Remy LeBel (right) battles for position in front of the net for the Kents Hill Huskies. (Mic LeBel photo)
Despite the fact that Lincoln County does not have an ice arena, four local teenage athletes have thrived at ice hockey and play on successful Maine teams competing for some of the most coveted championships in their sport.
Siblings Flynn and Harper Lilly, of Bremen; Remy LeBel, of Nobleboro; and Grace Townsend, of Warren; have all been playing hockey since they were toddlers, and each has taken their own unique path to vying for a state or national championship.
Flynn and Harper Lilly were teammates on the 2023-2024 Camden Hills hockey team that won the boys Class B North championship. The team lost by one goal to Cheverus in the state championship game on March 9 in Portland.
Flynn, a sophomore age 15, is a gifted skater that excelled at defense for the Windjammers and tallied four goals and five assists on the season. He bounced back this year after breaking his leg in a game early in his freshman year that caused him to miss most of last season. Harper, age 17, played center as a junior for Camden Hills and notched two assists while also contributing toward the team’s stingy defense.
Both Lillys grew up skating on local ponds and playing for the Maine Coast Storm at the Midcoast Recreation Center in Rockport, which is almost 45 minutes from their home in Bremen. More recently, Harper Lilly, who is a female competing on the Camden Hills boys high school team along with two other girls, played for the Maine Inferno girls travel team based in Bangor.
Unlike the Lillys, who have been commuting many miles north to play hockey for more than a decade, Grace Townsend is a 14-year-old first-year student at Medomak Valley High School who plays in southern Maine for the Casco Bay Mariners U14 Tier I team based in Falmouth,.
“Being a travel hockey parent with the home rink 75 to 90 minutes away for practices and games, and the other half of the games three to five hours away creates a mix of challenges and quirky adventures,” said Heidi Townsend, Grace’s mom. “The car is our home away from home. We listen to new music, books on Audible and podcasts, tell stories and have some of our deepest conversations on our drives. Despite the chaos, I wouldn’t trade this hockey life for anything and we’re super proud of Grace’s resilience in pursuing her passion.”
Grace Townsend agreed that there is special bonding between hockey kids and their parents due to all the miles on the road confined together in a car.
“Although there are challenges, I’m thankful that I get to spend more one-on-one time with my parents on the road,” said Grace Townsend. “One of the hardest things about playing so far from home is the travel and missing out on extracurricular activities in my hometown with friends. That is offset by new friendships and bonds with my teammates that live in different parts of the State that I know will last a long time.”
Townsend’s Mariners team is the first-ever girls hockey squad from Maine to play in the Tier I division, and the first to win the Tier I New England regional title. They won that tournament on March 10 and advanced to the national championship to be held April 2-7 in Tampa, Fla. Townsend, who plays wing, scored the winning goal with four minutes left in the championship game to help her team win the title and advance to Nationals.
Illustrating the challenges that local players face in a nontraditional sport, Townsend could not find a girls high school team close enough to her home to play on this winter. Thankfully, her Casco Bay club travel team plays year-round in the New England Girls Hockey League, which was founded in 1972 and features top squads throughout Massachusetts, Maine, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Vermont and New Hampshire. Next year, her likely U16 Casco Bay team would only play in the fall and spring, so she will need to find a winter hockey option soon.
LeBel grew up playing boys hockey in Hallowell before making the switch to girls hockey at age 12. After attending Lincoln Academy and commuting from 45 minutes to an hour to practice with the Mt. Ararat High School cooperative girls hockey team during her ninth and 10th grade years, LeBel earned a scholarship and transferred this year to the Kents Hill School in Readfield, in part to play hockey at a higher level while eliminating a lot of the driving.
“Mt. Ararat was a fun team to be a part of but we had practices regularly at 4:50 a.m. in Brunswick 45 minutes from home, and I was waking up to commute at 3:30 a.m.,” said LeBel. “Now, my new hockey situation is less exhausting, safer and more efficient because I can walk to the rink and I get to practice a lot more.”
“It’s definitely a challenge to play hockey if you live in Lincoln County,” said Katie LeBel, Remy’s mom. “It requires a lot of driving throughout New England in all kinds of weather, early mornings and late evenings, but it’s all worth it when your kid loves it like Remy does. Remy started skating on a neighbor’s pond in Damariscotta Mills with her older sisters when she was 3 and something about gliding on the ice fueled her passion for hockey.”
LeBel’s Kents Hill Huskies play in the New England Preparatory School Athletic Council which has 54 teams throughout New England. The junior center had 5 goals and 18 assists to lead Kents Hill in scoring, which helped earn her a league Honorable Mention Award.
LeBel, 16, also plays for the Casco Bay Mariners U19 Tier II girls team out of Falmouth in the fall and spring. The Mariners posted a 10-5-3 record this season in the New England Girls Hockey League U19 Division. They recently won the state championship and placed high enough in the league and the regional tournament to earn the right to compete at the Girls U19 national championships in Lansing, Mich. April 3-7.
Like Townsend, this is LeBel’s second trip to a national championship tournament, having gone previously with a younger Casco Bay team.
“I’m excited for another shot at a national championship and I’m proud to represent Maine,” said LeBel.
(Editor’s note: Mic LeBel is the father of Remy LeBel and husband of Katie LeBel.)
