AUBURN — In the opening moments of an Eastern Class A quarterfinal Tuesday night at Ingersoll Arena, the Gray-New Gloucester/Poland boys’ hockey team appeared to dictate the tempo.

The Patriotic Knights buzzed around Bangor’s end of the ice and put seven of the first eight shots on goal, asserting the fact that yes, they belonged in the postseason.

But after taking a first-period lead, the sixth-seeded Rams found their offensive rhythm in a 5-0 victory against the third-ranked Patriotic Knights.

Bangor (11-8) took a 1-0 lead on Adam King’s goal at 10:28 of the first, then scored twice in the first 4:13 of the second period en route to an upset of the Patriotic Knights (13-5-1).

“You could see it in the kids’ faces there,” Patriotic Knights Coach Aaron Rand said of Bangor’s two early goals in the second period. “They weren’t ready for that and didn’t expect it. We had plenty of game left to turn the tide, but we just couldn’t get that next goal.”

Bangor will face No. 2 St. Dominic in an Eastern Class A semifinal.

While the Rams entered as the No. 6 seed, and traveled nearly two hours for a playoff game, they anticipated the strong caliber of play of the Patriotic Knights, who outshot the Rams 7-1 in the first five minutes.

“They’re the No. 3 seed and we didn’t expect anything less than that,” King said. “They really came out strong.”

Kolby Arnold had the Patriotic Knights’ best chance with about three minutes left in the first when he beat a defenseman and on a one-on-one opportunity, shot into the pads of Bangor goalie Chris Howatt (13 saves).

“I thought the first period was pretty even,” Rand said. “If we score early, you never know.”

Phil Frost and Tom Bearor opened the lead to 3-0 with early second-period goals, and the Rams continued to create chances in the period, outshooting the Patriotic Knights 15-3 as Carl Farnham gave Bangor a 4-0 lead with 2:32 left.

“The second period, they cashed in,” Rand said.

“We made a couple mistakes, there was a bad faceoff and they got a bad bounce in the front and they cashed in on those, and it seemed to take the wind out of our sails.”

The Rams also focused on defense, allowing three shots on Howatt in the second.

“Bangor blocked a lot of shots,” Rand said. “They got a tip, a piece or a leg or something on a lot of our shots. They really protected the middle of the ice very well.”

Adam Toth-Javor scored at 12:04 of the third, and Gray-New Gloucester goalie Matt Ouellette finished with 27 saves.

“We just had to keep the intensity up,” King said. “I think we were more conditioned than them and we kept pounding it in, in the offensive zone. The second and third periods, that’s when you’ve got to be the strongest because that’s when you close out the game.”

Staff Writer Rachel Lenzi can be contacted at 791-6415 or at: rlenzi@pressherald.com