BIDDEFORD — Thornton Academy senior goalie Joe Ferrante didn’t have to make a lot of saves ”“ just seven of them ”“ against arch-rival Biddeford, Friday night.

They were big saves, however.

Ferrante’s timely goaltending was supported by a balanced Golden Trojan attack and led to a 4-0 win in a Western Maine Class A boys hockey tilt at Biddeford Ice Arena Friday.

Robbie Downing scored two goals, while Bryan Dallaire and Nick Chen added one apiece to up Thornton’s record to 5-1-0.

Biddeford is 3-2-1, with its only losses coming to Thornton.

“We came out thinking hat for most of our seniors, this could be our last game against our rival,” said Downing, a senior who arrived last year from Arizona, “If we don’t meet them in the playoffs, this is the last one we’ll play against these guys.”

If it weren’t for Ferrante on Biddeford co-captain Tyson Nadeau off the opening faceoff, the outcome might have been different.

Nadeau roared in alone, but Ferrante stood his ground and made the save.

“I knew from the start that they were going to put on some real pressure,” said Ferrante, who recorded his first varsity shutout. “I was expecting it, but I wasn’t expecting it to come that soon.”

The feeling in the Trojan dressing room was that Ferrante’s save set the tone for the rest of the game.

“It’s definitely huge when you have a confident goaltender,” Chen said. “That’s where it starts. From the goaltender up.”

Said Downing, “If that goes in, the game’s completely changed. You can’t ask for more momentum than that. They drop, we gain.”

The Trojans quickly used the lift to draw first blood, via Chen’s goal, at 3:27

As his linemates Greg Lodge and Andrew Carignan buzzed around the Tiger net, Chen gathered the puck on the right wing and stuffed it past Tiger goalie Jon Fields.

“Carignan always has his head up,” said Chen. “I love playing with the kid. He drew all the defenders over to the slot. I faked to the forehand and slid it under (the) blocker.”

Late in the period, Ferrante preserved the slim lead when he stonewalled Nadeau again on another breakaway save.

“I like to challenge a shooter,” said Ferrante. “I don’t like to give him much of the net. If he shoots it, I’ll be ready, and if he tries to go around me, I’ll be ready for that, too.”

The Trojans doubled the margin just 48 seconds into the middle stanza, when Downing grabbed a loose puck off the left post, then swept it into the cage, making it 2-0.

“When we score early in a period it’s almost completely like a new game,” Downing said. “We had momentum coming from the other period, but we had to start up again.”

Fields (38 saves) kept Biddeford within reach with some strong saves, including one on a Lodge breakaway with 10:42 gone in the period.

Soon after, however, at 11:19, Dallaire, who played at Biddeford last year, made it 3-0 with a drive from the left circle.

Downing capped the scoring after 4:50 of the third, when he took a nifty drop pass from Dallaire and roofed his screen shot.

Despite the loss, Tigers coach Rich Reissfelder said he felt far better about his team’s effort than he did following its 5-1 season opening setback.

“We had much better energy,” Reissfelder said. “We put in a new defensive zone, and a new breakout. For the amount we had to learn on the fly, I thought we did great. We were rusty, but the compete level was tremendous.”

Biddeford will take to the ice again Monday when it hosts St. Dom’s, while the Trojans will host Scarborough on Wednesday.

— Contact Dan Hickling at 282-1535, Ext. 323.