The Lewiston Area Youth Hockey midgets wrapped up round robin play at the U18 nationals Friday night with an 8-5 win over the Oklahoma Oil Kings and will head into Saturday’s quarterfinals as the top seed.

Sam Cloutier picked up his second hat trick in three games and Shane Hearn added a pair of goals to lead the Lewiston  offense, which strengthened a 2-1 lead after one period with four goals in the second.

“The bounces just kind of went my way,” said Cloutier, a Lewiston High School senior.

Lewiston once again found itself locked in a physical contest as each team had 10 power plays. Oklahoma converted on three. Lewiston didn’t have any power play goals for the first time in the Tier II tournament.

“It’s a lot different than Maine. The teams here are a lot more physical than the ones we’ve faced,” Cloutier said.

Cam Poussard of Lewiston made 15 saves in net. Travis St. Pierre chipped in with a goal and two assists for Lewiston. Dylan Rodrigue added a goal and an assist and Ben Wigant accounted for the other goal. Spencer Martin and Alex Parker had two assists apiece.

Lewiston outshot Oklahoma, 37-20, and has scored 31 goals in three games. The team consists of players from Lewiston, St. Dom’s and Messalonskee high schools and Hebron Academy.

“The chemistry is really good,” coach Bob Parker said. “I can’t get over how well they move together and communicate for guys that haven’t always played together.”

The tournament is single-elimination from here. The quarterfinals begin at 10 a.m. Saturday against the fourth-seeded Nashville Jr. Predators. A win would advance Lewiston to the semifinals later in the day.

“We’ve just  got to keep going harder and harder every game,” said St. Pierre, a Messalonskee defenseman.

All games are streamed on the Internet and can be viewed, for a fee, at http://usahockey.fasthockey.com/login.php.

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