The first two times the Scarborough and Thornton Academy boys hockey teams played this season there was a total of seven goals scored.
By the end of the second period of Tuesday night’s Western Class A quarterfinal game, the two teams had that number matched. Neither coach expected the frenetic pace of play, but both were too caught up in the up-and-down action to worry about the old adage that says defense wins playoff hockey games.
“It was probably one of the few times you’ll see me more excited on the bench,” said Scarborough coach Jay Mazur. “I was a little bit more animated (than usual).”
Said Thornton coach Greg Cloutier: “It was a very good hockey game, a very good game.”
And that came from a coach whose team ended up losing the game, 6-4. With the win, Scarborough advances to play Gorham (20-1) Friday at The Colisee in Lewiston.
“I was very proud of us going in down 2-0 in the first period and coming back and tying that game up,” said Cloutier. “And then, coming out of the second period (down), 4-3, I said, ‘Well, that’s good condition to come into the third.’
“Then we tied it up and I said, ‘That’s good guys, we’re gonna win this thing. Let’s keep going at it.’ Then we hit the post and had a penalty shot and all those things. We had our opportunities.”
More about those opportunities later. First up: the first two periods.
The Red Storm stormed out to a 1-0 lead just 1:36 into the game when Ben Talbot buried a centering pass from Dan McGovern. Steve Cook made it 2-0 with one second left on the clock. He snatched up a loose puck in front of the net and threw a backhander toward TA goalie Dan Laskey. The puck squeezed just inside the left post.
The Trojans finished the period with just one shot on goal and they were trailing by two, but they didn’t pack it in, and Mazur wasn’t surprised.
“TA’s not going to fall down. You’ve got a team that just beat us in the regular season. They tied us in the regular season,” he said. “So they’re used to playing us and they believe they’re going to beat us. We’re put back on our heals. They did a great job. They came out in the second period and they did exactly what they wanted to do.”
Senior defenseman Nick Laskey sent senior forward Ryan Foss in alone on a breakaway during a power play three minutes in to the second. Scarborough’s Jason Barden made the initial save on Foss’s shot, but the puck popped into the air and eventually came to rest across the goal line.
The Trojans scored another power-play goal 6:22 in to tie the score at two. This time Ryan Prescott followed up a Craig Perham rebound.
Twenty-eight seconds later, though, Scarborough’s Mike Dakers took advantage of a fortuitous deflection off a defender’s skate to make it 3-2.
The team’s would trade goals once more before the period came to an end. Chris Gennaro scored for TA, and then Scarborough’s senior captain Brent Mayo made it 4-3 with 2:19 to go.
“In the last six games it’s always been a tight-scoring game for us,” said Mazur. “It’s been tight games, and our goal-scorers finally came through. Those are the guys that have got to come through. It’s playoff season, and that’s what they’ve got to do.”
Unfortunately for the Trojans, Perham, one of their top scorers, was stopped on a penalty shot 44 seconds into the third. Perham deked to his forehand, but Barden stretched out to get his left pad on the puck.
When asked if the big save deflated his team, Cloutier said, “No because we came back. We still came back and tied it.”
This was true. Foss got his second goal of the night at the 7:09 mark when he beat Barden between the legs.
Mayo’s second goal of the game, the winner, came during a mad scramble in front just under five minutes later.
“We just kept hacking in there,” he said. “The puck kept bouncing around…couldn’t get a stick on it. Finally it bounced out and we were able to put it in.”
Blake Lucier added an empty-netter with 16 seconds to go in the game.
“If I got four goals I would’ve expected that I’d be able to win it because we don’t give up a lot of goals,” said Cloutier. “We’re pretty good on D, but Scarborough’s tenacious. They came in tenacious and they didn’t give up in front of the net.”
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