Thornton begins title defense with win against Biddeford

BIDDEFORD — It’s as though there had been no spring, no summer, and little or no autumn.

In fact, it’s as though there had been no time gap at all between that day in mid-March ”“ when Thornton Academy captured the Class A hockey state championship ”“ and one nine months later when the Golden Trojans set the process in motion again.

Indeed, Thornton picked up right where it left off by taking a convincing 5-1 win from arch-rival Biddeford, Saturday, at Biddeford Ice Arena.

Seniors Nick Chen and C.J. Maksut each scored twice, while sophomore Alex Fallon added another, to boost Thornton to the season opening triumph.

“It feels good,” said Chen. “We knew it would be tough. Every Biddeford game is a tough one. The atmosphere was great, and we came out hard.” Chen got the Trojans started at 2:35 of the opening period, when he popped in a shorthanded tally with help from linemate Andrew Carignan.

“Carignan kind of threw it on net,” said Chen, “and it went off my skate. I chipped it in. Nothing pretty, nothing special.”

Even so, it not only gave Thornton the lead, the goal enabled the Trojans to shed any remaining jitters.

“Whenever you can get one with one fewer guy on the ice,” said former Biddeford coach Jamie Gagnon, who made his Trojan bench debut, “it’s a positive thing. It gets the bench going. Games like this are about getting the energy going early.”

The score held until early in the second stanza, when at the two-minute mark, Maksut picked the upper left corner with a dart from the right circle.

It was the 97th goal of Maksut’s Thornton career, and it set off a four-goal explosion, the first three of them coming in a span of 5:07.

“We were more opportunistic in the second period,” said Gagnon. “We were able to put some pucks away.”

Fallon’s goal came at 3:45, after Biddeford goalie Jon Fields had kicked out an attempt by Alex Lambert. The rebound squirted to Fallon, who tapped it in to make it 3-0.

Chen scored again at 7:07, when he roofed a backhander after a nifty, no-look toe-of-the-blade pass from Carignan.

“Any goaltender will think I’m going low, on those,” said Chen. “I tried to get it upstairs and it went in.”

Then, at 10:47, Maksut capped the explosive period with his second of the night (and 98th as a Trojan).

“The first period,” said Biddeford coach Rich Reissfelder, “we were taking care of our defensive responsibilities. The second period, we decided not to. In a (short) span, it went from a one goal game to a five goal game. The guys know. We practice it all the time. We have to do a better job in our defensive zone.”

With the contest all but out of reach, Biddeford nonetheless responded with a strong third period.

The Tigers were rewarded with Nik Lemieux’s goal at 4:08, assisted by his older brother Mario and Wyatt LeBlond.

Thornton senior goalie Joe Ferrante finished with 11 stops.

Biddeford will take to the ice again Tuesday at Portland (PIA), while Wednesday, Thornton will host Lewiston at BIA in what will be a rematch of the state championship clash.

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