The Biddeford Wave U18 hockey team – a midget major squad of top athletes from nine schools in southern Maine – skated the majority of their season way back in early autumn, and did so quite successfully, defeating the Maine Moose for the state crown. In November, the players parted ways, joined their regular Class A and Class B linemates, and spent the next few months vying with one another for Heal Points and MPA titles.

Now they’ve reunited, and this week head to Wayne, N.J., where they’ll take part in USA Hockey’s National Tournament. They know they’ll face champion groups from Texas, Alaska and Rhode Island, but know nothing of those teams’ styles, strengths or weaknesses. Luckily, the team is deep, skating four equally adept lines.

“It’s a lot different,” says Thornton’s Alex Fallon of the skill level he encounters with the Wave. “All the players are better players of high school programs. Everyone here can really play. Some high school teams have third and fourth line guys that aren’t as talented as the top tier lines.”

The Wave, organized by Biddeford Youth Hockey, is part of the Maine Amateur Hockey Association. For U18 boys, the League condenses the top talent from 43 public/private and four prep schools into just five teams, who then go head-to-head for 12 weeks and 20 games – all on an entirely different competitive level.

“[The Wave] started about nine years ago,” Head Coach Mike O’Brien says. “It’s like high school supercharged. When you cherrypick the top players from Gorham, Scarborough south, you find there is a ton of talent in the state of Maine.” Indeed, the Gorham Rams were this year’s MPA Class B runners-up, and Scarborough the Class A West runners-up. The team brings together athletes from Noble, Kennebunk, Wells, Berwick, Thornton, Cheverus and Biddeford as well.

“We have three nominated Travis Roy players,” O’Brien says. “I don’t know how many All-State selections we have in there. It’s so much fun to coach; it’s a dream job, to be able to get this kind of talent.”

O’Brien and his fellow coaches, Bob Davis and Mark Dallaire, rebuild the roster every year. “We have a tryout, but we know the team, because we go to so many high school games,” O’Brien says. “[At] the tryout, there’s maybe two or three spots open. We had 45, maybe, at last year’s tryout…It’s become kind of an honor to play.”

For players on the Wave, hockey is an obsession. “All our guys, except for a couple of golfers, don’t play fall sports,” O’Brien says, adding that, “Fall hockey has grown in the state of Maine over the years. I used to have football players and soccer players. Now, no more. They’re leaving their fall sports to play fall hockey.”

“We played the Maine league, but because we have the talent that we have, we play club teams,” O’Brien says. “We play University of Maine club, Bowdoin Club, St. Joe’s club, Bridgton Academy. We go out and try to find the toughest games…we beat ’em all.”

“It’s basically an all-star team,” Scarborough’s Cam Loiselle says. “You get the best guys from every town. Usually they’d be rivals. It’s really good to come together and meet them.” Camaraderie is central to the experience in multiple was, of course. Not only is it necessary to develop chemistry on-ice, but it’s rewarding to develop relationships off-ice.

“You don’t just see them as kids from other schools,” Loiselle says. “You get to become friends with them. I think that’s really important. They basically become your brothers. A couple practices a week, you play two games a weekend with them, and especially when you win a championship.”

To win the championship and earn their trip to New Jersey, the Wave beat Casco Bay in the semifinals, then staged an astounding come-from-behind victory, scoring three goals in the last five minutes to upend the Moose 6-5 in the finals. They did so on home ice. “We hosted the tournament,” O’Brien says. “That was a huge advantage for us. [The players] know the building, they know the boards, they know the benches.”

The Wave played two games this past weekend. The first, on Saturday, was against program alumni; the current lineup beat their predecessors in that matchup. The second, on Sunday, they dropped, 6-9, to some of the state’s top men’s league players – most of whom had college, AHL or even NHL careers.

“They were clearly smarter than us,” O’Brien says of Sunday’s more experienced opponent. “But you saw in the third what youth and systems can do for a hockey game.” Down 8-2 going into the bout’s final 17 minutes, the spry Wave outscored their elders four goals to one, nearly mounting another impressive comeback.

Both games were fundraisers for the Wave, who’ve spent their available time since taking the state title in November scraping together roughly $10,000, the cost of their trip to Nationals. That might seem like a lot of cash just to shuttle 20 or so guys to New Jersey and feed them for a few days – but these are hungry guys. Moreover, USA Hockey requires the team to book hotel rooms at certain locations, even if free lodging is available elsewhere.

The team doesn’t only work to help themselves, though. “About five years ago, we had a meeting and I said, ‘What do you guys do for volunteer work.’ Not one hand goes up. These guys are all such athletes that they don’t do a whole lot of community service. So as part of program, I added in a community-service thing.

“We’ve worked for the Good Shepherd Food Bank, we’ve raised money for Make-a-Wish.” The Wave played a benefit game for the latter foundation in late October. “The kids pick the charity.”

All their team-building efforts will be put to the test this week. While the Wave have just reconvened after a season-long hiatus, “Some of the teams we’ll be playing at Nationals have been together for six months now,” Fallon says.

Fallon’s never played on a national scale. He recalls his youth hockey squads faltering before having the chance. “It’s good to finally get this opportunity, my last year as a competitive hockey player.”

The Wave may have been separated for months now, but they feel they’ll nevertheless prove tough-to-beat. “We have a good team, definitely; I think we’ll compete at any level,” Fallon says.

“We try to bring as much confidence as we can to every game,” Loiselle says. “We have no idea what these teams are going to be like; they could be amazing teams, they could be pretty bad teams, but we need to show up like we can beat them.”

The Biddeford Wave flash No. 1 signs after a battle at Biddeford Ice Arena.Biddeford Wave defenseman Cam Loiselle of Scarborough sneaks in behind an opposing player during Sunday afternoon’s fundraiser game.Members of the Nationals-bound Biddeford Wave U18 team, including Thornton’s Taylor Browne (16) and Owen Lemoine (17), rest between shifts and watch the action in Sunday’s fundraiser game at Biddeford Ice Arena.Thornton goalie Oliwer Hogberg-Karlsson, in-net for the Biddeford Wave at Sunday afternoon’s fundraiser game against some of Maine’s finest men’s league players.

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