BIDDEFORD — The Thornton Academy boys hockey team pushed past the visiting Portland/Deering squad 5-3 in a tightly-contested game on Wednesday night.

Thornton Academy goals were scored by Walsh Troiani-Gagner, Dayton Wintle, Thomas Levasseur, Evan Balzano and Logan Picard.

Portland goal scorers were Joe Pichette and Mason Martell with two.

TA goalie Seth Dube made 16 saves, while Portland goalie Sam Segal recorded 27 saves on the night.

The first period was a tough battle between both squads. Both defenses played tight in their zones and much of the first period was spent battling through the neutral zone.

With 50 seconds remaining in the opening period, Portland’s Pichette was able to chip in a bouncing puck for the score, putting Portland/Deering up 1-0.

TA fired back just 45 seconds later when Troiani-Gagner put away the tying goal, making the score 1-1 heading into the second.

Just 52 seconds into the second, the Trojans took a 2-1 lead when Wintle scored off a rebound.

Both teams played up-tempo for the remainder of the second, and at the 8:45 mark Portland tied the score with a slapshot goal from Martell.

Less than two minutes later, the Bulldogs added another goal when Martell took a pass in the middle of the ice and tap the puck through the goaltenders legs, making the game 3-2.

At the 3:25 mark, Levasseur responded by deflecting a slapshot into the net, tying the score at three all heading into the final period.

Both teams grinded in the third period, but the difference came when both teams were penalized and the game went to a four-on-four situation.

With 5:51 remaining in the game, TA’s Balzano was able to battle for the puck and send a wrist shot in the goal, putting TA ahead 4-3.

Although Portland continued to battle for the remainder of the period, TA put away the final goal on an empty net score by Picard, securing a 5-3 victory.

TA coach Jamie Gagnon was pleased with his team’s effort, but still saw room for improvement.

“We battled all night long, coming off of a long break it was good to have a challenge like that,” said Gagnon. “We didn’t bring our A game, but the guys competed and everything was earned out there.”

Gagnon also felt that his team could have secured the win earlier had a few missed opportunities went TA’s way.

“I felt that as long as we set out to do what we originally wanted then we would be OK, a few of those opportunities early on, I don’t know how they didn’t go in,” said Gagnon. “We had a few chances that just didn’t happen, wasn’t our best game but we found a way to win.”

As TA moves forward, Gagnon feels that the key will be getting into a rhythm in the late season.

“This was a good challenge for us tonight, but we have a tough schedule coming up so we are going to have to keep working,” said Gagnon. “We need to fine tune a few things and shake off some of the rust from the break.”

— Sports Staff Writer Alex Sponseller can be reached at [email protected] or at 282-1535 ext. 323.