LEWISTON — Cool and composed won out over scrap and grit at the Colisee on Saturday in the day’s first ice hockey regional semifinal contest.

After an evenly-played pair of periods, Waterville skaters — led by Josh Gaudette’s hat trick — snapped a two-goal deadlock in the final frame with five unanswered goals to down Bangor 7-2 in the teams’ Eastern Class A semifinal.

After a lackluster second frame, during which the No. 2 Purple Panthers surrendered a pair of goals and were largely outplayed, Gaudette keyed the outburst with a shot off a deflected pass at 3:17 of the final frame.

David Cook swung the momentum totally in the Panthers’ favor at 5:15 when he stole the puck on a shorthanded forecheck and roofed the puck high glove short side to run the lead to 4-2.

Gaudette made it 5-2 on a patient rush up the left side that saw him wait out Bangor keeper Chris Howat, and Waterville then capitalized on two of three consecutive power plays to put the game away. Gaudette’s third goal of the game, to go with an earlier assist, was the final tally on the afternoon.

Nick DeBlois staked Waterville to a 1-0 lead in the first, and Kyle Bishop ran the lead to 2-0 early in the second before Bangor got goals from Phil Frost and Nick George to even things up through the second. No. 3 Bangor’s Howat made 17 saves in the loss. Ryan Cormier stopped 25 of 27 to earn the win for Waterville.

Biddeford 7, S. Portland 2

The Brothers Fleurent did it again Saturday, and the Biddeford Tigers are one step closer to the state final.

Trevor and Brady Fleurent netted a pair of goals each as Biddeford built a four-goal lead in the opening period and cruised to a 7-2 win over a tough South Portland squad at the Colisee.

Trevor Fleurent scored twice quickly in the first, and Scott Callahan and Brady Fleurent added one each to put the Tigers on top 4-0 through the opening frame.

South Portland scored two of the next three, spanning the second and early third periods, one each from Neil Maietta and Robert Hannigan, as the Red Riots crawled back to within three at 5-2.

But Derek Reny and Nick Gagne closed things out in the third to put the game away.

Dominic Desjardins made 26 saves in the loss for No. 4 South Portland, while Matt Roy stopped 26 of 28 for the top-ranked Tigers.

Thornton 4, Falmouth 1

Thornton Academy overcame a slow start and an even slower second period to take out Falmouth 4-1 in the teams’ Western Class A hockey regional semifinal.

Seth Prior, Sam Canales, Brett Levasseur and Nicholas Chen all scored for the No. 2 Trojans, who held back the No. 3 Yachtsmen enough early on to give themselves a chance.

Dan Hanley put Falmouth on the board just 3:37 into the game on a redirect in front of goalie Rick Hebb. Prior and Chen scored later in the first to give Thornton and Hebb the only goals they would need.

Falmouth held Thornton to just one shot on goal in the middle frame, but despite three power play still couldn’t solve Hebb.

In the third, Canales and Levasseur netted late goals to seal the victory.