus and Scarborough. Those teams were waiting in the dressing rooms to play the Western Class A final.

That game started at 10:15 p.m. on a school night, roughly two hours behind schedule.

At exactly three-and-a-half hours, the first game of the night may stand as the longest in any Maine high school sport for years to come. Soccer playoff games end in penalty kicks after two extended overtime periods. Football overtimes consist of matching possessions for each team from the 10-yard line until a winner is anointed.

The longest state championship basketball game on record took place in 1993 between South Portland and Bangor. That five-overtime classic also was played at Cumberland County Civic Center.

Believe it or not, at least one player wouldn’t have shivered at the thought of standing alone as the first six-overtime game.

“I could have gone one or two more,” Nason said. “But then, I would have been done.”