The Orono High School Red Riot hockey team spent most of this season looking up at the Winslow Black Raiders in the Eastern Maine Class B Heal points standings.

But 17 wins in their last 18 games, including triumphs over Class A teams Waterville, Bangor, and Messalonskee of Oakland, enabled the Riots to pass Winslow and finish atop the final points standings.

That earned the 17-2-1 Red Riots a first-round bye while 17-3 Brewer slipped past Winslow into second place and will entertain No. 7 Houlton-Hodgdon (10-9) in Monday’s 6:10 quarterfinal at the T.J. Ryan Center in Brewer.

In the other quarterfinals, No. 5 John Bapst of Bangor (14-6) will travel to play No. 4 Presque Isle (11-7-1) at 6 p.m., and No. 6 Gardiner (11-8) will face off against No. 3 Winslow, (17-5) at Winslow’s Sukee Arena at 6:40 p.m.

The semifinals will be held March 3 at Sukee Arena at 5 and 8 p.m. Orono will play the Presque Isle-John Bapst winner with the Winslow-Gardiner victor taking on the Brewer-Houlton-Hodgdon winner in the other semi.

Orono senior left wing and captain Tony Raymond said the Riots’ ascent to the top seed “was a pretty big shock. Down the stretch, we won some big games. And Winslow dropped some games.”

Orono coach Greg Hirsch said he is proud of his team’s accomplishment and feels the bye is valuable.

“Obviously, Presque Isle or Bapst will give us everything they’ve got and they have the ability to knock us off,” said Hirsch. “At the same time, I don’t know any team that would want to play Winslow in Sukee. That’s a tough environment and Winslow has a lot of tradition.”

“And Brewer is hot right now,” added Hirsch.

Brewer finished with six straight wins.

If there is a negative attached to the bye, it means Orono will go two weeks without playing a game.

“That will definitely be a huge negative, but knowing we won’t have to play Brewer or Winslow in the semifinals is a pretty big advantage,” said Raymond.

Hirsch said he intends to keep the practices intense so his Riots will be in game shape for the semifinals.

Hirsch said his current team is “day in and day out, the best team I’ve had in my 12 years here. The attitude is phenomenal. We have very tough kids. It’s an intense group. And they’ve been a lot of fun.”

He added that his all-senior first line of Sean Babin between Raymond and Chris McConnon is “the best first line I’ve ever had.”

Raymond has 24 goals and 40 assists; Babin has 43 goals and 20 assists and McConnon has 24 & 23. Raymond recently scored his 100th career goal.

The second line of Brandon Paul (15 & 10), Nathan Curtis (9 & 17) and Dan Ohno (8 & 8) has given the Riots scoring depth while converted forwards Mark Cloutier (7 & 7) and Jordan Dudley (2 & 18) have dramatically improved the defense corps in front of reliable goalie Jared Bussell (3.00 goals-against average, .891 save percentage).

Brewer coach Bill Schwarz has lost outstanding two-way left winger Prentiss Swett to a broken leg, but he said Marc Relford is returning from a shoulder injury and will replace Swett on a high-powered line with relentless Reid McLaughlin and Dave Perry.

“I’ve been happy with our season. We finished strong,” said Schwarz. “It’s pretty hard to play against us. Our top two lines are pretty equal and our third line has been playing well lately.”

His second line features sniper Dylan Fitzpatrick between Nick Risser and Ryan Nadeau.

Devin Fitzpatrick headlines a dependable defense corps and Aaron Saunders has been solid in net. Fitzpatrick has excellent offensive instincts.