Colby and Riley Daigle, left, and Aiden and Connor St. George are two sets of brothers that play on opposite sides of the Lewiston and St. Dom’s hockey rivalry. Colby Daigle and Aiden St. George play for Lewiston and their younger brothers, Riley Daigle and Connor St. George, play for St. Dominic Academy. Andree Kehn/Sun Journal

There’s an extra layer to the Lewiston and St. Dom’s boys hockey rivalry this season.

It’s not because the two teams are near the top of the Class A standings — though they are — but because of two sets of brothers: the Daigles and St. Georges.

Colby Daigle plays for Lewiston, and his brother, Riley, plays for St. Dom’s. Aiden St. George suits up for the Blue Devils, while Connor St. George wears a Saints sweater.

“It’s always been like that; we always have been rivals,” Colby Daigle said about he and his brother. “It’s kind of normal for us.”

Aiden and Colby are seniors, while Connor and Riley are sophomores. Riley is a defenseman and the other three are forwards.

Usually, the younger sibling follows in the older sibling’s footsteps, but in these two case, Connor and Riley got their older brothers into hockey.

“It’s kind of cool that I started something and he went with me,” Connor said. “It’s nice.”

The Daigles had their first taste of playing against each other last season, with Lewiston winning all three games — two in the regular season and one in the playoffs — while the St. Georges experienced it for the first time last month when Lewiston defeated St. Dom’s 7-2 on Dec. 22.

“It was one on the calendar to look forward for,” Aiden St. George said about the December matchup. “I was excited to play against him for the first time. I wanted to hit him a couple of times.”

Jen St. George, the mother of Aiden and Connor, said she was anxious while watching her two sons play against each other.

“Because of their ages, they never played with each other in youth hockey,” Jen St. George said. “To see them on the ice has been really exciting. They will only have two (regular season) games this year. There’s a lot of nerves — I don’t know where to sit in the arena. I cheer for both teams all the time.”

Colby and Riley Daigle grew up playing on the same team in youth hockey, but they have enjoyed the switch to playing against each other.

“It’s fun. I like going up against him,” Riley, who this past fall played soccer and was part of St. Dom’s state championship golf team, said. “It’s competitive; we have been competitive all our lives. It’s fun playing high school against him.”

“We always try to make it fun when we are out there,” Colby Daigle said. “We always mess with each other a little bit. We look at each other and, I don’t know, mess with him.”

Riley said most of the trash talk usually happens after the games.

“We both give each other crap about it, win or lose,” Riley said.

DIVIED LOYALTIES

Colby Daigle said his parents will each sit on one side of the arena to support him and his brother during Lewiston-St. Dom’s matchups.

Jen St. George has a jacket with the two school logos on it that she wears to the games.

“It’s a pretty interesting jacket,” Aiden St. George said. “I mean, a lot of moms don’t exactly love it because both teams are on it, because they are rivals, but it’s fun.”

“I think it’s a pretty cool thing that she did,” Connor said. “I was actually laughing when she came home with it.”

The four players have their own reasons for attending their schools.

“I have been at St. Dom’s since like the second grade, and I just stayed there,” Riley Daigle said.

Colby, meanwhile, attended St Dom’s from fourth through sixth grade.

“I never liked the small school (feel),” he said.

He switched to Lewiston Middle School for his seventh- and eighth-grade years.

Connor St. George went through the Lewiston public school system before heading to St. Dom’s for high school. He knew a lot of kids that were going to the Auburn private school.

“I enjoyed the people in my grade,” Connor said. “It was kind of a smaller school, and we are all friends with each other.”

Aiden — who has been attending Lewiston schools since he was in elementary school — was happy for his younger brother’s decision to attend St. Dominic Academy.

“I was fine with it,” Aiden said. “I stayed at Lewiston because of the LRTC program and everything. I grew up with these boys, and I always had a good experience with sports in Lewiston. But for him,” he said, referring to Connor, “it was a different path. He enjoys it a lot more now and he gets a lot more playing time — it’s good for him.”

The Blue Devils (8-3) and the Saints (7-3-1) meet again Wednesday at 6 p.m. at Norway Savings Bank Arena in Auburn. It might be the final time the pair of brothers face each other because Aiden and Colby are set to graduate in June.

“It’s a big game against them,” Aiden St. George said, before noting the two teams’ high standings in the Maine Principals’ Association’s Class A Heal point standings — Lewiston is second and St. Dom’s ranks fourth. Also, the Blue Devils are ranked first and the Saints are fourth in the latest Varsity Maine boys hockey poll.

The Saints are seeking to stop their recent struggles against Lewiston.

“We are really wanting this win,” Connor St. George said.

This might not be the final Daigle-and-St. George vs. Daigle-and-St. George matchup, because there could be another Lewiston-vs.-St. Dom’s postseason showdown in early March.

“We have mentioned it. It would be fun,” Riley Daigle said.