LEWISTON — Lewiston came into the playoffs focused, and that made all the difference in this North regional semifinal contest Saturday.

The Blue Devils (18-0-1) opened their quest for the girls state hockey championship with a convincing 5-0 victory over Yarmouth/Freeport at the Androscoggin Bank Colisee.

The top-seeded Blue Devils will take on No. 3 Edward Little/Leavitt/Poland in the North final on Wednesday at Troubh Ice Arena in Portland.

“We kind of realized that we aren’t the only team here who wanted to compete, especially after our Scarborough tie,” Blue Devils junior forward Gemma Landry said, referring to Lewiston’s regular season finale. “We were like OK, we can’t go in over our heads, with our whole season with a really good record, almost spotless. We had to go out there and not take it easy on them and play how we know we can.”

Landry led the Blue Devils with a goal and two assists.

Yarmouth/Freeport (10-10-0) coach David Intraversato said said the Clippers’ loss doesn’t take away from their strong second half of the season.

“Our team — we have a lot of heart,” Intraversato said. “We came out of the gates, 2-7, and we went 7-2 in our (final nine regular-season games). We won our first playoff game, and that third period, we played that much harder. Lewiston is a good team. It’s just tough to match up when you only have two lines versus their three.”

Madison Conley opened the scoring early in the first period while the Blue Devils were short-handed.

Lewiston coach Ron Dumont said being short a player to start the game wasn’t the most ideal situation.

Both teams were 0-for-3 on the power play.

“That was interesting. I said we need to kill this,” Dumont said. “We have been pretty good all year doing that. It wasn’t a giant concern, but, yes, you never like to start that way. It is what it is. Like I said before the game, you take what’s in front of you and you go from there.”

Gemma Landry, who had the assist on Conley’s goal, set up Lewiston’s second score when she found Paige Pomerleau in the slot from behind the goal line. Pomerleau fired the puck past Clippers goalie Allie Perrotta (36 saves) with just under three and half minutes to play in the first period. Conley also had the secondary assist.

“Paige and I have been doing that a lot this year. I told her that will be there almost every time against mostly every team,” Gemma Landry said. “It was a very good (play) to have and she found a way to bury that puck and props for her for doing that.”

The Clippers goal was to pin the Blue Devils in their own end as much as possible.

“We wanted to try to win the neutral zone (battle) and steal the puck and get it in deep to keep them in their half of the ice,” Intraversato said. “That was kind of our game plan. It was working a little bit but we got tired, we only have two lines.”

The score remained 2-0 until midway through the second period when Leah Landry found Leah Dube going to the crease. Dube redirected the puck into the goal to give the Blue Devils a 3-0 lead.

Lewiston scored another goal off a redirection when Ava Geoffrey’s point shot was deflected by Alyssa Marcoux for a 4-0 lead.

Leah Dube’s and Marcoux’s goals were designed plays.

“All components of stuff when (the opposition) is clogging up the middle,” Dumont said. “Sometimes a shot isn’t going to be possible, and tips are what you have to go with.

“I think all around we did a good job using different strategies, for a lack of a better word, to get the puck to the net. That’s what you want. You want some balance.”

Gemma Landry stretched the lead to 5-0 in the third period with a shot that surprised Perrotta.

“That’s exactly what we have been practicing, the screen shots, using their player as a screen so the goalie can’t see it,” Landry said.

Camree St. Hilaire made six saves for the shutout for the Blue Devils.

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