GORHAM — There are 2,700 seconds in a high school boys hockey game, but only 50 were needed to tell the story of Gorham’s victory over Massabesic/Old Orchard Beach/Bonny Eagle on Thursday afternoon. A four-goal spree in that span of time took a comfortable Rams lead to a rout, and Gorham skated away to a 10-1 inter-class victory at USM Ice Arena.

MOB (2-7, Western Class A) got the first shot of the game, as Kyle Whitman got a look off of an offensive zone faceoff less than a minute into the game. But all the offensive firepower belonged to the Rams (7-1, Western Class B) after that.

Gorham broke onto the scoreboard 3:18 into the opening period, as Matt Hooker took a shot from the point that deflected off a MOB defenseman’s leg and past MOB goalie Mat Bridges. Carter Landry scored two minutes later, and Travis Mansir scored less than two minutes after that.

“I wasn’t expecting us to come out the way we did, and that’s something that I’m very happy with,” said Gorham head coach Jon Portwine. “It was exceptional to see our guys come out and really get after it, work hard, bear down.”

As if a 3-0 cushion midway through the period wasn’t enough, the Rams put in a four-spot in the 11th minute of the game. The spree was started by Mansir, who tallied a first-period hat trick. Jordan Ward added goals 13 and 29 seconds later, and Landry completed the quartet 21 seconds after that.

“We have things in place to score off faceoffs,” said Portwine. “But I think we moved the puck in the first period a lot better than we have in any other game, and I think the four goals in that quick span of time can be directly correlated with the way we moved the puck.”

“(We were) running around with our heads cut off, and not doing our game plan, and just fell apart,” said MOB head coach Loren Blair. “Just everyone had to do their own job. They’re worried about everyone, what they’re doing, rather than what they had to do ”“ covering the slot. They were sliding a man in low and our defensemen weren’t picking them up, so we adjusted to that.”

Mansir scored his third goal of the period with the Rams on the penalty kill with 1:57 left in the first to put Gorham up 8-0.

“It’s probably the first time all season that we’ve really come out like that in the first period,” said Portwine.

The Rams came out strong again to start the second period, as Mat Anderson scored just 2:16 in. But Bridges and the MOB defense proved much more stout than they did in the first period, as Gorham connected on only one of 12 shots in the frame.

“You just got to regroup, settle down, try to figure out what we’re doing wrong,” Blair said of what his team talked about between the first and second periods.

“I think (MOB) played a little better in the second two periods,” said Portwine. “That’s credit to them.”

Gorham scored early again in the third to go up 10-0, as Mansir scored his fourth goal of the contest. Freshman forward Cameron Roy scored on a pass from Tanner McClure for MOB to end the shutout with just over 10 minutes to play.

“That was a boost for us; we needed that,” said Blair. “Just show they still keep fighting.”

“I was actually thinking it was going to be a tighter game,” said Portwine. “I’ve known a lot of the kids that are over there on that side for a while ”¦ and they’re good hockey players.”

Mansir (five points) led a brigade of 11 point-producers for Gorham. Ward and Landry each finished with three points.

Bridges finished with 25 saves on 35 shots. Gorham goalie Brogan McDonald stopped 11 of 12 shots.

MOB returns to action on Saturday when it hosts Edward Little at USM Ice Arena.

— Sports Staff Writer Wil Kramlich can be contacted at 282-1535, ext. 323 or [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @WilTalkSports.