PORTLAND – Unless you’re wearing an officially licensed NFL helmet with a flying Elvis pasted onto a silver background, you’re likely not on a team discussing a season’s worth of perfection right about now.

If the folks in the Lewiston High School dressing room had any delusions of such a feat, after Friday afternoon, forget it.

But Friday’s loss to South Windsor, Conn. might have been just what the team – and the coaching staff – needed.

The loss, a more-even-than-the-score-would-indicate 4-1 setback, is the Blue Devils’ first of any kind since a two-period, preseason tilt.

And it drove home a message.

“People say we’re going to be one of the top teams in Maine, but what does that mean?” forward and captain Casey Poussard questioned. “It’s good to play top teams from other states to see where we end up.”

Lewiston and South Windsor are two of the 44 teams that suited up for the seventh annual Maine High School Hockey Invitational this week. Most of the teams played three games in four days, with the final games scheduled for today.

Lewiston shut out longtime rival Berlin, N.H., 4-0, on Wednesday, outlasted Amity, Conn. in overtime, 4-3, on Thursday, and then fell to South Windsor on Friday.

“(This tournament) helps us in building some confidence,” Gagne said. “It gives us the feeling that we know we belong, that we have the team we thought we have. In the first four games (of the regular season), we really didn’t know where we stood, we didn’t have a gauge.”

That’s because in their first four league games, the Blue Devils outscored their opponents 38-4. In two other, non-league games, Lewiston blitzed rival Edward Little twice by a combined score of 16-1

“We get to see what we’re really made of,” Letourneau said. “Last year, we started with all of the tougher teams on our regular schedule first, and I think it kind of hurt us, because we weren’t really mature together as a team. This year, we played those games, got our feet wet and it helped prepare us. This tournament is huge. It helps prepare us for games against St. Dom’s, Brewer, Brunswick, all the top teams.”

Tournament founder and director Gary Prolman said Friday that games like Lewiston has played are part of the reason this tournament is so popular among Maine teams. This year, 18 of the 44 teams involved are from Maine.

“Until the Maine Principals’ Association agrees to have Division I, Division II, Division III, you’re never going to see this type of competition,” Prolman said. “You have games where a team has to play another team and win 10-0. It’s not fun for either side to play in a game like that.”

Prolman and Falmouth head coach Scott Rousseau spend time before the tournament trying to make sure that each team is matched up with a similar opponent.

“We spend a lot of time evaluating teams, figuring out which other teams they’ll match up with,” Prolman said. “(Falmouth coach) Scott Rousseau is very instrumental in doing the schedule with me. You look at the games, there’s been very few blowouts. We grade teams, and we match the teams as we grade them.”

The tournament topped out at 44 teams this year, and may expand even further, to 52 teams, next season. It has become a recruiting Mecca for junior and college scouts from around New England.

And Lewiston may even get a few home games in the near future.

“The reputation is getting pretty good now,” Prolman said. “The exposure the kids are getting is pretty good, too, but I think 52 will pretty much max us out if we went that high.

“We’ve been getting calls from Lewiston, the Colisee might like to do something with us, and out at USM, they have a little tournament, and they’d like to have a branch of it,” Prolman continued.

For teams like Lewiston, this tournament will always be a welcome addition to the middle part of their schedule.

“It gives us a chance to experiment, try different lines, try different combinations and try some of the younger kids to see how they respond to the situation,” Gagne said. “Those are the keys for us, and we’ve been able to use a lot of kids in this tournament.

“We’re going to be playing Bangor, Falmouth, Scarborough, we’re playing St. Dom’s,” Gagne continued. “This sets up perfect for us. We started a little slow, it gets tougher as we go along, and now we’re ready for January and February.”