Thornton Academy celebrates after beating Kents Hill, 3-2, on Saturday at Cross Insurance in Portland to win its second Class A state title in three years. Shawn Patrick Ouellette/Portland Press Herald

The power play helped put the Thornton Academy boys hockey team in position to win the Class A championship Saturday afternoon. A penalty kill helped make sure the Trojans held on.

Captains Brady Pecora and Cam Cyr netted the tying and go-ahead goals, Trent Lesieur added a third goal, and the third-seeded Golden Trojans edged No. 4 Kents Hill, 3-2, to win the Class A title Saturday at Cross Insurance Arena in Portland.

Two years after beating South Portland/Freeport/Waynflete in the championship game, Thornton (17-3-1) earned its fourth title overall.

“It’s unbelievable,” said Pecora, who added an assist. “Since sophomore year, I’ve been chasing the same feeling. To do it my senior year, last game of my high school career, it’s unbelievable.”

Kents Hill, which joined Maine Principals’ Association competition this season, finished 12-8-1. Nathan Roy and Mathis Moreau scored for the Huskies, but Kents Hill was doomed by a pair of Thornton power-play goals.

“Two power-play goals, that’s the difference right there,” said Kents Hill coach Bill Desmarais, whose team outshot Thornton 29-23. “We don’t give those up, we win. It was back and forth, it was even, but special teams made the difference today.”

The teams were locked in a 1-1 tie when Oliver Majesky was called for hooking with 13:19 to go in the second. The Huskies were seconds away from killing the penalty when Gavin Corson knocked Roy off the puck in the right corner, then found Cyr skating in for a go-ahead goal.

“That was a great effort, and I couldn’t ask for a better pass on the stick,” Cyr said. “The puck came from the right side, and I saw the left side was open.”

After scoring with five seconds left in the power play, Thornton scored five seconds into its next chance. Pecora had a shot right off the faceoff, and Lesieur swooped in to score on the rebound early in the third period.

“(The power play’s) gotten better and better,” Thornton coach Jamie Gagnon said. “They move the puck well, they see the ice well.”

Kents Hill began to control the action after that and went on the power play after a slashing penalty with 7:42 to go. The Huskies brought plenty of zone pressure but the Trojans held firm, with Braden Duane and Pecora blocking hard shots.

Gagnon praised the work of the penalty-killing unit, saying it “was even more important” than the power-play goals.

“We have a tremendous goaltender, but I’ll tell you what, they were dedicated to try to keep things away from him,” Gagnon said. “It’s not often you’re going to see a high school team be willing to step in front of those shots those guys were letting off. That just inspires guys to take the next shift.”

The kill loomed large when Kents Hill cut into its deficit after pulling goalie Milan Angyalfi with 4:28 left, as Moreau knocked in the carom of a Majesky shot with 2:17 to go.

The Huskies attacked again after the goal — Thornton’s Drew Johnson (27 saves) had a nice snag of a Roy shot through traffic with 54 seconds left — but a cross-checking penalty with 49.9 remaining effectively ended the comeback hopes.

“I played 10 guys the whole game. … They’re dressing 20,” Desmarais said. “These kids don’t quit. They’re resilient, I’m beyond proud of them.”

Kents Hill struck first on a power play when a Roy wrister sailed in from the point with 5:50 to go in the first. Thornton quickly answered, pulling even when Pecora scored with 4:36 to go in the period after sending a pass from the corner to Gavin Pellerin in the slot. Angyalfi (20 saves) got a piece of Pellerin’s shot, but the puck tricked through toward the goal line, and Pecora stuffed it in.

“It’s playoff hockey, you’ve got to finish everything,” Pecora said. “After going down by one, it wasn’t the start we were hoping for. But we obviously answered back pretty quickly.”

It was the story of the game. When the Trojans needed a play, they had one ready.

“That (2023 championship) was extraordinary, a crazy feeling. … But it’s just unreal, to go all the way back,” Pellerin said. “We knew it wasn’t going to be easy, in a barn like this with all this atmosphere, a lot of pressure on us. But we got it done.”