Deano Scalia of St. Dom's celebrates after his second-period goal put the Saints up 4-1 against Scarborough in a Class A boys hockey prelim Wednesday night in Auburn. Daryn Slover/Sun Journal

AUBURN — Wednesday’s playoff game was more than a prelim to the St. Dominic Academy boys hockey team.

“My whole high school hockey career, I haven’t won a playoff game,” forward Curtis Wheeler said. “So today, it was the day to win one, and it was a great team effort. This is my last home game as a senior, so I wasn’t about to lose it, and we went on and won it.”

The eighth-seeded Saints defeated ninth-seeded Scarborough, 5-1. It was the program’s first playoff win since its 2019 Class A championship victory over Biddeford. St. Dom’s (9-9-1) advances to face top-seeded Falmouth in the quarterfinals.

“I think for the coaching staff and the boys, we always know we’re close to breaking through the barrier,” St. Dom’s coach Marc Frenette said. “Tonight is going to hopefully give us a little confidence going against the No. 1, Falmouth.”

How did St. Dom’s win?

• Ben Dumais scored three of the Saints’ goals, including two in the first period. First, while St. Dom’s was short-handed, he stole the puck at the Saints’ defensive blue line and skated in for a breakaway goal. Then, on an offensive zone faceoff, Wheeler won the draw to Dumais, who fired a one-timer into the net for a 2-0 lead.

“Curt had a great faceoff win to me,” Dumais said. “We had like, three straight shots on goal, so he had three straight faceoff wins, and that goal was from him. He won it right to me, and the one-timer went into the net.”

• The Saints didn’t allow the Red Storm (9-10) to gain any momentum. Scarborough cut the deficit to 3-1 in the middle of the second period, but within a minute, Deano Scalia scored the fourth St. Dom’s goal.

• In the third period, the Saints limited Scarborough’s attack in the offensive end, and goaltender Ashton Additon made a few timely saves with his glove hand. The Saints potted an empty-net goal after Scarborough pulled its goalie with about two minutes remaining.

They said it

• “The last thing we want is for a comeback in that situation. That would be the worst way to end the season. We did a good job maintaining pressure throughout the (third) period, and I thought overall our effort was good.” — Dumais

• “Our white line, which is Ben Dumais, Deano Scalia and Curtis Wheeler, they certainly led the way today. You know, they were men amongst boys out there. Seven points amongst the three of them.” — Marc Frenette

• “We get that goal, and we make it … a 3-1 game at that point. We had some jam, and unfortunately, we constantly turned it over, and we gave them another breakaway, and they finished it. You know, you can’t give it — whether it be St. Dom’s or anyone, you can’t give teams three or four breakaways and expect to walk out with a victory.” — Scarborough coach Eric Wirsing

Statistical leaders

• Scarborough: Brett Kemper (goal), Collin Lebel (assist), Bryce Bellerose (18 saves).

• St. Dom’s: Dumais (three goals), Scalia (goal and assist), Finley Cavers (goal), Wheeler (two assists), Additon (15 saves).

Up next

• St. Dom’s: at Falmouth (13-3-2) at 7:20 p.m. Friday at Family Ice Center in Falmouth.