Thornton rolls into regional final

LEWISTON — Efficiently and methodically.

Such was the way that No. 1 seed Thornton Academy took apart No. 5 Marshwood/Traip in its 7-0 Western Maine Class A hockey semifinal Saturday at the Colisee.

Seven Trojans scored, while goalie Joe Ferrante made 23 stops for the shutout.

It all served to boost the defending state champions into Tuesday’s regional championship game against No. 2 Falmouth, who downed No. 3 Scarborough, 5-3, in the other semifinal.

Thornton outshot the Hawks 55-23, matching its shot output in Tuesday’s 8-1 quarterfinal win over No. 8 Gorham.

“It was a pretty thorough win,” said Thornton coach Jamie Gagnon. “I thought we played pretty well defensively. We backchecked, we were able to come through the neutral zone with speed, which we’ve been stressing all year long. And our special teams were big, too. It was a pretty good win.”

“Right now, we’re all upbeat,” said senior winger Nick Chen. “Obviously a win’s nice. They (the Hawks) don’t have a lot of players, but what they do have is good. They work hard, and we didn’t take them lightly.”

The Trojans (19-1-1) made quick work of the undermanned upstarts by rolling to a 3-0 first period lead, then fattening it with two goals early in the second.

Greg Lodge commenced the scoring at 6:19, when he pounced on Brett Levasseur’s rebound and slammed it past Marshwood (14-6) goalie Kyle Hichens.

Sophomore Filip Takac followed shortly after when he banked in his centering pass from the right wing off a Hawks defenseman.

By the end of the stanza, Robbie Downing scored, giving Thornton plenty of momentum heading into the second period.

Assists went to blueliners Bryan Dallaire and Tyler LaPointe.

LaPointe, a freshman, is playing major minutes on a club laden with 14 seniors.

“My role is the same as everybody else out there,” said LaPointe. “Just stay strong and don’t let them score.”

Any comeback hopes Marshwood had harbored were dashed when the Trojans struck twice (Dallaire and Chen) in the opening 1:49 of the middle period.

“I just threw it on net,” said Chen. “It went upstairs, and I got a goal.”

Alex Fallon and C.J. Maksut closed out the scoring with third period tallies.

It was the 28th goal for Maksut, the leading goal scorer in Class A.

By then, the Trojans were able to start thinking about their date with Falmouth, which placed the only smudges ”“ one loss and one tie ”“ on Thornton’s otherwise spotless record.

“I can’t wait until Tuesday,” said LaPointe. “It’s going to be good.”

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