Witches stymie Orono skaters behind Munroe

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INDIAN ISLAND – The Orono High School Red Riots needed a spark in the third period of their hockey game against Brewer. They got a spark but it was extinquished before it became a fire.

Junior center Chris Munroe scored his second of three goals just 43 seconds after Orono’s Matt Westhoven had pulled his team within 4-2 and the Witches went on to post a 7-2 victory at the Sockalexis Memorial Ice Arena here Saturday evening.

Brewer is now 2-2 while the Riots fell to 1-1.

The Witches spotted Orono’s Zac Pelleriti a game-opening goal before Munroe, Matt Enman and Chad Allen scored within a span of 4:46 late in the first period to give Brewer the lead for good.

Brewer’s Saulius Vydas scored the only goal of the second period.

Westhoven scored at the 5:55 mark of the final period when he circled the Brewer net and beat Brewer goalie Joel Dolbow with a quick 10-foot wrist shot.

But Munroe answered off a Brent Steiger pass from the right corner.

“I had been cross-checked in the throat and had my stick knocked out of my hands,” said Munroe. “I picked up my stick and went to the front of the net. One of their defensemen had his stick on top of mine but when the pass came, I was able to hit it.”

Orono goalie Jason Towns said, “I got a piece of the puck with my blocker” before it deflected over his shoulder.

“That goal broke their backs,” said Brewer Coach Bill Schwarz.

Vydas and Munroe teamed up to get a clinching power play goal with 5:28 left when the two of them came off the left wing boards together and Vydas slid a quick pass to Munroe, who put a 12-footer between Towns’ pads.

Barry Wilber capped the scoring by knocking home the rebound of an Enman shot.

Pelleriti had opened the scoring at the 7:02 mark when his nine-foot backhander off a Westhoven pass trickled in off the pads of Dolbow.

Munroe answered 2:55 later with a shorthanded goal, stealing the puck in the Orono zone and beating starting goalie Marc Halsted through the five-hole with a 14-footer.

Enman broke the tie at the 11:30 mark with a turnaround 15-footer from the slot into the short side corner past Halsted’s right skate.

David Hinckley flipped the puck towards the net from the left point and Eric Watt got it to Enman.

“I saw the open corner but I didn’t think I’d be able to put it there,” said freshman RW Enman.

Allen made it 3-1 with a power play goal at the 14:43 mark when he swept in a perfect across-the-slot pass from Munroe.

Towns replaced Halsted at the outset of the second period and made several good saves before Vydas took a pass from Munroe and beat him with a 45-foot slap shot.

“They had two defensemen back so I wasn’t going to beat them. But I had an open shot and I was able to get off a good, hard shot,” said senior RW Vydas.

“It went in between my glove and my leg. It was a pretty good shot,” said Towns.

Dolbow finished with 24 saves in an impressive performance for the winners. Halsted stopped four of seven shots before Towns stopped 17 of 21.

Linemates Munroe (3 goals, 2 assists) and Vydas (1 & 1) combined for four goals and three assists. Steiger (2 assists) and Allen (1 goal) switch in on that line.

“We’ve been waiting for the first line to score. We were happy to see them score tonight,” said Schwarz. “And Joel made the big saves when he had to.”

Witches 7, Red Riots 2

Brewer 3 1 3 – 7 Orono 1 0 1 – 2

First Period – 1. Orono, Pelleriti 2 (Westhoven, Webb), 7:02; 2. Brewer, Munroe 2 (unassisted), 9:57; 3. Brewer, Enman 1 (Watt, Hinckley), 11:30; 4. Brewer, Allen 1 (Munroe), 14:43. Penalties – Brewer, C. Roeder, hitting from behind, 2:28; Orono, Preble, hitting from behind, 4:36; Brewer, Steiger, interference, 8:57; Brewer, Beers, tripping, 12:18; Orono, Benjamin, interference, 12:56; Orono, Shields, hitting from behind, 14:57.

Second Period – 5. Brewer, S. Vydas 2 (Munroe), 10:54. Penalties – Brewer, Craig, hitting from behind, 5:23; Orono, Bayer, roughing, 13:52.

Third Period – 6. Orono, Westhoven 1 (P. Mountcastle), 5:55; 7. Brewer, Munroe 3 (Steiger), 6:38; 8. Brewer, Munroe 4 (S. Vydas), 9:32; 9. Brewer, Wilber 1 (Enman, Watt), 11:22. Penalties – Orono, Ju. Jamison, interference, 3:40; Orono, Pelleriti, roughing, 7:51; Brewer, Watt, hitting from behind, 14:17; Orono, Westhoven, interference, 14:49.

Shots on goal: Brewer 7-10-11 – 28; Orono 9-9-8 – 26

Goaltenders: Brewer, Joel Dolbow; Orono, Marc Halsted and Jason Towns.