Boys hockey: Lewiston knocks off Thornton Academy

LEWISTON — The defending Class A state champions are no longer undefeated.

Lewiston defeated Thornton Academy behind two first-period goals in a 2-1 victory at The Colisee on Saturday.

Though the scoring came in the first, Blue Devils coach Jamie King said the win was a three-period effort.

“Our team played great tonight, all three periods,” King said. “I think they are a strong team, even though they have unloaded a lot of seniors, but they are still strong. It was nice to get a win.”

After losing to the Portland-South Portland co-op last Saturday, the Blue Devils bounced back with a pair of impressive victories, 4-1 over Messalonskee, the top team in Class B, on Wednesday, and then Saturday against Thornton.

“It was two very important games,” Lewiston sophomore Austin Landry said. “It was nice to win, and once we are on that winning streak, we are going to keep going.”

The Golden Trojans entered Saturday ranked first in the Varsity Maine boys hockey poll, while Lewiston is second and Messalonskee fourth.

Thornton Academy wasn’t at full strength for Saturday’s game, according to coach Jamie Gagnon.

“We buried ourselves a hole too deep to get out of it,” Gagnon said. “It’s been a long week for us with sickness. Even today, during the game, we had six or seven struggling in the back hallway. I give all the credit to our guys for laying it out there and being willing to play. We haven’t quite fully recovered yet. They gave everything they had out there — that’s all I can ask from them.”

After dominating the first half of the first period, the Blue Devils (7-1) earned their first power play 8:45 into the period.

Cody Dionne put home a rebound in the slot off an Ethan Blue shot 32 seconds into the man advantage for a 1-0 lead.

Dionne played his position perfectly to earn his second goal of the season.

“We put him in front of the net, and he’s a big guy, so it’s hard to move him off the puck,” King said. “The puck landed in the feet, and he was able to get a swing at it.”

King said he preached to the Blue Devils this week about getting off to fast starts.

Lewiston finished 1 for 3 on power plays, while Thornton went scoreless on their three chances.

Landry extended the Blue Devils’ lead when he charged the goal and one-timed a pass from Colby Daigle past Thornton Academy (6-1) goalie Drew Johnson, who made 34 saves, 12 minutes into the first.

“I have played a lot with Colby before,” Landry said. “We know each other pretty well.”

The Golden Trojans started to create pressure in their offensive zone late in the period and earned a power play, which carried over into the second period. However, Lewiston killed the remainder of the penalty.

The Trojans had the better scoring opportunities in the middle frame. They got off three shots in the first two minutes, and a little over four minutes into the period had a breakaway, but Lewiston goalie Gabe Pomerleau (17 saves) made the stop.

The Blue Devils were called for too many men midway through the second, but toward the end of its power play, Thornton received a too-many-men penalty of its own.

Lewiston didn’t capitalize on their power play. Eight seconds after it expired, Thornton’s Jake Marcotte broke through all alone into the offensive zone and beat Pomerleau to cut the deficit 2-1.

Marcotte was the Thornton player who had the unsuccessful breakaway earlier in the period.

“He was hard on himself on the first one,” Gagnon said. “He thought he should have buried the first one. We were preaching on the bench, ‘You may get that opportunity again, the last thing you need to do is beat yourself up about the last one. Think about the next one.’ As the hockey gods have it, they give him another one.”

Thornton Academy had the first power play of the third but only managed one shot on goal during the two minutes. The Blue Devils clamped down defensively, allowing only three more shots on goal for the remainder of the period.

“That’s the structure we play,” King said of Lewiston limiting Thornton’s shots in the third period.

Landry said the team did well in stopping rushes in the third.

“We did a pretty good job shutting down their rushes and stopping those odd-man rushes,” Landry said. “It was big for us.”

The Golden Trojans called a timeout in the defensive zone with 30 seconds remaining. Lewiston won the faceoff, but Thornton got the puck into the offensive zone with about 15 seconds but couldn’t get a shot on goal before the buzzer.

Gagnon said the Trojans ran out of gas in the third.

“We knew that was coming, I just didn’t know where the cliff would be,” Gagnon said. “I was happy to get to that point, keep it close, keep it one shot away the entire distance. It meant all we needed to do was pop in one.”