Thornton Academy goalie Drew Johnson learned more of the Travis Roy story this school year through his sports English class.

Now, Johnson is a Travis Roy Award winner.

In addition to reading the book “11 Seconds: A Story of Tragedy, Courage & Triumph” — Roy’s autobiography — Johnson had to write a letter to one of Travis’ parents. He chose Travis’ mother, Brenda.

She quickly wrote back and they continued a correspondence.

“I mean, I asked a bunch of questions,” Johnson said. “I just wanted to know everything. It’s truly an honor to be selected for this award, even a finalist. It’s amazing. Yeah, I just don’t know what to say.”

Johnson beat out Falmouth goalie Brandon White, forward Sam Foley of Windham/Westbrook/Bonny Eagle, forward Marc-Andre Perron of Bangor, and defenseman Wyatt Labonte of Biddeford/Old Orchard Beach/Massabesic for the award.

The award has been handed out to the top senior boys hockey player in Class A since 1996.

This is the third time a goalie has won, following Cam Poussard of Lewiston in 2011 and Tony Dube of Biddeford in 2008.

Dube, coached by current Thornton coach Jamie Gagnon, said there were similarities to this year’s finalists and 2008, when he won. Dube also had to beat out a Falmouth goalie, Derek Kump. Gagnon also said all five finalists this season were deserving of the award.

“Yeah, you look at Derek Kump that year that (Dube) won it, and they both are similar in that they’re both well deserving of the honor. You listen to all five of those speeches and you think that we had a pretty good representation this year in terms of forward, defensemen and goaltenders,” Gagnon said. “But certainly I’m proud of (Johnson) and proud of everything he’s done for us as a team, as an organization, as a program, and he’s well deserving of this honor for sure.”

Johnson had a 15-2-1 record with a 1.77 GAA — the lowest in Class A with a minimum of 10 starts — and a .918 save percentage. Two of his four shutouts came in the playoffs en route to helping the Golden Trojans to the state championship.

“Your best players, when the lights shine the brightest, they tend to have their best games,” Gagnon said. “And we knew we were having some pretty critical games coming up and we were going to lean on Drew pretty heavily. And so, yeah, certainly that performance for the playoffs, I don’t think he gave up any five-on-five goals.”

Gagnon said Johnson also helped change the culture of the team this season after a loss to Lewiston in the semifinals in 2024 fueled him to go further.

“Last year we were hoping to go further than the semifinal but it just wasn’t our year,” Johnson said. “This year we wanted to bring a more positive vibe to the team, have everyone appreciate each other more, and that definitely happened. I can’t thank the coaches and captains enough for their great leadership.”

This was Thornton’s second Travis Roy Award winner, following CJ Maskut in 2012.

“Yeah, it’s awesome. That’s been my goal ever since I came in sophomore year,” Johnson said.