The Bangor High School Rams and Lewiston Blue Devils met twice during the regular season, and the Rams turned in 30 minutes of good hockey in each game.
But the Blue Devils owned the final 15 minutes and came away with 7-3 and 5-4 (overtime) victories.
The two rivals will meet in the Eastern Maine Class A semifinals at noon Saturday at the Androscoggin Bank Colisee in Lewiston, and Bangor coach Quinn Paradis will be looking for a full 45-minute performance from his team.
Third seed Bangor is 13-6, and No. 2 Lewiston is 13-5-1.
Auburn rivals St. Dominic Academy, 15-2-1 and the top seed, and fifth seed Edward Little, 10-9, will square off at 2 p.m.
Meanwhile, the Eastern Class B semifinals will be held Saturday at Sukee Arena in Winslow with fourth seed Brewer, 9-7-3, looking to upset defending state champ Messalonskee of Oakland, 17-1 and the top seed, at 5 p.m.
Archrivals Waterville, 13-4-1, and Winslow, 13-6, will square off at 8 p.m. Waterville is the No. 2 seed and Winslow is the third seed. They split during the regular season.
Against Bangor, Lewiston scored four third-period goals to break a 3-3 tie in the first game and erased a 4-1 deficit in the second contest thanks to another third-period rally.
“We played four solid periods out of six,” said Paradis. “We’ll need to play three good periods on Saturday.”
He was encouraged by his team’s third period in its 5-1 quarterfinal win over Brunswick on Tuesday night as the Rams scored four unanswered goals.
“I was very happy with how we played in the third period,” said Paradis, who was pleased with the team’s response after giving up the game-opening goal in the second period.
Bangor tied it on a Sam Huston goal 1:24 later.
“We have nothing to lose. The pressure is on them,” said Bangor defenseman and co-captain Huston. “We know what they’re going to do, and they know what we’re going to do. It’s going to be a battle.”
Paradis said his team is going to have to establish the forecheck, do a better job covering the middle of the slot in the defensive zone and avoid taking unnecessary penalties.
Lewiston coach Jamie Belleau knows his speedy Blue Devils team will have its hands full.
“Bangor will come out ready to play. They have something to prove,” he said.
Bangor has been led by Jake Fournier (18 goals, 10 assists), Trevor DeLaite (12 & 10), Nick Graham (10 & 12), Coleman-Pray (11 & 9) and Sam Kenney (10 & 6) along with defensemen Ben Crichton (8 & 12) and Huston and goalie Derek Fournier.
Lewiston features Jeromey Rancourt (16 & 12), Brendon Croteau (11 & 13) and Kyle Morin (11 & 7) along with defensemen Joey Frechette (4 & 12) and Cole Ouellette (5 & 10). Jacob Strout and Nick Hawk have shared the goaltending.
Brewer first-year coach Lance Ingerson expects a close game with Messalonskee, which has won 15 straight and is the defending three-time regional champ.
Messalonskee won the regular season meetings 3-0 and 4-1.
“We’re going to have to play a strong defensive game because they have some extremely good forwards,” said Ingerson. “We had a lot of chances in the second game, but we weren’t able to capitalize.”
“I think they’re going to take us lightly, and we’re going to come out and give them everything we have,” said Brewer senior center Gabe Valley. “It’s an advantage going in as an underdog. We’ll be ready. They’ve got a lot of quick guys so we’re going to have to backcheck and play tight in the defensive zone.”
Brewer has been led by Valley, Dylan Severance, Tyler Davis and Caleb Eggert, who had two goals in the 4-2 quarterfinal win over John Bapst of Bangor. Trey Wood and Jack Schroder have anchored the defense in front of goalie Tyler Friel.
Jared Cunningham, Jake Dexter and Brandon Nale have been the offensive catalysts for Messalonskee with Dylan Burton and Sam Bell headlining the defense in front of goalie Elijah Tuell.