What do the ice hockey teams at Waterville High School, Messalonskee High of Oakland and Brunswick High School have in common?

They are atop the Eastern Maine Class A points standings, respectively, and all three have lost to EM Class B teams.

And it isn’t a fluke.

With Brewer High School’s addition to Eastern B this season after several years in Class A and the impressive play of fellow B front-runners Orono, Winslow and Houlton-Hodgdon, Eastern B is stacked with depth and talent.

Orono thumped Class A leader Waterville 7-2 and topped No. 2 Messalonskee on the road 3-2. Brewer owns a 4-3 victory over No. 3 Brunswick.

Brewer and Orono are 10-2; defending Eastern B champ Winslow took an 8-3 record into a Wednesday game against Class A Bangor and Houlton-Hodgdon is 9-3.

“This is the first year I haven’t noticed a discrepancy between Class A and Class B,” said Brewer coach Steve Van Dolman. “Our top three have beaten their top three. A couple of years ago, Hampden went something like 18-2 [in Class B] and we beat them [as a Class A team] 10-1. There was a huge discrepancy back then.”

Orono coach Greg Hirsch said Eastern B is “the best I’ve ever seen in 11 years as far as the top four or five teams go. Every night, someone is beating someone else. Everybody is kind of flip-flopped around.”

For example, Brewer has beaten Orono and Winslow but lost to Houlton-Hodgdon. Orono has a win over Houlton-Hodgdon but Houlton-Hodgdon has beaten Brewer and split two games with Winslow. Winslow has an impressive 6-1 win over Orono.

Houlton-Hodgdon coach Joel Trickey said “any one of the top four teams can beat any of the other teams. It’s a matter of who comes out more prepared.”

Hirsch said “Houlton-Hodgdon has a good-skating team. They’re poised, well coached and they don’t make many mistakes. The goalie [Nic Joslyn] is very good.

“Brewer is explosive and Winslow is a consistent team from top to bottom. They don’t have a lot of big stars but they have excellent depth and their goalie [Devon Grenier] is very good,” added Hirsch.

Hirsch said the intense competition provides a healthy situation for his players.

“It’s excellent for our kids because they know they have to show up [ready to play] every game,” said Hirsch, who also feels Presque Isle and Hampden could be dangerous post-season opponents.

One of the keys to the success of the top four has been depth.

In the past, you would often find Eastern B contenders possessing one high-powered line and a respectable second line. The third line would see spot duty.

But Brewer, Orono, Winslow and Houlton-Hodgdon all rotate three lines with the third line possessing a skill level normally seen from the second lines in years past.

“Having three lines has helped us out a lot,” said Orono junior Chris McConnon, the Riots’ second-line center.

Hirsch even uses a fourth line from time to time.

“We have a high-powered first line that has been excellent,” said Hirsch. “And our other lines do their roles [well].”

His top line is comprised of three juniors: left wing Tony Raymond (16 goals, 17 assists), center Kyle Weiland (11 & 9), who transferred from Hampden Academy, and right wing Sean Babin (9 & 9).

McConnon centers the second line between Derek Smith and Brandon Paul and Nathan Curtis is flanked on the third line by Dan Ohno and Mark Cloutier.

Trickey said “my third line is as good as my top two.”

His Blackhawks have eight players with 10 or more points.

“This is the best team I’ve had, by far,” said Trickey, who is in his fourth season as the head coach.

Houlton-Hodgdon is in just its seventh year of existence.

Senior transfer Billy Policano leads the Blackhawks in scoring with nine goals and eight assists and he centers the top line between dynamic Ian Pasquarelli (5 & 10) and right wing Chris Howland (3 & 7).

Jordan Gard (8 & 4) centers his second line between Sam Carter (1 & 9) and Sharif Abouleish (4 & 6) and his third line has Morgan Hall (3 & 3) between Micah Carton (2 & 8) and Grady Anderson (6 & 3).

Brewer has a terrific first line with Ben Caldwell (5 & 20) between Zach Wilson (15 & 9) and Dylan Fitzpatrick (14 & 11). Wilson is sidelined with an injury but could return in a week.

The second line of Davey Perry between Reid McLaughlin and Prentiss Swett features three players who have at least four goals and 10 points apiece and the third line features Marc Relford between Ryan Nadeau and Tyler Coombs.

Brewer has scored 13 shorthanded goals.

Winslow features a talented cast of forwards including Clint Willoughby, Kevin McCabe, Sean Bourgois and Chad Guptill but their real strength may be their depth on defense along with exceptional veteran goalie Grenier.

“They have four excellent defensemen. You don’t get too many second chances,” said Trickey in referring to Ryan Cosgrove, Nate Pelletier, Brock Leclair and Jason Ellis.

The others also boast some top-shelf blue-liners.

Matt Wilson has 12 goals and 12 assists from the Brewer blue line and Killian Kilroy and Devin Fitzpatrick are mainstays.

Seniors Travis Bryant (5 & 14) and Tommy Smyth (1 & 6) have had stellar four-year careers on defense for Orono and Houlton-Hodgdon’s defense corps has been anchored by senior Sam Tweedie and junior Josh McGuire.

All four teams have benefited from solid veteran goaltending: Winslow’s Grenier, Orono senior Keith Hedrick, Houlton-Hodgdon senior Joslyn and Brewer junior Aaron Saunders.