LEWISTON — A third meeting each season between Lewiston and St. Dominic Academy in boys’ hockey is never guaranteed.

It just seems that way.

Well, it’s happening again. The No. 1 Blue Devils and No. 2 Saints will clash in the most likely of places Tuesday: Androscoggin Bank Colisee.

The Class A North regional title will be on the line, with a trip to the state final going to the victor.

Either Lewiston or St. Dom’s has come out of the East (now North) region in 10 of the last 11 years. Either one of them will make it 11 out of 12 on Tuesday.

The recent results point to Lewiston being a favorite. The Blue Devils won both regular-season meetings — 6-1 at the Colisee and 3-2 at Norway Savings Bank Arena in Auburn.

The close game back on Jan. 30 shows it could be anybody’s game. So do decades worth of rivalry matchups before it.

“You throw the records out the window when it comes to St. Dom’s-Lewiston,” Blue Devils coach Jamie Belleau said. “They’re going to give us our best game. We expect nothing less. We want to give them our best game.”

Belleau has been in more than a few of these Lewiston-St. Dom’s games in his eight years at the heml of the Blue Devils program. St. Dom’s coach Bob Parker is about to coach his first such playoff matchup, but isn’t letting history and hype dictate his preparation.

“We’re going to try to go about it as another game, another competitive game, and we look forward to it,” Parker said.

The Saints can’t hang their hat on a victory over their biggest rival this season, but Parker pointed to wins over both of the Class A South finalists — Falmouth and Scarborough — as reasons for optimism.

Those are the same two teams that dealt the Blue Devils one of their two losses (Falmouth) and tied them twice (Scarborough).

The overall numbers seem to favor Lewiston. The Blue Devils outscored opponents 106-30 during a 14-2-2 campaign. The Saints finished with a 71-57 scoring margin and a 10-7-1 record.

Yet similarities do exist. Each team is captained by a Travis Roy Award semifinalist, in Lewiston forward Kyle Morin and St. Dom’s forward Austin Roy. Both seniors were third on their team in points — Morin had 13 goals and 14 assists for 27 points, while Roy had 16 and 13 for 29. Each of them were among four players on their team with more than 20 points.

Both teams employ junior goalies at the No. 1 spot, each of whom was the playoff starter a year ago. Welsh took the double-overtime loss in the state championship game for St. Dom’s after helping his team knock off Jacob Strout and the Blue Devils in the regional final.

As usual, both teams possess enough talent to go around.

“They’re fast, they’re skilled. Everybody knows that,” Parker said of the Blue Devils. “We’re going to have to play really hard, play the best we possibly can, because I know Lewiston’s going to bring it. But we’re going to bring it also.”

The Saints combined for just three goals in two games against Lewiston during the regular season, but Belleau saw that same team put up four in the regional semifinals against Edward Little on Saturday.

“We got to make sure we do whatever we can to contain them,” Belleau said of St. Dom’s. “Play good defensively, move our feet in the defensive zone, and minimize their scoring opportunities.”

Beyond Morin and Roy, Welsh and Strout, other stars could shine. Jeromey Rancourt is another top-line center for the Blue Devils, and Morin centers a line with talented freshmen Alex Robert and Sam Frechette. Griffin Wade is a senior forward who scored a momentum-boosting shorthanded goal in the regional semifinals against Bangor, while sophomore Alex Rivet neted a hat trick. Freshman Reese Farrell led the Saints in points, and junior Noah Toussaint in goals. Senior assistant captain Isaac Lapointe can play both defense and forward, and can score from both positions. Sophomore defenseman Gavin Bates’ strength and skill are well-documented.

The stars come out when Lewiston and St. Dom’s clash at the Colisee. This year’s regional final should be no different.

This isn’t any other game.

“You … have to be honest with them,” Bellesau said. “They understand the magnitude of the game. They understand they’re playing their archrival.”

wkramlich@sunjournal.com

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