LEWISTON — Anonymity in a hockey game can mean one of two things. Either you’ve disappeared to those watching the game because you’ve become ineffective in your job, or you’re so efficient at what you do it’s easy to overlook your contributions because people watching are taking it for granted.

The Lewiston High School defensive corps likes to think of itself, collectively, as the latter.

“At this age group, it’s always nice to be recognized,” Lewiston coach Jamie Belleau said, “but we recognize each other. We’re a team, and our defense is an important part of it.”

Lewiston is in familiar territory. The Blue Devils will play Tuesday night in the Eastern Class A regional final for the 11th time in 12 years, and they got there, in part, by relying on a younger, less experienced back line group that includes no seniors among the seven players who have suited up this season.

“Staying relaxed and staying focused and not being nervous from the beginning has really helped us,” junior Eddie Emerson said.

Emerson is in his first year of varsity hockey at Lewiston.

“Staying relaxed, being patient and trying not to make the simple mistakes,” he said.

“We just knew we were going to be a younger group,” fellow junior Max Bolduc said. “We knew we still had to get the job done.”

“Get it done” is an understatement for what the Blue Devils’ defenders accomplished this season.

Starting goalie Evan Bourassa recorded four shutouts this season, had another five games with only one goal allowed, and another six in which only two pucks eluded him. In those games, Lewiston was 13-1-1. Bourassa also faced fewer than 15 shots in a game with surprising regularity.

In his second year as a starter and first as the bona fide No. 1, the senior keeper is more than appreciative of the effort the defensmen on the squad has shown.

“They’re clearing out the front of the net, they’re not letting guys walk through the middle and they keep that traffic in front of the net to a minimum,” Bourassa said. “That really helps me out. I can see the shots that do come to me. They’re blocking the shots that don’t even get to me, and that makes my job a lot easier.”

“The message from the beginning was, keep it simple,” Belleau said. “Our job from the defensive side of things is to limit the opportunities opposing teams have had against us. I knew we had some pretty skilled defensemen.”

Save for junior Patrick DeBlois’ 25 points, you cannot measure this defensive group’s impact in points. During the 18-game regular season, Lewiston’s six defenders not named DeBlois collected a grand total of five goals and 21 total points.

“I know Patrick has had some success offensively, but the strength of our defense, well, one, they play good team defense, but two, four or five of them are really good puck-handlers,” Belleau said. “They’re making smart decisions, gathering the puck in the defensive end, making a good first pass. Those are the kinds of things we talk about all the time.”

Among the defenders on the team who pride themselves on defense first are Emerson and Bolduc. Emerson didn’t score a goal until a 10-0 win over Brunswick on Saturday, and Bolduc registered just two in the regular season, though both played top-four minutes in several games.

Goals or no goals, Emerson and Bolduc know that their primary concern is at the other end of the ice.

“I’m just trying to play well in the defensive zone and not make too many mistakes,” Emerson said. “It feels good that we’re keeping pucks away from Bourassa, helping him out.”

“That’s our job, to play good ‘D,'” Bolduc said. “We want to limit the shots the other team takes. We have a lot of offensive skill on our defense, but our focus is ‘D’ first.”

Ethan Melvin, Joey Frechette, Nick Perrault and Devin Harrison make up the rest of the defensive unit for Lewiston, though Perrault has started to play some minutes at forward in recent games. Melvin netted a pair of goals against Brunswick and another against Edward Little in the quarterfinal round, and is tied with DeBlois with four points for the playoff lead in points by defensemen.

Points aside, even in the playoffs, the number Belleau likes better is “12.” Twelve is the number of total shots the Blue Devils’s defenders have allowed to reach Bourassa in two games in these playoffs, an average of six per game, or two per 15-minute period.

“Having defensemen who all know what they’re doing, everyone is on the same page at all times is huge,” junior Patrick DeBlois said. “Our defensive zone is fantastic right now, and if we keep that going, I don’t see a problem.”

Whether the team’s defenders score another point this season is irrelevant. Neither Belleau nor the players themselves care about the spotlight. As long as the team continues to perform well and play stingy in its own end, they’d be just fine sharing a contributor’s line with the most famous of all socially quoted sources: Anonymous.

“Let’s hope the rest of the players and the teams in the state continue to have our defense be under the radar, so to speak,” Belleau said. “We’re fine with that.”

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