MORE COVERAGE: The Hot Corner: Lewiston vs. St. Dom’s the best high school rivalry, anywhere, period | Lewiston-St. Dom’s fan energy rivals the players

Joe Bisson reacts after scoring a second period goal to put Lewiston up 2-0 over St. Dom’s. 

LEWISTON — Lewiston won big and it won close against St. Dominic Academy during the regular season. When another chapter in the storied rivalry took place in Tuesday’s Class A North boys’ hockey regional final, it started as another close one before finishing in a rout.

The Blue Devils bombarded the Saints with shots throughout, and more than enough got through for a 5-1 victory at Androscoggin Bank Colisee.

No. 1 Lewiston (16-2-2) skated away to a 6-1 victory the last time the two teams faced off the Colisee, but second-seeded St. Dom’s (11-8-1) closed the gap to 3-2 when the rivalry went across the bridge to Norway Savings Bank Arena.

Through two periods that second score more closely followed how the biggest games in the rivalry have gone in recent years. Those matchups have just usually gone in favor of the Saints, who won 5-3 in the regional final last year and 4-2 in the regional semifinals the year before that. It was a 1-0 St. Dom’s win in the 2012 regional final, and the Blue Devils’ last playoff victory in the series came in 2011.

Well late Tuesday night the Lewiston players and their fans partied like it was 2011. The Blue Devils are returning to the state final since a loss to Falmouth in 2013.

Lewiston was determined to shoot its way to the state championship game, tallying the first seven on-target chances of the game. The Saints finally got their first and began to tilt the ice in their favor. Then Sam Frechette stopped that with the first shot not to be stopped. Frechette sat by the left post and waited for a rebound, and St. Dom’s goalie Kyle Welsh was still on the ice after stopping one shot when Frechette was successful on a second.

“It was just a rebound, and I was just lucky to get it on my stick,” Frechette said. “That’s what we’ve been going for for a long time now, is to get to the net.”

The shots were 12-5 in favor of Lewiston in the first period. That disparity grew to 15-4 for the second period.

“They were getting shots, but they really seemed to be perimeter shots,” St. Dom’s coach Bob Parker said. “A couple went down low … but our kids really did a good job down low.”

The lead stayed the same, however. Joe Bisson scored on another rebound goal with five minutes left in the second, but Reese Farrell answered on the power play for the Saints two minutes later. It was a 2-1 game after two, despite the overwhelming shot differential.

“Third period, I said we need to get back to what we’re good at, which is our skates, and moving the puck around,” Lewiston coach Jamie Belleau said.

Play lasted just 35 seconds into the third before it was halted for puddles on the ice.

Frechette said the message during the delay was simple: “Don’t stop. Just keep going. Drown them.”

When play resumed so did Lewiston’s scoring. Frechette and Alex Rivet scored 43 seconds apart, with the latter coming exactly two minutes into the period.

A Dustin Larochelle goal — which like Frechette’s first score was reviewed before being confirmed — came less than three minutes later, and the rout was on. So, too, was the party for the fans in Blue.

“I think just Lewiston came at us pretty hard,” Parker said of the onslaught. “They got the bounces off the shiny ice out there … and they just found the net.”

The final shot disparity was 42-13. Welsh, who backstopped the Saints to a state final a year ago, was pulled with seven minutes to go after stopping 32 shots. Senior Alex Michaud finished up in net for St. Dom’s.

The Blue Devils will be going after their first state title since 2002 on Saturday, when they face South No. 1 Scarborough. The two teams played twice during the regular season, settling for draws both times.

Someone will have to win with the state championship on the line.

wkramlich@sunjournal.com

Kyle Morin, right, of Lewiston High School checks Austin Roy of St. Dom’s during the first period in Lewiston on Tuesday. 

Lewiston High School players celebrate after the Blue Devils beat St. Dom’s 5-1 to advance to Saturday’s state championship against Scarborough High School. 

Lewiston celebrates after going up 4-1 over St. Dom’s on Tuesday. 

Sam Frechette (55) puts Lewiston on the board with a first period goal to put the Blue Devils up 1-0. 

Gavin Bates of St. Dom’s is called for interference as he pulls Joe Bisson of Lewiston down to the ice during the second period in Lewiston.