Hebron Academy’s ice hockey team has raided the ranks of Eastern Maine and first-year coach Stephan Pratt is pretty happy about the whole thing.

Justin Payson and Jon Boehmer of Bangor, J.R. Duvall of Robbinston and Brock Wilder of Waterville are among the 12 Mainers playing on the prep school’s 25-man varsity squad.

“It’s the only gig in the state of Maine for Maine kids,” said Pratt, who happens to be a North Yarmouth Academy grad.

“There are still kids going south of the border for prep schools to play ice hockey. The Portland map really hasn’t been tapped because the kids figure, `Oh Hebron’s north and I don’t want to go north,’ ” he said. “But dad and mom don’t have to drive five or six hours to play, and it’s a step, two steps faster than Maine high school hockey.”

Hebron opened up its schedule Wednesday night with a 5-2 exhibition win against Waterville.

Playing in the New England Prep School Ice Hockey Association’s Division II, Hebron plays about 26 games a season against out-of-state schools such as Exeter, Holderness and Kimball Union.

Payson, who played for Bangor High as a junior and was a second-team all-state pick last season, is playing on the Lumberjacks’ second line. He scored a goal in the Waterville exhibition.

“He’s definitely going to help us right away,” Pratt said. “His attitude is just amazing. He’s the most coachable kid.

“[Tuesday night] he was out there on the ice after everyone else had crawled off after the last windsprints, and he was doing a couple more sprints,” he said. “I finally had to throw him out because the cafeteria closes 15 minutes after our practice ends.”

Characterizing Wilder, a postgrad who was a first-team, all-state pick, as “one of the pillars on defense,” Pratt also expects Boehmer, a senior defenseman, to see playing time each night.

“We have four or five kids who could either be watching from the stands or playing each night,” Pratt said. “Only the first two or three lines are sure, and the others have to fight it out at every practice.”

Duvall, a senior spending his third year at Hebron, will battle it out for the fourth-line spot and will get time on the power play.

It’s tough getting rid of these Leavitts. Last season, senior Maris Leavitt was a part of the Piscataquis of Guilford squad which went to the Eastern Maine Class C schoolgirl basketball tournament.

This year, her old dad Bud will coach the team.

Leavitt, who also coaches the Penquis of Milo softball team, was appointed to the varsity basketball job in October after Greg Bellemare, who was hired as a physical education teacher and basketball coach, assumed the Guilford Middle School principal’s position.