LEWISTON — The Lewiston boys’ hockey team aced every test on its way to an 8-0 start to the season before facing off with Class A South leader Falmouth on Monday night.

History? The Blue Devils have put last year’s title run in the history books and moved on to this season’s current events.

Reading? The Blue Devils can read an opponent’s game plan as well as anyone.

Physical education? Lewiston has the stamina, skills and effort befitting a team that won each of its first eight games.

But the subject where the Blue Devils have shown the most aptitude this season is chemistry.

And the best example early on of that chemistry has been the forward line of sophomores Sam Frechette and Alex Robert and junior Alex Rivet.

“I believe it was preseason, yeah, when Coach was trying to figure out lines,” Frechette said. “He was trying things up and put us together, and hasn’t moved (us) yet.”

The Blue Devils have been clicking as a team all season. The same can be said for one of their top lines, which got the starting nod Monday night against Falmouth.

“It took a practice, maybe, but that was it,” Rivet said.

“I think we all know where each other’s going to be, and we just work it down low pretty well,” Robert said.

That chemistry stood strong even when the equation was changed up during a game against Bangor earlier this season. Robert and Rivet were slotted into what are usually defensive spots to start the second period, with Frechette taking the opening faceoff. Frechette flipped the drop back to Robert, who skated up the left boards before firing a shot that was rebounded right to Frechette, who’s shot then got a favorable deflection off a Bangor player and into the net.

“That was our first time trying it,” Robert said.

“(Coach) told us that on the bench 10 seconds before,” Frechette added.

“That’s what you’re trying to do as a coach, you’re trying to find combinations that work,” Lewiston coach Jamie Belleau said. “Certainly nice to have three guys that are working well together.”

That was just one of 12 goals that the trio has scored this season. Rivet (four goals, six assists) and Frechette (five goals, four assists) have been better than point-per-game players. Robert (three goals, three assists) isn’t far off eight games in.

All of them averaged more than a point per game last season.

“They’re proven commodities, they’ve done well for us in the past,” Belleau said. “The better you get, the more pressure and more expectation there is for you to perform, and we don’t hide from that. Those are three guys that have been impact players for us last year, and are impact players for us this year.”

The individuals rarely, if ever, made an impact as one line last year. Now they’re together almost every shift, according to Robert. And the results speak to the chemistry that they have created.

“There’s certainly some complementary skills, but there’s also some different skill sets that they bring to the table,” Belleau said. “Rivet’s a big, strong kid, has good speed, good shot, good hands. Big, physical presence on the ice. Sam Frechette’s a sophomore, young, but he’s a big, strong kid, skates well, sees the ice well, has a good shot. And Robert is a little more silky, but just as good, and as good, and they all complement each other well. So you got a couple of big bodies, and three guys with skill, it certainly doesn’t hurt.”

Belleau was quick to add that credit for the line’s production belongs to more than the three players. There’s always two other skaters on the ice with them during even-strength play, when the line is together the most. And there are 17 other players in total that have had a hand in helping the line light the lamp.

“Those kids are talented, they’ve got a proven track record of being talented, but the 17 guys around them really complement them, and really it’s what separates them from other lines and other teams,” Belleau said.

Even the linemates, themselves, alluded to the team as a whole factoring into their success.

“All of us as a team, we’re pretty much all family, we’re all close, and I think that’s where a lot of the chemistry comes from,” Robert said. “We all hang out together, we’re all brothers.”

It’s been a brotherhood of brilliance, leading to eight wins in eight games. The Blue Devils have had 15 different players score goals, with junior Joe Bisson — who missed most of last season due to injury before becoming a key part in the championship run — topping the charts with 13. Senior captain Jeromey Rancourt is tied with Bisson for the team lead with 21 points, and those two have often been paired together on another top line, with a rotation of players making up that trio.

“All the lines are starting to jell up,” Rivet said.

The chemistry of the Frechette-Robert-Rivet line, and team as a whole, keeps getting better, according to Frechette. That will have to continue to be the case for a Lewiston team that faces a difficult schedule down the stretch, with each opponent hoping to knock off the defending champs.

All the tests the Blue Devils have aced so far has only made them hungry to keep making the grade.

“Our goal is every shift to get better,” Robert said.

wkramlich@sunjournal.com

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