BIDDEFORD — Appearances can be deceiving.
So when the Biddeford Ice Arena scoreboard indicated that top-seeded Thornton Academy had subjected No. 8 Gorham to an 8-1 blowout, you might have thought that this Western Maine Class A quarterfinal clash was anything but close.
But that would be anything but true.
Indeed the upstart Rams threw a major scare into the defending state champions until Thornton erupted for six third-period goals.
“It was the best 1 and 8 match up we could have had,” said defenseman Brett Levasseur, one of 14 Golden Trojans who played their last high school game at BIA that night.
Levasseur and Nick Chen each scored twice to help lift Thornton into Saturday’s Western Maine Class A semifinal tilt at the Colisee in Lewiston at 6 p.m.
The Golden Trojans will face the winner of the quarterfinal game between No. 4 Cheverus and No. 5 Marshwood/Traip, to be played tonight at 6:15 p.m. at Portland Ice Arena.
It wasn’t until Robbie Downing scored with 2:38 left in the second period to snap a 1-1 tie that Thornton took the lead for good.
“I was happy with the way we were playing, offensively,” said Thornton coach Jamie Gagnon, whose team ended up with a lopsided 55-10 shots advantage. “But we couldn’t bury our opportunities.”
The Trojans appeared to be well on their way to a rout when C.J. Maksut scored just 34 seconds into the game to give them a 1-0 lead.
“I had some open space,” said Maksut, Thornton’s all-time scoring leader. “Actually I tried sliding the puck over to (Andrew) Carignan, but I think it hit a skate or something, and went in the net.”
Greg Lodge and Bryan Dallaire picked up the assists.
The Rams knotted the score 1-1 at the 8:00 mark, when Casey Viel jumped on a Thornton turnover and stuck his 10-footer inside the left post.
The stalemate continued until deep into the second period, which made for a few anxious moments among the Trojans.
Stellar goaltending by Gorham sophomore Justin Broy (47 saves), made Thornton’s lot more difficult.
“They (the Rams) came out,” said Maksut, who had a goal and two assists. “They had nothing to lose and played us hard. And their goalie stood on his head.
“We really stressed keeping composed and keep getting pucks to the net.”
It took Downing’s goal to settle the collective Thornton stomach.
It came on a whirling 15-footer, as he polished off Maksut’s feed from the corner.
That set the stage for Thornton’s explosive third-period finishing kick.
“We talked about it in the locker room and said we had to get more goals on the board,” Levasseur said. “We knew we could if we kept our feet moving.”
Levasseur lit the fuse at 3:17 with his second goal of the season, when he redirected Dallaire’s drive from the left point.
“I’ve had a scoring slump since about my sophomore year,” Levasseur said. “It’s nice to finally break through.”
Chen made matters more comfortable 51 seconds later when he scored his first goal of the night to make it 4-1.
Dallaire, Tyler LaPointe, Chen and Levasseur each added tallies to complete the rout.
— Contact Dan Hickling at 282-1535 or follow on Twitter @DanHickling.
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