AUBURN — St. Dom’s started fast and held on to defeat Thornton Academy 5-3 in a Class A boys hockey game at Norway Savings Bank Arena on Wednesday.

“We knew they’re a good team and they won states last year,” St. Dom’s forward Ben Dumais said. “You can’t get down early in this game. If we wanted to win, we had to be on them early.”

Dumais had a goal and two assists and Timothee Ouellete had a goal and an assist in the win.

Connor St. George started things off for the Saints (13-3-1) 16 seconds into the game when he put home a loose puck. Ridge Dionne had the assist.

“The last month of the season, he has been catching on,” D’Auteuil said of St. George. “He’s a young kid — a sophomore — first year playing high school hockey. He has come along at the end of the season. He’s one of our best forecheckers out there.”

Riley Daigle’s seeing-eye shot from the point on the power play beat Thornton goalie Drew Johnson midway through the first period. Ouellette and Dumais set the goal up.

“We have talked to him about shooting from the point on the power play and getting as many shots as we can,” D’Auteuil said of Daigle.

Dumais had a drop-back pass to Ouellette in the slot, with Ouellette ripping the puck into the goal a little over nine minutes into the first period. Thornton Academy (12-5) called its timeout after the goal.

“We were on a 2-on-2 and he was calling for it,” Dumais said about setting up Ouellette’s goal. “I didn’t have a lane to the net and he had a good shot to give us a (3)-0 lead.”

Things were a little more even for the remainder of the first period.

“We haven’t had a good first period all year, and they came out firing and got a few bounces and we were off to the races,” D’Auteuil said.

Ouellette nearly extended the lead three minutes into the middle frame on a breakaway, with Johnson sprawling out, but Ouellette sent the puck through the crease.

The Golden Trojans flipped the momentum and started to put pressure on Saints goalie Jayden Lynn. Jacob Marcotte and Brady Pecora started a tic-tac-toe play and Gavin Pellerin finished for the power-play goal.

St. Dom’s got some pucks on Johnson after giving up the goal, but Thornton maintained the momentum. There was a mass scramble in front of Lynn’s crease and Pecora got Thornton within one.

D’Auteuil added that the Saints didn’t let any doubt creep into their mind.

“It wasn’t in their heads at all,” D’Auteuil said of the lead dwindling down to one. “…We were still playing well and they got good goals when they scored their goals.”

Lynn skated to the bench for what appeared to be a cut on his arm after the tally, but after getting patched up, he returned for the final 1:18 of the middle stanza.

Lynn made 19 saves in the win.

The Saints got some breathing room early in the third when Spencer Morgan’s shot got past Johnson (19 saves). Ridge Dionne picked up the assist.

Thornton Academy answered on the power play again when Lynn stopped a Cam Cyr shot, but the puck rolled off his pads to Marcotte, who tapped the puck home nearly seven minutes into the third.

Both teams were 2-for-4 on the power play.

Dumais scored a wrap-around goal on the man advantage to give the Saints a 5-3 lead 9:31 into the third period. Luke Davidson had the assist.

“Luke did a great job in the corner of keeping the puck,” Dumais said. “The goalie hadn’t moved all the way over yet and I got that wrap around.”

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In photos: See the action from Wednesday’s high school postseason games