Lewiston’s Gemma Landry watches Winslow/Gardiner/Cony goalie Emma Michaud watch the puck sail past her mask during a game last month at the Androscoggin Bank Colisee in Lewiston. Russ Dillingham/Sun Journal Buy this Photo
With only one loss between them, North top seed Lewiston and South top seed Scarborough are considered the favorites heading into the girls hockey playoffs, which begin Wednesday.
But if the regular season is any indication, those two teams are not the only contenders, and they are not unbeatable.
In the North, Lewiston secured the No. 1 seed for the third season in a row. And once again, the Blue Devils (17-0-1) looked like juggernauts in many games. In fact, they turned away all comers through their first 17 games before ending the regular season with a draw against Scarborough on the road (when they had to rally to stay unbeaten).
The Blue Devils outscored their opponents 103-7 during the regular season, with 13 shutouts. That equates to 5.72 goals per game for Lewiston, and a mere 0.39 goals against.
Mixed in with the season-ending tie were a 2-0 home win over the Red Storm (15-1-2), a 2-0 win at rival St. Dom’s/Winthrop/Gray-New Gloucester, a third-period rally for a 6-3 win over Cape Elizabeth/Waynflete/South Portland, and a 2-1 home win in the second game vs. the Saints, who finished as the North’s No. 2 seed with an 11-7 record.
The top two teams in each region earned byes into the regional semifinals.
The Blue Devils will face the winner of No. 4 Yarmouth/Freeport (9-9-0) and No. 5 Winslow/Gardiner/Cony (9-8-1) in the semifinals Saturday. The latter two teams opened the season against each other, and the Black Tigers notched the road win at the same rink where they will play in the quarterfinals. The Clippers then won the rematch on the road later in the season. Neither team fared well against Lewiston, which outscored its potential semifinal opponents 24-1 in four combined games.
The Saints will match up with the winner of Wednesday’s (8:40 p.m.) quarterfinal between rival and third-seeded Edward Little/Leavitt/Poland and No. 6 Mt. Ararat/Lisbon, whose 10 wins were a program record and the third-most in the region. The Red Hornets (9-6-3) and Eagles (10-7-1) only faced off once, a 2-2 tie in Auburn, where the quarterfinal will take place.
The Saints will have a keen eye on that matchup, as they split of pair of close games with the Red Hornets, but had an easier time in the lone meeting with the Eagles.
In the South, Scarborough went through its regular season with only one blemish (to Lewiston) and two ties (the season-ender against Lewiston and a 0-0 draw at the Red Hornets), as well as an overtime win over the Saints.
The Red Storm weren’t the same offensive power as Lewiston, averaging 3.67 goals per game, but the defense was nearly as stout, giving up just nine goals all season, or 0.5 per-game. Scarborough pitched 11 shutouts.
Also in the South, the second-seeded Capers (12-5-1) had a tough time going against the Red Storm defense, scoring only one goal in each of their two losses to Scarborough. In addition to losses to each region’s top seed twice, the Capers also fell to defending state champ Cheverus/Old Orchard Beach (the South’s No. 3 seed) and tied the Red Hornets. The Capers have one of the state’s better offenses, averaging 4.72 goals per game.
The No. 3 Stags (13-5-0)) were a bit unheralded this season, despite winning 13 games. They didn’t face any of the North’s top seeds, and faced the Red Storm and Capers only once each. Still, they bring back some championship pedigree, as well as title-winning goalie Trinity Atwater.
Cheverus/OOB might face a tough challenge in the quarterfinals, in which the Stags meet a No. 6 Falmouth (5-13) team that took the two teams’ lone regular-season meeting to overtime before losing. The Yachtsmen lost 13 games, but faced the North’s top three seeds and the South’s top two seeds twice each. The winner of that matchup will face the Capers.
The other South quarterfinal pits No. 4 Portland/Deering (11-7) against No. 5 York/Traip/Marshwood (8-10). The hosting Bulldogs won a close regular-season matchup with the Wildcats, 5-4. The winner gets Scarborough, which twice shut out the York/Traip/Marshwood but had to eke out a 3-2 win over Portland/Deering.
The state championship will be played Saturday, Feb. 15, at 3 p.m. at Androscoggin Bank Colisee in Lewiston.
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