LEWISTON – The door to the St. Dom’s coaches’ room swung open.

Senior C.J. Bergeron stepped in, turned his sticks sideways to place them on the rack to the left, and started to sneak out, hoping to go unnoticed.

“C.J.’s always giving his brother a hard time,” coach Steve Ouellette chirped.

Bergeron laughed.

He knew his coach was right.

His brother, Nathan, knows it too. All too well.

Nathan, a freshman forward with the Saints, followed his brother to St. Dom’s. So, too, did sophomore Alex Parker follow brother Casey, a senior, and freshman Cody Rodrigue follow his brother, sophomore defenseman Dylan.

At a small, private school like St. Dom’s, it’s not uncommon for siblings or relatives to attend the institution, sometimes across two or three generations.

It is rare, though, for three sets of brothers to all attend the school – and make the varsity hockey team – together.

“It’s different for all three, too,” Ouellette said. “(The Bergerons), it’s two different mind sets, where one’s a senior and the other is a freshman. Then you have the two Parkers, they play on the same line, and I’m sure that’s a thrill being on the same line, and then you have the Rodrigues with the dynamic of one being a forward and the other a defenseman. There’s a little something different with each pair, and the freshmen, I think they understand their roles with respect to the upperclassmen.”

The brothers with the largest age difference are the Bergerons. C.J., a senior, is one of the team’s captains.

Nathan didn’t exactly get the red carpet treatment when he first made the squad, either. That, of course, thanks to big brother.

“Obviously, he got a little more than the other guys,” C.J. admitted. “All of the guys, they’d been over the house, and knew him a bit, so he got a bit more rattled than the others, be got through it OK. He’s a good hockey player.”

Still, on the ice, age and relationship aside, the pair gets along. They don’t normally skate on the same line, but found themselves there this week in the Western Class A regional final against Falmouth.

“It’s a little different, playing with my brother than with other player out on the ice,” C.J. said. “You kind of have that sense of what the other guy’s going to do. But we try not to bring that brother role out onto the ice. We leave stuff that happens at home there, and focus on hockey here.”

The Rodrigues – sophomore Dylan and freshman Cody – are much closer in age: “Just 18 months apart,” they each pointed out.

“It still helps,” Cody said. “It’s easier making friends, both at school and on the team.”

And there’s a different dynamic because Dylan patrols the blue line while Cody plays up front. But having been so close growing up, they also have had plenty of time to get used to each other, both in playing time and socially.

“It makes it more of a friendship, you’re there for him, he’s there for you,” Dylan said.

The most interesting brother-brother dynamic at St. Dom’s is likely the Parkers. Casey, another of the team’s senior captains, has been one of the team’s top players since his sophomore season. Alex, a sophomore, made the squad as a freshman last season, and this year the two play together on one of the Saints’ top two lines.

“It was a motivation (to make the team),” Alex said. “Seeing him put the puck in the net motivates me to do the same, makes me want top score, too.”

“Last year, when he came in as a freshman, I helped him out, gave him some tips to help him make the team,” Casey said. “We worked a lot together in the offseason to get better, knowing we might play together this year.”

Two other skaters – freshmen Daniel Nadeau and Spencer Martin – have had brothers play for the team, but in different eras.

That bond – the literal bond between brothers, and the omnipresent bond among teammates and alumni – has helped create a feeling of family as the Saints chase state championship No. 25.

“If you don’t have that kind of bond going on, if you don’t like coming to the rink to be together, it’s tough to have any kind of success, Ouellette said. “If everybody’s going through the same things, and everybody’s having to work just as hard to keep their spot, you can only in the end respect a guy.”

Like a brother, of course.