BIDDEFORD — Winning can be addictive.

Once you’ve wound up a long, exhausting season by standing in the winner’s circle, it’s hard to resist the pull for a chance at an encore.

Indeed, that much gravity is has what kept C.J. Maksut planted at Thornton Academy, where he’ll try to lead the Golden Trojans to a second straight Maine Class A state hockey crown.

“I think it’s the right thing to come back with the team I’ve just won a state championship with,” said Maksut. “To work hard, have some fun, and try to make myself better.”

There’s no doubt that Maksut has loads of untapped growth potential.

After all, it takes an unusually talented player to fire in three goals in his varsity debut, as Maksut did three years ago as a Thornton freshman.

And being in the right spot to score that double-overtime goal against Lewiston in the title game, that was no accident, either.

That was a perfect blend of skill and poise.

“C.J. is one of the most electrifying players I’ve had the opportunity to coach,” said Thornton’s first-year coach Jamie Gagnon, who saw Maksut’s ability first-hand the past two years while an assistant at rival Biddeford. “His ability to make something out of nothing and use his speed to create time and space make him difficult to defend against.

It has been a nice change, and a whole lot easier, to work on ways to exploit his talents rather than trying to find a way to neutralize them.”

Still, it was an open question last spring whether Maksut would return to the Trojans, or move on to try his hand with the New Hampshire Junior Monarchs, where he had already secured a spot on the B team, after acing a tryout last spring.

By the end of the summer, Maksut had his answer.

He was coming back to Thornton.

“It’s been a difficult decision, in a hockey sense,” Maksut said. “But I think I made the right one. I can go play junior next year, and go on from there. I love the kids I’ve grown up with. I’ve been around these kids since I was young. Hockey’s been my passion.” That zest for the sports will immediately put him in good stead with Gagnon, who was thrilled to be able to scrawl Maksut’s name onto Thornton’s top line.

“His decision to return to high school,” said Gagnon, “for his senior year says a lot about his competitiveness, his loyalty and his maturity. I think when you win a championship at any level, you either become satisfied or it fuels the desire to do whatever you can to get another opportunity. C.J. is that type of competitor that will do whatever he can to put the team in a position to be competitive each and every time we hit the ice.”

Maksut said that along with winning a second title, he wants to set an example for younger Trojans, who will be asked to carry on the Thornton tradition, even after he moves onto the junior league.

“There are people who came before me,” he said, “who taught me a lot of things and were leaders to me. I want to be a leader this year, and use some of those things to teach the younger guys. I think that’s important.”

— Contact Staff Writer Dan Hickling at 282-1535, Ext. 323, or follow him on Twitter @DanHickling.