BIDDEFORD — The Thornton Academy boys hockey team fell to visiting Yarmouth 4-1 Wednesday at the Biddeford Ice Arena.

Yarmouth’s goal scorers were Tyler Veilleux, Walter Conrad, Chris Romano and Noah Grondin. TA’s goal was scored by sophomore Nolan Millett.

Yarmouth goalie Dan Latham recorded 21 saves, while TA’s Seth Dube made 16 saves.

The Trojans came out of the gate fast, putting early pressure on the Yarmouth defense.

In the first minute, TA’s Logan Picard broke free and had a clear path to the net but was stuffed by Latham. At the 9:24 mark, TA forced another breakaway, only to miss the shot.

Later in the first, the Clippers went on two consecutive powerplays that stifled the momentum that the Trojans enjoyed early on.

TA coach Jamie Gagnon felt the two powerplays made it difficult for his team to function the way they were planning.

“It certainly was tough. You start using your personnel groups and your guys start pressing,” said Gagnon. “They start staying out there a little too long and you aren’t able to do the things you want to do.”

With 4:05 remaining in the first, Yarmouth capitalized and Veilleux rifled a shot in the top of the net from the blue line, giving the Clippers a 1- 0 advantage heading into the second period.

The Trojans hoped to regain some of the momentum with an early powerplay opportunity, however the Clippers killed the two minutes with ease.

With 6:13 left in the second, Conrad scored another slapshot goal from the blue line making it 2-0.

Just two minutes later, Romano was able to force the puck in off wrap around deflection, quickly putting the Clippers on top 3-0.

Less than a minute later, the Trojans got a much needed goal from Millett, who took the puck down the right side of the ice and wristed a shot in the top left on the net, making it 3-1 going into the third.

TA entered the third with a higher energy than the previous periods. For the majority of the period, the Trojans were on the attack and had 10 shots on goal.

Despite the offensive attack, Yarmouth played strong defensively and managed to shut out the Trojans in the final period.

With 47 seconds remaining, the Clippers clinched the 4-1 victory with an empty net shot from Grondin.

Gagnon gave much credit to Yarmouth’s Latham for his performance.

“They have an excellent goaltender. I thought we had some great looks, had some break aways, but he had some great saves,” said Gagnon. “I thought we did some things good but we made a few mistakes early and were never able to recover.”

Another factor in the Trojans’ struggles was the speed mismatch, which Gagnon believed may have stemmed from the emotional hangover from last week’s game against Biddeford.

“We were prepared for their speed. We knew it was part of their game and at times we were a little flat footed,” said Gagnon. “There is so much to come back from after the emotional hangover of a rivalry game. It is about coming back and executing the way we do and we didn’t do that tonight.”

Overall, Gagnon was pleased with his team’s effort but also respected the talented Yarmouth squad.

“I thought we had a good first period and a good third period. Our guys played hard and I was proud of that,” said Gagnon. “Yarmouth is a good team, they play really hard. They are good on both ends of the ice. We made some mistakes and they capitalized and we were never able to get out of the hole.”

— Sports Staff Writer Alex Sponseller can be reached at [email protected] or at 282-1535 ext. 323. Follow the Journal Tribune Sports Department on Twitter @ JournalTsports.