BIDDEFORD — On a winter vacation Tuesday night in an interclass boys varsity hockey game, Kennebunk, a Class B South team, faced off against the Massabesic/Old Orchard Beach/Bonny Eagle (MOB), a Class A South team, at the University of New England’s Harold Alfond Forum. The Kennebunk Rams won 7-3 and continue their early 4-1-0 trend of success. 

MOB did a fair job holding their own given the odds were rather stacked against them from a purely statistical standpoint. Kennebunk is a formidable opponent to any team, as first-ranked in the Maine Principal’s Association Class B South Healpoint standings.

MOB varsity hockey assistant coach, Andrew Slefinger said, “Kennebunk is a very well-coached, very disciplined team. We knew that going in. In our game structure and our game plan we try to find their holes and their weaknesses and capitalize on them but tonight they made very little of them, so we weren’t able to capitalize on those. [Kennebunk coach] Sean [Smith] had his kids keyed in. That looked like a team that was at the top of their league, Class B, and they proved they wanted to stay there.”

The MOB is the third Class A South team Kennebunk has bested this season. The Rams won their first game against South Portland/Freeport/Waynflete, 2-0. Kennebunk went on to double Marshwood/Traip/Sanford, 10-5, and then lost to Class A’s No. 2 Thornton Academy, 4-0. The Rams bounced back 6-4 against Gorham, third-ranked in Class B South, before rushing the MOB team at Tuesday night’s game.

Slefinger said, “We came out kind of flat in the first period. Giving up a couple quick ones to them really kind of set us back a little bit and anytime you go down under three goals in the first period you have got to try to claw yourself out of it. The boys tried, but once we got a couple more down, their spirits went down a little bit.”

MOB has also not had the advantage of as much game time as most of its opponents. This early in the season, the team has only played three games and the majority of Class A and B teams have played at least four. 

Slefinger said, “Given that it’s only our third game of the year, I think we have a lot to work on definitely. We started off with a slow schedule, we get pretty heavy into it in the early weeks of January.”

MOB will try their luck against Class A North’s Poland/Gray-New Gloucester/Oak Hill/Leavitt (currently 1-0-0) Friday, Dec. 30 at 12:30 p.m. at the University of Southern Maine Ice Arena. Kennebunk will visit Class B’s 0-5-0 Maranacook/Winthrop Friday, Dec. 30 at 4 p.m.