LEWISTON — Lewiston High School is headed back to the Eastern Maine girls’ hockey final, though it took nearly 72 hours longer than anticipated.

The defending regional champions were the last team to play its first playoff game of the year following scheduling conflicts and building availability that pushed its regularly scheduled Friday game back to Monday.

After two postponements, the Blue Devils returned to Androscoggin Bank Colisee and kept their unblemished record alive. In the process, Lewiston ended Yarmouth/Freeport/Gray-New Gloucester’s season as the Blue Devils posted a 4-0 victory over the Clippers in the Eastern Maine semifinals.

They will play Leavitt/Edward Little/Poland on Wednesday for a spot in the state championship game.

“For sitting basically a week, I’m real proud of the kids,” Lewiston coach Ron Dumont said. “This is a team that plays hard, they compete and I’m real proud of what we did. We were out six days and the uncertainty of ‘we’re going to play, we’re not going to play,’ they rode through it great.”

Despite the layoff, the Blue Devils threw 17 shots on net in the opening period, one of which found the back of the Clippers’ net. Lewiston’s first tally came on the power play as the Clippers were called for two infractions in the opening frame.

Lewiston had 33 seconds of a 5-on-3 after Lily Watson was called for tripping with teammate Michelle Robichaud already in the box for a body-checking penalty. The Blue Devils didn’t score on the two-skater advantage, but Lauren DeBlois found the back of the net moments after with a shot from the right circle that beat Clipper goaltender Hannah Williams near post.

“I was getting really mad,” DeBlois said. “I was shooting a lot, and it wasn’t going in, hitting posts. I found a spot and took it, and it went in, and that’s what put our first goal on the board.”

The Blue Devils recorded eight shots on the power play. DeBlois had three as well as a shot off the crossbar.

DeBlois had a second goal waved off on an offsides call when she scored on a shot from the neutral zone in the opening minute of the second period.

Lewiston only had to wait a few more minutes before officially taking a 2-0 lead at 3:30. Corinne Laberge gave the Blue Devils the two-goal advantage after skating around the Clipper defense before going stick side on Williams.

The Blue Devils sealed their return trip to the Eastern final with a pair of third-period goals. Mikaela Brown made it 3-0 at 46 seconds of the frame when her shot from the right circle popped off Williams’ stick and over her outstretched glove, narrowly crossing the goal line.

Laberge added the exclamation point with her second of the game, knocking in a rebound in front of a DeBlois shot.

“We practice that, we work on that and that’s just another dynamic,” Dumont said. “It’s one thing scoring off the rush, but sometimes the dirty ones are going to make the difference and that’s what we have to do.”

The Blue Devils held a 47-21 advantage in shots, outshooting the Clippers by at least seven shots in each period.

Lewiston goalie Paige Fontaine pitched a shutout with 21 saves. Williams finished with 43 stops.

“She’s just been solid as a rock,” Dumont said of Fontaine. “She’s proven in the past couple years that when it comes down to playoffs, she starts to get really focused. We’re in the nitty-gritty and she’s starting to raise it up.

mkraft@sunjournal.com

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