Thornton Academy cruised through the regular season, facing their toughest opponent of the season, Tuesday night, at the Colisee. On Saturday, they’ll face even a tougher task when to take on the Saint Dominic Saints in the Class A State Championship.

The Trojans, who are going for back-to-back championship, have been an offensive juggernaut this season outscoring their opponents by a 137-29 margin. They’ve even swept St. Dom’s twice this season 8-1 and 6-2, respectfully. That said, Saints’ head coach thinks his team can skate with Thornton Academy.

“It’s not a skating issue,” said Ouellette. “We can certainly skate with (Thornton Academy). They are an experienced group with a lot of precision. I don’t know how many goal scorers with 25 or more points they have, but they are very explosive.”

Thornton coach Jamie Gagnon agrees that St. Dom’s speed is threat and something to aware of throughout the game.

“St. Dom’s is a quick team and poise a unique challenge that we’re going to have to face,” said Gagnon. “Even though we played them I don’t think the score was indicative of how close the teams were. We’re going to have to go back to work and see how it plays out on Saturday.”

One of the keys besides maintaining Thornton’s up tempo pace is for the Saints’ defense to step up and keep the high-powered offense of Thornton Academy off the board.

Thornton is led by senior C.J. Maksut, who was recently accepted into Quinnipiac University, with 29 goals, 26 assists for 55 points. He broke the school’s scoring record which stood for 12 years and had a pair of goals in Tuesday’s 8-4 victory over Falmouth for the Western Maine Class title. Bryan Dallaire has 15 goals, 36 assists. Andrew Carignan has 20 goals, 20 assists. In all, Thornton has six players with 25 more points.

St. Dom’s shutout Lewiston, 1-0, in the Class A East Final.

“The biggest change in St. Dom’s in my opinion is their defensive play,” Lewiston head coach Jamie Belleau said after losing to St. Dom’s in the Class A East Final. “They always have had explosive forwards, but this year you have to take their hat off to them. Those kids at St. Dom’s and the coaching staff, that’s the best defensive team I seen them have in four years.”

While St. Dom’s didn’t have a single player to reach the 25 plateau, they did have nine players with 10 or more points with Spencer Martin leading the way with nine goals and 13 assists.

The Saints, who are looking for their 25th State Title, last won the state championship in 2000.