For two periods on Saturday, Dean Bougaj was amazed with what he saw out of the South Portland boys hockey team.

The Tier 2 Red Riots, without their head coach Bart Keinath due to a one-game suspension and down a player because of a game-misconduct, stuck right with the Tier 1 Trojans of Thornton Academy in the Western Class A preliminary round game. They trailed by just a goal when the second period ended.

“They were pumped. They really came out flying. They really stepped it up,” said Bougaj, who filled in for Keinath on the bench. “It was amazing to watch. They stepped up to the plate and took on the challenge.”

Ultimately, though, the amount of energy that the No. 10 Red Riots put forth in the first 30 minutes came back to hurt them in the final 15. Thornton Academy, seeded No. 7, rallied for five goals in the third period to win, 8-2.

“It’s tough having such a short bench as it is, especially in a big game with everyone skating their hearts out as it is. And then by the end of the third period I think we just ran out of gas,” said Bougaj.

The Trojans took a 2-0 lead in the first period on goals by Jacob Aremstam and Andrew Lambert.

Arenstam made it 1-0 at the six-minute mark when he circled behind the net into the right-wing corner and fed a centering pass out front. The puck deflected off a defenseman’s skate and past goalie Matt Michaud.

Three minutes later, Lambert carried the puck into the offensive zone to create a two-on-one with Jake Ouellette. As Michaud was worrying about the possibility of a pass over to Ouellette, Lambert used the opportunity to put the puck through his five-hole.

“We had a week of practices,” said TA coach Greg Cloutier. “Every day during vacation they were practicing, and we were working on power plays, working on different things. But obviously we underestimated them until the third period.”

The Red Riots pulled to within a goal 2:48 into the second when senior forward Tim Clark added to the school’s career scoring mark he broke earlier this season. Clark beat TA goalie Dan Laskey with a quick shot from just outside the crease.

The Trojans answered back midway through the period when freshman Cam Green, playing in his first-ever varsity game, threw a tough angle shot on goal from the left-wing corner. Again the puck was deflected in front, and again it trickled past Michaud.

Three goals, two tough breaks. At the 11:25 mark, there was another break that went TA’s way. Clark appeared to have made it 3-2 by deliberately redirecting a harmless flip shot past Laskey. But the redirection came off his head, not his stick. The referees, after consulting the rule book, waved the goal off.

Instead of arguing the call, Clark just went back to work. A minute after the no-goal, he converted a Jason Battle pass into a legitimate tally that made it 3-2.

And so, with a period left to play, the favored Trojans were clinging to a one-goal lead.

“Before the third period we went in there and told them point blank, ‘This is it. If you don’t skate, you’re picking up your equipment tonight,'” said Cloutier. “We flew in the third.”

South Portland couldn’t keep up. The Trojans scored twice in the first 3:10 of the period, added another goal at 7:29 and two more in the final five minutes.

“We came in knowing that we were the underdog,” said Bougaj. “We just had something to prove. This whole season people have been looking down on us, thinking, ‘Oh, it’s just South Portland.’ But we went out there and we wanted to show them that we’re not just some other team.”

For two periods they did just that.

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