Maine Gladiators 18U player Dylan Blue shows off his national championship medal and the team’s plaque at Norway Savings Bank Arena in Auburn on Monday. Blue, a 2024 Lewiston High School graduate, scored a short-handed goal in overtime to give Maine the win in the championship game. Russ Dillingham/Sun Journal

With his brother sitting in the penalty box, Dylan Blue made the opposition pay for not converting on the power play.

Blue’s breakaway goal gave the Auburn-based Maine Gladiators a 5-4 overtime victory over the Idaho Jr. Steelheads and the USA Hockey 18U Tier II 1A national championship Sunday in Utica, New York.

“The other team’s forward, actually, they were on like a three-on-three, three-on-two situation, and he missed the net high, and the puck rimmed around, and I scooped it up around the red line,” Blue said. “I looked up, and there was nobody in front of me, so I was like, I better not mess this one up, or it’s not coming back.”

The goal capped off a hat trick for Blue. He also had an assist. Alex Gadbois and Ben Dumais scored Maine’s other goals.

Blue’s twin, Ethan, who also had an assist Sunday, was called for cross-checking with 15:32 left in overtime.

“It was a little nerve-wracking at first because we got a penalty, and it’s tough to kill a penalty,” Gladiators coach Jeff Guay said. “And I told the guys, I go, we need zero, one, two, three max penalties each game throughout the whole tournament. I told them probably has to be zero to one in a championship game, or even a half of one, meaning it better be a good penalty.”

Dylan Blue scored the game-winner about a minute-and-a-half into Ethan’s penalty, the finishing touch on a prolific national tournament for the 2024 Lewiston High School graduate: he led the tournament with nine goals and two assists in five games.

“He’s such an excellent player, and he was very good at every single game, and not just scoring but being a leader and, you know, (penalty killing), power play,” Guay said. “He’s an all-around type of player. And to end it the way we did, it was for him.”

“If there was an MVP trophy, he should have won it,” said Gladiators defenseman Nate Metivier, who, like the Blue brothers, was a member of Lewiston’s 2024 Class A state championship team.

Maine Gladiators 18U coaches Caleb Labrie, left, and Jeff Guay, right, flank players Dylan Blue, second from left, and Nathan Metivier, third from left, as they show off the team’s national championship plaque Monday at Norway Savings Bank Arena in Auburn. Russ Dillingham/Sun Journal

Dylan Blue credited his linemates, Gadbois, Nikolas Smagacz, Breck Langevin and Hayden Brown, for his high-scoring tournament. He also was helped by having played for the Central Maine Community College men’s team at the American Collegiate Hockey Association’s Division III club championship tournament in St. Louis in March.

“It was a good experience. I mean, CM was obviously a little bit faster-paced, (against) older people,” Dylan Blue said. “Playing against kids my age for a tournament was definitely more fun.”

The 18U national championship was particularly special to Dylan because it was Ethan’s final game of organized hockey.

“He is done playing competitively. He leaves this coming Monday for the Marine Corps boot camp,” Dylan Blue said. “But I still have one more year.”

Metivier, a currently a senior at Lewiston High School, said the national tournament might also be his last time playing organized hockey, though he did say he might play club hockey in college.

Maine Gladiators 18U coach Jeff Guay hangs the team’s national championship banner inside Norway Savings Bank Arena in Auburn on Monday. Russ Dillingham/Sun Journal

“It’s great. I mean, I’ve had a long career, but it’s coming to an end, and I couldn’t think of a better way to have it end,” Metivier said.

Guay, meanwhile, said the national title ranks among the best of his hockey accomplishments. As a player, he won state championships with Lewiston in 1987 and 1990, and a national championship with the Des Moines Buccaneers of the United States Hockey League in 1991-92. He was an assistant coach for Lewiston’s 2002 state championship team and the Lewiston Maineiacs President’s Cup-winning team in 2007.

“I’ve had some pretty good runs as a player and as a coach with some championships,” Guay said. “To be where I’m at (this) point, in my age, in my life, it’s definitely up there with the rest of the with the rest of them.”