High school winter sports are fresh on local sports fans’ minds as the calendar flips from 2018 to ’19, but the New Year offers so much more in store for teams and athletes across sports and seasons.

Yet, while they are still the trending topic, let’s take a look at what 2019 might bring for the cold-weather and indoor sports.

The Lewiston and Edward Little/Leavitt/Poland girls’ hockey teams will face off on the ice to start the New Year (followed by the Lewiston and EL boys’ teams). Both the Blue Devils and Red Hornets enter 2019 without a loss to set up their midseason showdown. Pundits tabbed Lewiston as the team to beat entering the season, while the Red Hornets have been a bit more of a surprise. The New Year’s Day matinee could be the first of three meetings, with a definite rematch later in January and a possible North regional final matchup in February.

Of course, St. Dominic Academy, which won back-to-back state titles not too many calendars ago, could have something to say about it.

On the boys’ side, the Twin Cities trio makes up most of a quartet of Class A North teams who look a step above the rest of the competition in the region. Lewiston is going for a fourth straight state title, while St. Dom’s would like to finish the job in the regional final this year and win its first Class A crown since 2000. EL is hoping to join the mix in Norm Gagne’s second year at the helm of his alma mater.

Bangor could crash the whole party, however. All of that won’t be decided until early March at Androscoggin Bank Colisee, and there’s a lot of hockey left to be played.

The same goes for the hardwood, where both Edward Little teams are trying to  “defend” state titles. The Red Eddie boys got off to a solid start in that quest, but a showdown with perennial power Portland looms on Jan. 4. The EL girls haven’t fared as well, with losses to early-season Class AA North leaders Oxford Hills and Windham. The Vikings exacted some revenge from last year’s regional final with a road win in Auburn to start this season.

Many local basketball teams played well in the 2018 portion of their schedules. On the boys’ side, Mt. Blue (in its first year under former Dirigo coach Travis Magnusson), Leavitt, Mountain Valley, Winthrop and Rangeley have all made noise. So, too, have the girls teams from Mt. Blue, Gray-New Gloucester, Mountain Valley, Oak Hill, Winthrop and Rangeley. And defending Class C champ Monmouth seems to be figuring out new coach Rick Larrabee’s system after a bit of a shaky start.

Gold balls will be handed out the first weekend of March, and it wouldn’t be a surprise to see at least one, if not multiple, Sun Journal region teams hoisting one.

Hardware could be handed out locally for some other winter sports teams.

In cheering, with the season’s first state championship on Feb. 9, the teams from Lewiston and Lisbon will be more than motivated (and well stocked) to get back to their state-title forms after falling just short in repeat bids last year.

The following weekend will see state championships handed out in everything except boys’ and girls’ basketball and boys’ hockey. The Mt. Blue boys will be trying to stay on top in boys’ Nordic skiing. Other local teams on the trails and on the Alpine slopes will be gunning for team and individual titles.

In swimming, wrestling and indoor track, don’t be surprised to see some individual state titles from local athletes.

About the same time the high school winter season is coming to an end, the Central Maine Community College men’s and women’s basketball teams will hope to begin championship runs. The Mustang women are trying to get back to the national championship for the third year in a row, and are looking for their second title in three years, while the men would like to reciprocate that success.

Hoops teams from Bates College and University of Maine at Farmington have some stiff conference competition to deal with before any thoughts of national-landscape success.

Junior hockey will get a sliver of time to be in the spotlight. The first-year Twin City Thunder will try and make the playoffs in their first try, while across the river the L/A Nordiques hope to turn their hot start to the regular season into a successful finish in the postseason.

College spring sports will begin not long after the winter teams finish up. The Bates men’s and women’s lacrosse teams will look to be competitive once again in the New England Small College Athletic Conference.

While the snow tries to melt on local ball fields, Sugarloaf will be making more of it in mid-March. The resort is set to host the first-ever U.S. Alpine Speed Championships. Two years after hosting the U.S. Alpine Championships, Sugarloaf (and its vaunted Narrow Gauge trail) will test some of the country’s best skiers in the downhill, super-G and alpine combined events.

Lewiston High School won’t have to fret over the melting of snow, with its new turf baseball field also set up for softball. Add in the new stadium field for lacrosse, and the Blue Devils will be ready to go when the first day of preseason comes around.

The Lewiston girls’ tennis, Oxford Hills softball and St. Dom’s girls’ lacrosse teams will all be ready to work on trying to get back to state finals, where each lost. There will also be plenty of local baseball teams who want to have better showings in 2019, and Sun Journal territory is always ripe with talented track teams and athletes.

It may be hard to believe, but eventually the thermometers will read 70 degrees and above, school will be out for summer, and the 2018-19 high school season will be over. Then focus will turn to amateur golf (lots of young talent is taking over the summer tournaments), the 30th Maine Shrine Lobster Bowl (The East earned its 10th win in the series last summer) and the 46th running of the Oxford 250 (will Bubba Pollard return, and can he repeat?), which will cap off the summer before another high school season starts back up.

Next fall might see the debut of eight-man football as a Maine Principals’ Association-sanctioned sport. Some local schools might be in the mix.

Speaking of “in the mix,” it doesn’t take much of a stretch of the imagine to see all four “Boston-area” major pro sports teams contending for championships in 2019.

The Patriots have had their obituary partially written, but they have the experience and coach/QB combo to find their way to another Super Bowl to cap off this season.

The Celtics were labeled the team to beat in the NBA’s Eastern Conference, but haven’t played like it enough. That could certainly change come March and April, and they have the talent and seemingly the coaching to get them to an NBA Finals against the Golden State Warriors, or possibly another Western Conference team like the Houston Rockets or the LeBron James-led Los Angeles Lakers (how fun would that be?).

The Bruins would appear to be the farthest from a title run, but roads to the Stanley Cup Final are often paved by hot goaltending. Whether Jaroslav Halak or Tuukka Rask can provide that brick wall in net for four playoff rounds remains to be seen.

So much more ink could be spilled focusing on the “What ifs” of 2019, but we’ll leave it at that. And maybe after all of next Christmas’ wrapping paper is on its way to the transfer station we can look back and see if any of it was right, anyway.

wkramlich@sunjournal.com