But before they could show their might in 13-0 and 10-0 victories, the Blue Devils had to learn a lesson in humility.

Losing two games to one of Massachusetts’ best high school teams will do that to one of Maine’s best.

While most area boys’ hockey teams were opening their regular seasons the first weekend of December, Lewiston took the ice against Boston College High School — a program which has former players gracing professional hockey rosters.

The Blue Devils lost twice to the Eagles, 5-2 and 4-1, over two days.

“I don’t think we embarrassed ourselves, by any stretch of the imagination,” Lewiston head coach Jamie Belleau said. “What we learned from that, more than anything else, was that if we didn’t compete every shift, and even worse, if we didn’t compete for a period, a team like that’s going to exploit you.”

The Blue Devils got off to a rough start in the first game, falling behind 3-0 before playing better the rest of the way. A bad second period did in Lewiston in the second game.

“It was a great experience,” Lewiston senior defenseman Jonathan Sturgis said. “It was really a challenge compared to all of the other games we’ve played.”

Belleau said the biggest lesson his team learned in those games was to compete each and every shift, something the players did “the majority of” in the first two regular season games.

The proof is in the pudding for the Blue Devils, who through six periods have scored 23 goals and given up none — not even a take-the-foot-off-the-gas, shoulder-shrug goal late in a blowout.

On the contrary, Lewiston scored seven goals in the third period against rival Edward Little, which like the Blue Devils have high expectations for the season.

It was that expectation of a solid season that prompted Belleau to look outside the state for an exhibition opponent.

“As coaches, we’re always trying to do things that we think can better our program,” Belleau said. “And this was one of the things we thought that would better our program.

“We learned we couldn’t take a shift off of else they would score or get a lot of shots on net.”

“It showed us that we’re not the best of the best and we need to keep working hard toward every game,” Sturgis said.

Senior goalie Sam Zashut said there were obvious nerves, but the team watched YouTube clips of BC High to prepare for the games, and those nerves went away as soon as the puck dropped.

Zashut faced a lot of shots, but said he loved it. It kept him on his toes.

That could be said for all the Lewiston players.

“Our kids were not prepared for that tempo hockey, that speed of hockey,” Belleau said.

“It just humbled us a lot,” Sturgis said.

Starting the regular season with suce easy-looking victories could go to the head of any 15-to-18-year-old hockey player, but the Blue Devils have to only look back a week prior to know that they can lose.

It’s a lesson they will surely learn again, if not in the regular season then in another exhibition matchup with a Massachusetts heavyweight. Lewiston will play Malden Catholic — which won four straight Division I-A titles from 2011-14 — over the holiday break.

“What we’re hoping from that is that the kids will compete,” Belleau said. “If they don’t compete each shift, they could lose their shift. And if we lose more shifts than we win, we’re going to have a hard time.”

The Blue Devils can’t look ahead to that game yet. They still must face Thornton Academy on Wednesday and Biddeford on Saturday — two teams who have five state titles between them since the Devils last won in 2002. Belleau said he wants his players to only focus on their first shift against TA.

“The emphasis for us is that you want to focus first on your shift,” Belleau said. “And once you’re done that shift, you’re focused onto your next shift, and trying to get better the next shift.”

If Lewiston comes out of its next two games unscathed, then the players can look ahead to Malden Catholic.

It’s a game Sturgis and Zashut said they’re looking forward to.

For Belleau, it’s another chance for his team to show it can compete every shift. It’s something he hopes to see a lot of this season.

“The one mistake we can’t accept, if we want to get to where we want to be, is lack of work ethic and lack of compete,” Belleau said.

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