BIDDEFORD — There was one predominant thought running through the mind of Thornton Academy’s Taylor Browne as he sat in the penalty box during the third period of Saturday night’s game against Biddeford:

“I’m thinking, ”˜Oh crap, I just cost the team the game,’” Browne recalled.

The senior had taken an interference penalty with 5:41 remaining, and with all the momentum on the side of the Tigers after Nik Lemeiux’s shorthanded goal had just tied the score at 2-2, it looked like a potential killer for the Trojans.

Browne, however, got a reprieve, and went on to make the most of it.

Biddeford’s power play chance came to an end just over a minute later when Corey Brown was called for slashing the Trojans’ Owen Elliot.

When Browne’s penalty ended he headed straight for the offensive zone, where the puck found his stick for him to backhand past a tangle of bodies and through the legs of Tigers’ goalie Brandon Daigle for the game-winning power play goal as Thornton went on to a 4-2 victory in an intense Class A boys hockey game at Biddeford Ice Arena.

For Browne, it was from zero to hero in the matter of a few moments.

“To play Biddeford in a game like this and score the winner, this is what you play for,” said Browne, who returned to high school hockey this year after playing exclusively at the junior level last season. “I didn’t even know how that goal went in. I just threw it at the net and prayed it went in.”

It was the sixth-straight victory for Thornton in the rivalry, and an important one for a team that needed a win after starting the season 1-2-1.

“We certainly needed a victory,” Thornton coach Jamie Gagnon said. “It was definitely a hard-fought victory and both teams kind of laid it out there.”

While Browne’s goal was the difference, the story of the game was penalties, as the teams were whistled for eight apiece in a hard-hitting contest that saw Biddeford freshman Ricky Ruck leave the game after being banged into the boards in the first period.

“It’s definitely frustrating,” Tigers coach Rich Reissfelder said. “It seems like every time we play they make sure the penalties are even. There’s some calls that are legitimate, and then there’s a bunch that they don’t make and others that they do. I can’t figure it out.”

“I thought there was some great hitting out there and definitely some physical play on both sides, and unfortunately there were some penalties,” Gagnon said. “I thought it had the potential to be a pretty good fast-tempo kind of game.”

The tempo was all Biddeford’s in the opening few minutes as Thornton goalie Andrew Huot (23 saves) was pelted with the first seven shots of the game.

Thornton responded with the next nine shots, but needed a little luck to finally beat Daigle (28 saves) when Eric Profenno tried to flip the puck out front from behind the goal. Instead, it bounced off of Daigle’s back and in.

Biddeford (2-3) took a penalty 30 seconds later, and Alex Fallon took advantage of the extra room to glide down the left side and in on Daigle. The goaltender slid to his right to take away the near post, but Fallon flicked his shot to the far side to make it 2-0.

The score remained that way until midway through the second, when a pair of Trojans penalties 41 seconds apart gave Biddeford a lengthy 5-on-3.

It looked like the Tigers were on the verge of wasting the chance, but with eight seconds left on the 2-man-advantage Lemieux found Cody Sevigny wide open out front for a one-timer off the left post and in.

Lemieux then tied things up with 9:44 remaining as his forecheck on the penalty kill resulted in a turnover, which he quickly deposited past Huot.

“Unbelievable effort,” Reissfelder said of the goal. “(Nik’s) a true leader for this team, and the way he played says everything.”

“When they scored shorthanded you could feel it on the bench. It just took the wind right out of us,” said Browne.

The momentum shifted even more when Browne was called for the interference penalty four minutes later, but Elliot’s hustle play to get to a loose puck resulted in Brown’s slashing call.

From there, it was Browne’s moment to shine as he received a pass from Drew Lavigne in the right circle and flicked it on net, where it somehow found its way past three bodies out front and past Daigle with 2:51 to play.

“Certainly redemption was in his mind there,” Gagnon said of Browne. “That’s a critical moment in the game and he gets it on his stick and puts it away. We’ve relied on Taylor’s versatility and tonight that showed.”

Lavigne then scored 38 seconds on a breakaway, and Thornton had an exacting 4-2 victory.

“They have some kids who laid it all out there; they fought hard and they’ve got some quality hockey players over there,” Gagnon said. “It was a hard-fought game right to the very end.”

— Staff Writer Cameron Dunbar can be contacted at 282-1535, ext. 323 or cdunbar@journaltribune.com