Scarborough 6

Thornton Academy 3

Somebody forgot to tell Scarborough what seed they were before their prelim game against Thornton Academy.

The Red Storm opened the game with two goals within the first three minutes and finished with an empty-net goal to rout Thornton Academy, 6-3 on Saturday to advance to a quarterfinal game with fourth-seeded Bonny Eagle. (The game was played after the Current’s deadline, see www.keepMEcurrent.com for more on the game.)

Sophomore forward Trevor Hoxsie scored twice for the Storm in the first period and again in the third, completing the hat trick. Andrew Nigro, another sophomore forward, had two goals and an assist, and Jake Rutt, a sophomore defender, had three assists. Senior goaltender Ben Waller made 23 saves.

“Today, the kids did exactly what I’ve been trying to preach to them all year long,” said Scarborough coach Jay Mazur. “We went through about 25-plus games this year, and today, of all days, you couldn’t ask for a better day for it all to come together. I had players doing things they haven’t done all year, dumping the puck, moving, making sure they made smart plays, covering their points, protecting each other, everything.”

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“I asked them a simple question, ‘Do you want to be a team, or do you want to be individuals?’ That’s all I had to ask, and they answered tonight as a team,” continued Mazur.

Sophomore Peter Remmes scored the first goal for the Trojans to cut Scarborough’s lead from 2-0 to 2-1. Jake Ouellette scored the Trojans’ second goal early in the second period, and Alex Howard netted Thornton’s third. Goalie Rick Hebb had 19 saves for the Trojans.

“We weren’t playing catch-up much this year, because we didn’t have to,” said Thornton coach Greg Cloutier. “When we got behind, it was pretty much a done deal.”

The two teams met a week prior to this game, and rather than a Thornton blowout that some expected, Scarborough worked the game to a 4-4 tie, giving the team some unexpected momentum going into the playoffs.

“That game definitely boosted our confidence a lot more when we knew we could play with them,” said Hoxsie.

By the end of the first period, the Red Storm had outworked Thornton to take a commanding 3-1 lead, a lead they would hold for the rest of the night. Scarborough went up 1-0 only 2:31 after the game started on a breakaway goal from Nate Gadbois, who got an assist from Jake Rutt. Forty seconds later, the Red Storm went up 2-0 when Hoxsie scored his first of the game with an assist from Buddy Reid.

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“We just had such good passing tonight, and I was in the right place at the right time,” said Hoxsie.

Remmes cut the Red Storm’s lead to 2-1 90 seconds after Hoxsie’s goal on assists from Howard and Travis Dion. Scarborough was down a man after a tripping penalty, but at 6:54 in the first, Hoxsie made a mid-ice steal and scored his second on the ensuing breakaway, increasing Scarborough’s lead to 3-1 on the shorthanded, unassisted goal.

A 3-1 lead isn’t safe in any sport, and Thornton cut the score to 3-2 only 1:15 into the second period when Ouellette scored on assists from Howard and Cam Green.

Nigro gave the Red Storm some extra breathing room two minutes later, at 3:08 in the period, when he scored his first of two to give Scarborough a 4-2 lead on assists from Gadbois and Rutt. Nigro added even more space between the two teams at 6:33 with his second goal, on assists from Rutt and Jim Soules, giving Scarborough a 5-2 lead going into the final period.

With their season on the line, the Trojans added more offensive pressure to Scarborough. The pressure paid off 3:31 into the third when Howard scored to cut the Red Storm’s lead to 5-3 on an assist from Ouellette, but Waller shut down the Trojans for the remainder of the game, making 10 of his 23 saves in the third.

“That’s what we expect out of him. He’s one of two seniors on the team, and he did what he was supposed to do,” said Mazur. “We got the goals for him, to make him a little more relaxed and make sure it isn’t like everything’s on him or he’s the last resort. It worked out well.”

After a tripping penalty on Scarborough late in the game, Cloutier pulled goalie Rick Hebb to create a 6-on-4 advantage for the Trojans. However, Hoxsie scored his third goal of the game with 34.4 seconds left on a shot from center-ice towards an empty Thornton net, giving the Red Storm a 6-3 win and stunning the Trojans.


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