LEWISTON – Top-seeded Thornton Academy turned in a strong performance at both ends of the ice to skate to a 7-0 win against No. 5 Marshwood/Traip Academy in a Western Class A semifinal Saturday night at the Androscoggin Bank Colisee.

The Trojans unleashed a barr-age of 55 shots as they advanced to the regional final Tuesday night at the Colisee.

“I thought it was a pretty thorough win,” Thornton Coach Jamie Gagnon said. “We played well defensively, backchecked and did all the little things right.

“We made a couple of adjustments to break their trap. We came out into (the neutral zone) with speed, which is something we’ve been stressing all year long.”

Seven players scored as the defending state champions beat the Hawks (14-6) for the second time this season.

“I can’t tell you how many times this year we’ve put up seven goals, and we’ve had seven different goal scorers or six different goal scorers,” Gagnon said. “We got contributions from throughout the lineup, and that’s what we’ve counted on all year long.”

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Marshwood/Traip Coach Eric Royal really couldn’t find much fault with his team’s effort.

“The kids worked hard,” he said. “We’re going to walk out of here with our heads held high. We could have cleaned up a few things. I think we had some defensive breakdowns but that was a very good team over there.

“Our kids are tired. They skated hard. They left everything on the ice. That’s all you can ask of them.”

Thornton (18-1-1) held a 3-0 lead less than 10 minutes into game.

Greg Lodge opened the scoring at 6:24 when he swept a rebound into an open net after goalie Kyle Kitchens stopped Andrew Carignan twice from in front.

A little more than a minute later, Filip Takac made it 2-0 when his pass from the right side of the crease deflected into the net off a defender.

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Not long after that, Robert Downing put in another rebound.

Thornton quickly increased its lead to 5-0 in the second period, getting goals from Bryan Dallaire and Nicholas Chen in the first two minutes.

Alex Fallon and C.J. Maksut added third-period goals.

Thornton goalie Joe Ferrante made 23 saves to post his fourth shutout of the season. In one stretch spanning the first and second periods, he didn’t see a shot for nearly 13 minutes.

“Sometimes it’s a tougher game when you have a flurry of shots after you haven’t had any activity for a while,” Gagnon said. “Again, Joe has come up big for us every single game he’s played, and it was no different tonight.”

Staff Writer Paul Betit can be contacted at 791-6424 or at:

pbetit@pressherald.com

Twitter: PaulBetitPPH

 


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