LEWISTON — Well, so much for the thought Lewiston High might be slipping in girls’ hockey.

Lewiston faced one of the best teams in the state and came away with a 7-2 rout of the Greely Rangers Wednesday night at the Colisee.

Corinne Laberge scored a hat trick, and Erica Lemieux added two goals and three assists. All-State goalie Paige Fontaine made 34 saves. Courtney Sullivan and Ellie Schad scored for Greely.

The Blue Devils (16-0-1) had recently tied Scarborough and came away with a close win over Yarmouth/Freeport.

Lewiston erased any doubt it is the team to beat in the playoffs, which start next week. The Blue Devils will be the top-seeded East team.

“They’re obviously really strong,” Greely Coach Nate Guerin said. “Give them a lot of credit. They were better than us at every position.”

Advertisement

Greely (13-3-1) will get a third seed in the East. The Rangers, state champs in 2012 and ’13, had been coming on strong, unbeaten in their last six games, including a win over Scarborough and a tie with Edward Little/Leavitt.

“We were coming off a couple of really strong games,” Guerin said. “So it was a little frustrating to play that way (against Lewiston).”

Lewiston Coach Ron Dumont had concerns about Greely, especially after the tie against Scarborough.

“We just didn’t come prepared to play (against Scarborough) and we talked about that, going into this game,” Dumont said. “We know (Greely) always competes. They’re a real good test and I think we responded very well.

“Offensively, we did what we wanted to. We moved the puck really well.”

Lewiston did move well and, at times, the Rangers gave them too much space, or turned over the puck. A Greely pass in the Rangers’ zone went right to Laberge’s stick. She fired and Lemieux was there for the rebound for a 1-0 lead at 8:23.

Advertisement

The Blue Devils were also unchecked at the net. Lemieux got her second rebound goal at 9:44.

Greely did have chances and peppered the net, looking for rebounds. Greely outshot Lewiston 36-21.

“They always work. They get to the net,” Dumont said. “We had to box out.”

And Lewiston usually did, although Sullivan scored during a scrum in the crease, closing Greely to 2-1 at 13:51.

But Lewiston got the momentum back in the second period, moving the puck superbly during a power play, setting up a blast from freshman defenseman Lauren DeBlois 57 seconds into the period for a 3-1 lead.

Lewiston got three more goals in the period and the rout was on. It was the most goals allowed by Greely since losing to Lewiston 6-3 on Dec. 5.

“This is a good gauge of where we’re at,” Dumont said. “Good effort by us, going into the end of the year.”

Greely concludes its regular season Thursday with a home game against Brunswick. The Blue Devils play host to St. Dominic Saturday.


Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.

Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.