By Justin Pelletier,Staff Writer

LEWISTON – Tim Smith took the hockey coaching job at Lewiston High School with a five-year plan in mind.

Five years later, true to that original plan, Smith has decided to step down.

“I’ve been telling people for a while now that I was planning on doing five years,” said Smith, who is coming off of an 18-6 season and a trip to the state finals. “This is a decision I made with my family earlier this year. To get back to the state game one last time was awesome.” Smith has 3-year-old twins and is a teacher at McMahon Elementary school in Lewiston. He said those considerations had to come first.

“They’re starting youth soccer in the fall,” Smith said. “They are starting to get into sports and they show an interest, and I’m hoping to be able to follow them through with that now. Also, I just started a master’s degree program in January, knowing I would be done coaching this year.”

In five years at Lewiston, Smith has guided the Blue Devils to four appearances in the Eastern Class A final and two Class A state championship games, winning on the first try in 2002.

“It was a lifelong goal of mine to coach at Lewiston, it being my alma mater,” said Smith. “I was lucky to be part of three state championship games, two as the head coach and one a win in 2002. Four straight trips to the Eastern Maine title game is nothing to ashamed of, either.”

In all, Smith coached for eight years at Lewiston, three at Yarmouth as an assistant and one in New Hampshire.

His players said the announcement was not unexpected.

“He didn’t come out and actually say it, but as the year went on you could tell,” said senior captain Joe Gauthier. “He had mentioned that he might be done this year, and that he wanted to go out and try as hard as we could to win it one more time.”

“The time was just right for him, I guess,” said fellow senior Nate Gruz. “He coached us a lot like we were a pro team. He knew how to guide us. It was a lot of fun playing for him.”

Smith is optimistic for the program, saying that he sees a lot in the next few years similar to what he saw when he first started at Lewiston.

Rumors have flown for months about whether Smith would step down, and about a replacement. Smith feels strongly that assistant coach Jay Dufour is ready to step in and assume control.

“I’ve been blessed with some great assistants,” said Smith. “That’s probably what I’ll miss the most, is the camaraderie with the other coaches. Jay’s been with me the longest, and Steve (Farrar), Jeff (Guay) for two years and this year, Joe (Mynahan). I think Jay has come a long way in the last few years in maturing to where I think he’s ready to take over. The program would benefit from some continuity.”

For Smith, the step down may not be permanent.

“It was not an easy decision to make, but it’s the right one,” said Smith. “When you have something you’ve always wanted and you have to let it go, it’s not always an easy thing to do. Am I saying I’ll never coach again, though? No, not at all.”