It had been three seasons since the Lewiston boys’ hockey team played in a state final. For most teams, that’s not a long wait.

For the Blue Devils, however, it felt like ages.

“We’ve gotten our butts kicked for so long,” senior forward Dylan Blue said. “I’m tired of it. We want to go back, and we want to win.”

The top-seeded Blue Devils punched their ticket to the state final Wednesday night, getting goals from four players en route to a 4-0 victory over defending champion and fifth-seeded Thornton Academy in a Class A semifinal at Cross Insurance Arena.

Jacoby Oliviera, Ethan Blue, Hayden Brown and Cam Plourde got the goals for Lewiston (16-4), which will play No. 3 Bangor on Saturday. It’s Lewiston’s fifth trip to the final in eight seasons, but the first since winning its fourth championship in five years in 2020. The Blue Devils lost in the quarterfinals in 2022 and 2023.

“It’s nice to be able to get back to it,” Coach Jamie King said. “We’ve had a couple of rough years with some young guys, but now they’re all seniors and juniors, so it’s nice to have it.”

Thornton (13-7), which fell behind less than three minutes in and couldn’t muster many good looks against the Lewiston defense, saw its championship reign end and was denied in its bid for a third straight trip to the state final.

“The (chances) we did get it tight, (goalie Gabe Pomerleau) rolled over on or something happened,” Trojans Coach Jamie Gagnon said. “It’d look like it was behind him, and somehow it gets out. It squirts loose, we don’t have a guy in position to make a secondary or third chance. … (We) weren’t able to get up on the run, which is really one of our strengths.”

Lewiston’s opening goal started with a shot by Dylan Blue that was kicked out toward Oliviera at the point. The sophomore’s shot sailed past Blue, who was screening goalie Drew Johnson, and into the net 2:50 into the game.

“It was a good shot, a hell of a shot,” said Blue, a Travis Roy Award finalist. “That goal was huge. We had probably our best first period of the season.”

A golden chance for the Trojans to get back into the game backfired in the second period. Thornton was on its second power play and generated pressure, and Pomerleau was sprawled in the crease with the puck loose in front. Lewiston got to the puck first, though, and Ethan Blue raced the other way for a short-handed chance. He fired a wrist shot past Johnson to make it 2-0 with 6:10 left in the second.

“We feel like we’re pressing for the equalizer, and instead we’re down double,” Gagnon said. “It changes the tenor of the game a little bit.”

A few minutes later, Lewiston went up 3-0 when Deano Scalia slid a pass from behind the net to an incoming Brown with 3:21 left in the second.

The Blue Devils got their final goal when Plourde fired home the rebound of a Scalia shot with 39 seconds to play.

After allowing four goals in a quarterfinal win over Windham/Westbrook/Bonny Eagle, the Blue Devils tightened up on defense. Pomerleau stopped all 22 shots he faced.

“I thought we had a good practice, which is where it all started,” Pomerleau said. “We came in here mentally strong, and Coach was preaching (that). We came in here ready to go. … The defense was great, the offense was great.”

Johnson made 25 saves before leaving because of a lower-body injury after the third goal. Chris Chesebro stopped 11 of the 12 shots he faced in relief.

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