There is a clear-cut No. 1 team that has emerged at this point in the Maine high school boys hockey season. After that, a parity-riddled first month of the season has created a wide-open landscape.
Thornton Academy is freshly removed from its second state crown in the last three years and hasn’t shown any signs of regression. Class A will likely run through the defending champions.
From there, a slew of surprises has put the league on notice. Messalonskee and Edward Little are among the handful of squads to race out of the gate with statement wins amid a slate of games that have yielded a myriad of interesting results.
Expect January to be a key month for teams looking to pull away from the competition. Many teams have played only a handful of games so far, leaving plenty of questions due to the small sample size.
Let’s dive into where things currently stand.
1. Thornton Academy (5-1-0)
Previous rank: 1
Class A
Coach: Jamie Gagnon
Next: vs Falmouth, Jan. 3, 5:40 p.m.
Thornton Academy defended its banner in style on Saturday night. Skating to a 10-0 romp over Twin City during the team’s 2024-25 championship celebration, Thornton Academy didn’t hold back en route to its fourth straight victory in what has been a strong start to its title defense. Over that stretch, it has outscored its opponent by a whopping 35-1 margin, which has included notable wins over Leavitt/Poland/GNG/Oak Hill, Lewiston and Kents Hill. Jake Skillings (9-12-21) and Trent Lesieur (9-8-17) are atop the boys landscape in scoring and are a big reason for the fast start. Thornton Academy’s lone loss has come at the hands of Messalonskee, a team making a case for itself as an early-season surprise in Class B North. But Thornton has been firing on all cylinders ever since.
2. Messalonskee (2-1-0)
Previous rank: NR
Class B North
Coach: Dennis Martin
Next: vs Hampden/Nokomis/Ellsworth/MDI, Dec. 23, 6:30 p.m.
After knocking off the defending titleists, Messalonskee has barreled its way into the rankings and is one of the many surprises to make a splash thus far into a long season. What is perhaps even more impressive about the win over Thornton Academy is that Martin’s team did so with a 7-4 victory. Messalonskee has only played three games, but Alex Beckwith (3-4-7) is already assuming a top role in Martin’s forward core and is driving the Messalonskee offense with Tatum Doucette (4-3-7). Messalonskee did suffer a 4-3 loss to Cony Co-Op in another testament to the bevy of parity so far around the league, but it has shown the rest of the landscape that it can compete with anyone.
3. Lake Region/Fryeburg Academy/Oxford (4-0-0)
Previous rank: NR
Class A
Coach: Wayne Neiman
Next: vs Windham/Westbrook/Bonny Eagle/Sacopee Valley, Dec. 22, 5:10 p.m.
Another team to make its debut in the top 10, the Ice Cats are unbeaten this winter and have taken advantage of a favorable schedule out of the gate to rise to the top of the Class A standings with Thornton Academy. While doing so, Lake Region/Fryeburg Academy/Oxford has yielded two players with big performances on the stat sheet. Jokubas Mostavicius (10-3-13) and Gunner Truman (4-9-13) trail only Thornton Academy’s top-scoring stalwarts on the league leaderboards.
4. Cheverus/Yarmouth (2-1-0)
Previous rank: 3
Class A
Coach: David St. Pierre
Next: vs Marshwood/Noble/Sanford/Traip, Dec. 22, 4:50 p.m.
Cheverus/Yarmouth opened the season with a 1-0 loss to Edward Little but has since bounced back, highlighted by a 3-0 blanking of Lewiston to establish its early-season position in Class A, which was the question surrounding the team entering the winter after its elevation to the field on the heels of two straight Class B crowns. St. Pierre and his group will get another shot at Edward Little in January before a big game with Thornton Academy on Jan. 10.
5. Lewiston (3-2-0)
Previous rank: 5
Class A
Coach: Sam Cloutier
Next: at Edward Little, Dec. 27, 8:30 p.m.
Lewiston has been another team that has run into a red-hot Thornton Academy team but has otherwise held its own in the competitive Class A. It edged a talented Cony Co-op team, 4-3, in the season opener and responded to a 3-0 blanking at the hands of Cheverus/Yarmouth with wins over Falmouth and Windham/Westbrook/Bonny Eagle/Sacopee Valley. The ultra-talented Aizyk Laliberte (4-4-8) leads the team in scoring.
6. Windham/Westbrook/Bonny Eagle/Sacopee Valley (2-2-0)
Previous rank: NR
Class A
Coach: Benjamin Haskell
Next: at Lake Region/Fryeburg Academy/Oxford, Dec. 22, 5:10 p.m.
Windham/Westbrook/Bonny Eagle/Sacopee Valley downed Edward Little, another team off to a solid start this winter, to establish itself as another candidate for a breakout squad to watch this season. It recently suffered a setback to Lewiston but strung together a pair of consecutive wins before lagging to the 5-0 loss. Mason Caron (4-1-5) has done the majority of the scoring so far for Haskell’s team, which will be tested this week against Lake Region/Fryeburg Academy/Oxford.
7. Edward Little (4-1-0)
Previous rank: NR
Class A
Coach: Kevin Smith
Next: at Lewiston, Dec. 27, 8:30 p.m.
Add Edward Little to the list of the bombshells to take the league by storm thus far into the season. Smith’s team has only been defeated once — a close 3-2 loss to Lake Region/Fryeburg Academy/Oxford — and recently downed Portland Co-op and Bangor/Brewer/Skowhegan/Narraguagus. Nolan Heath is at the center of it all, leading the team in scoring (2-5-7) with Breccan Albert (1-5-6).
8. Kents Hill
Previous rank: 2
Class A
Record: 1-1-0
Coach: Justin Wentworth
Next: @ Lewiston, Jan. 7, 8:20 p.m.
Kents Hill, which was highly regarded entering this season, has only played two games so far and ultimately can’t be judged on its small sample size. Its loss came to Thornton Academy, an 11-0 blitz against the top-rated team in the state. It opened the season, however, with a 5-4 win over Portland Co-op and will look to find its groove in January.
9. Cony Co-Op
 
Previous rank: NR
Class B North
Record: 1-1-0
Coach: Dan Foster
Next: vs Camden Hills, Dec. 22, 5 p.m.
Cony Co-op may very well be one of the more intriguing teams out of the gate this season. It lost to Lewiston in a close, 4-3 game, but followed it up with a 4-3 win against Messalonskee. And Messalonskee is the only team so far to hand Thornton a loss. That, in a nutshell, encapsulates the opening weeks of the season. We’ll know more about Cony in January. For now, it has a pair of solid results against two proven squads.
10. Kennebunk/Wells Co-op
Previous rank: 8
Class B South
Record: 3-1-1
Coach: Bryan Page
Next: vs Gorham/Massabesic Co-op, Dec. 30, 5 p.m.
Kennebunk/Wells Co-op skated to a 2-2 tie with Poland/Leavitt/Oak Hill/Gray-NG on Saturday but rattled off three straight wins before that in what is a strong start to the season. An early favorite to be in the mix in Class B, Kennebunk/Wells has benefited from production from Dylan Page (3-6-9) and Jacob Corthell (5-2-7). Its looming contest with Gorham/Massabesic Co-op will tell us more about the team. Kennebunk/Wells fell to Gorham/Massabesic, 5-2, in the season opener.
