Bob Parker would look out on the ice sometimes this winter during practice for his Lewiston Area Youth Hockey U-18 hockey team and see as few as 10 skaters.

With a roster comprised of players from four different schools, getting everyone on the same schedule was a chore. But Parker knew the talent on that roster would be tough to match when it was at full strength.

The Tier II Midget squad proved to be the best in the state and is now headed to Mentor, Ohio for the 2011 National Championships beginning on Wednesday.

Players ages 16-18 from Lewiston, St. Dom’s and Messalonskee high schools and Hebron Academy form the 19-man roster, which is coached by Parker, Andy Guerin, Ray Teixeira and John Delgiudice.

The squad went 16-2-1 during the regular season, then rolled through the state tournament in Saco despite having only two practices this month due to conflicting schedules and high school team commitments.

“It’s just been kind of a perfect storm,” Parker said.

Chemistry wasn’t much of a problem despite the lack of on-ice time together. Parker had a half-dozen players each from Lewiston and Hebron, five from St. Dom’s and two from Messalonskee and kept skaters who were familiar with each other together on the ice.

“We have a lot of good hockey players on our team and a lot of us have been playing together for a really long time,” said center Sam Cloutier, a Lewiston senior. “You’ve got a couple guys from Lewiston and a couple of guys from St. Dom’s and we’ve all known each other growing up. That chemistry never really got lost. And we picked up a couple of guys from Hebron this year and they’re all phenomenal hockey players and just blended right in.”

“It was new to our kids to experience that (blending of talent), that locker room, that on-ice mentality,” Parker said. “I think it helped our local kids learn about hockey in a different way.”

With the Hebron Academy players adding depth and experience, Parker could have confidence in any line he sent out or any goaltender he started.

Travis Roy Award winner Cam Poussard of Lewiston and Messalonskee’s Nate Delgiudice, the two top goaltenders in the state, are a formidable two-headed monster in net. The rest of the team is loaded with all-state players Cloutier, Scott Ouellette and Ben Wigant from Lewiston and Nate Bergeron, Cody Rodrigue and Roy finalist Alex Parker from St. Dom’s.

“I think it always starts in the back,” he said. “With Cam Poussard and Nate Delguidice, I think goalie is our strength. Defense is another feature. We have some big guys back there, some hard-hitting defensemen that know what to do with the hockey puck.”

But don’t overlook the forwards, Cloutier warned.

“We did really well in the offensive part of things this year,” he said. “I don’t think we had one game where we scored under five goals. We have a bunch of guys that can put the puck in the net. Defensively, I don’t think we let up more than one or two goals a game, so we’re pretty strong all the way throughout.”

Team at Nationals are divided into three groups based on market size. Lewiston is in Tier 3. Tiers are divided into two groups of six and Lewiston is in group 1A, which also includes teams from Atlanta, Oklahoma City and Delaware.

To make it to the quarterfinals, Lewiston must finish in the top four of round robin play, which takes place Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. The semifinals follow on Saturday and the finals on Sunday.

It cost more than $1,000 per player to get the team to Ohio. The team held bottle drives and a dance as fundraisers and has been helped by sponsors and donations.

“Honestly, without them, the trip would be a lot more expensive for the families and we wouldn’t be able to bring everybody out there,” Parker said.

Lewiston plays its first game at 10 a.m. Wednesday against the Atlanta Fire. All games are streamed on the Internet and can be viewed, for a fee, at http://usahockey.fasthockey.com/login.php.

Lewiston Area Youth Hockey U-18 team

Sam Cloutier   Lewiston

Ryan Lemelin   Lewiston

Scott Ouellette Lewiston

Zac Parker   Lewiston

Cam Poussard   Lewiston

Ben Wigant   Lewiston

Nate Bergeron   St. Dom’s

Spencer Martin   St. Dom’s

Alex Parker   St. Dom’s

Cody Rodrigue  St. Dom’s

Dylan Rodrigue   St. Dom’s

Alex Berry   Hebron

Alex Doumeng   Hebron

Drake Hart   Hebron

Shane Hearn   Hebron

Alex Mills   Hebron

Lonnie Taylor   Hebron

Nate Delgiuidice   Messalonskee

Travis St. Pierre   Messalonskee