From the Thornton Academy bench, Evan Beaudette kept his eyes on the officials across the ice, reviewing what he thought was his go-ahead goal in the Class A semifinals. The officials were reviewing to see if there was goalie interference as Beaudette crashed the net and deflected a rebound past Bangor goal Liam Doughty.
“I was shaking, just staring at the refs. I was a little scared it could’ve been called back. But it was in, and that’s all that matters,” Beaudette said.
Beaudette’s goal at 12:53 of the second period was deemed good, breaking a 2-2 tie. After a scoreless third period, it became the winner, and the second-seeded Trojans advanced to the state championship game with a 3-2 victory at Cross Insurance Arena.
Thornton Academy (16-4) will face No. 5 South Portland/Freeport/Waynflete (12-8) at 12:30 p.m. Saturday, back at Cross Insurance Arena. No. 6 Bangor ends the season at 9-10-1.
“It was a great hockey game. That’s exactly what we expected,” said Thornton Coach Jamie Gagnon. “Early in the year, we went up to their barn, and it was similar.”
Beaudette’s goal came on a power play, less than a minute after the Rams tied the game. Beaudette attacked the net, and when Shane Bergeron’s shot bounced off Doughty’s pads, it deflected off Beaudette and into the net.
Gagnon said it was probably a lucky goal, but it was the result of smart play.
“We’ve been working on driving to the net this whole season. I just skated to the net and got the bounce. I was happy it went in,” Beaudette said.
The replay was initiated by officials on the ice.
“I couldn’t tell from my angle, anyway,” said Bangor Coach Quinn Paradis. “They did make the right call.”
The Trojans took a 2-0 lead in the first period. Jacob Marcotte scored just 1:02 into the game, on a rebound after a pass deflected to him in the right circle off Doughty’s pads.
At 8:27 of the first, Lucas Hubbard scored on a shot from the point to give Thornton a 2-0 lead.
“We knew we had to build a lead early. We knew they weren’t done. They were going to come back after us,” Gagnon said.
Bangor rallied in the second period. First, Marc-Andre Perron’s goal on a breakaway at 2:18 cut Thornton’s lead in half. The Rams then tied it at 12:02, as Miles Randall’s shot from the left of Trojans goalie Porter Krause caught the inside of the right post and went in.
“We’re known for this all season. Friday night we were down 2-0 at (Edward Little) and we came back (for a 4-2 win). I said ‘Tonight’s a new night, boys. We can do the same thing,'” Paradis said. “We were a second- and third-period team the second half of the season.”
With Doughty pulled for an extra attacker in the final minute, the Rams kept control of the puck in the Thornton zone but couldn’t get a shot on net.
“We were buzzing down there. We just couldn’t get past the D,” Paradis said.
Krause made 25 saves for the Trojans. Bangor’s Doughty stopped 27 shots.
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