Witches, Black Hawks enjoying breakout seasons

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A couple of Eastern Maine teams are beginning to make waves in hockey’s hierarchy.

The Houlton-Hodgdon Black Hawks served noticed that they are a team to be reckoned with recently thanks to a win over perennial power Gardiner.

Meanwhile, the Brewer Witches have been taking it on the chin from Class A teams the past few years but recently logged a win over Waterville.

In both cases, it was the first time Houlton-Hodgdon and Brewer had beaten those teams.

How have these teams turned it around? Perseverance and belief.

The Houlton-Hodgdon hockey program is only in its fourth year.

The Black Hawks are off to a 4-1 start with wins over Hall-Dale of Farmingdale, John Bapst, Foxcroft Academy and Gardiner, the defending Eastern Maine champs.

“We think it was a pretty big win,” Houlton-Hodgdon coach Joel Trickey said.

There is absolutely no truth to the rumor that if you are from Houlton you can only play offense and if you’re from Hodgden you are only allowed to play defense.

“No, there’s no truth to that at all,” Trickey said. “It just worked out that way.”

Trickey said that all six of his forwards receiving playing time are from Houlton, while his defenders and goalies all live in neighboring Hodgdon.

Leading the way on offense is senior captain Jared Sylvia, a right winger with eight goals and two assists. Freshman Ian Pasquarelli has scored five goals and six assists from the left wing.

Centering the line is senior Ben Carton, whose numbers are down from last year but with good reason.

“Ben has been a marked man. He’s really the only one coming back who was offensive-minded. That’s made Jared and Ian happy. They haven’t been receiving much attention,” Trickey said.

Sophomores Mitch Hall (three goals, one assist), Tyler Hutchinson (two goals, two assists) and junior Kevin Carton make the team’s other line.

Trickey’s defensive pairings include junior Andy Clark and sophomore Ben Henderson. Senior Chris Bither and sophomore Chris Joslyn team to make up H-H’s second defensive group.

Freshman goalie Nic Joslyn is undefeated at 3-0 while senior Nick Fitzpatrick’s record is 1-0. Aaron Fitzpatrick rounds out the Black Hawks’ goaltending squad.

The Black Hawks have come a long way in a short time and the win over Gardiner proves they are worthy of their record. Trickey said there are several factors for the sudden rise to prominence.

“Our young players are rising to the occasion,” he said. “We had the potential with the new players coming. We didn’t have a lot of upperclassmen and the young players have adjusted pretty quickly. They have a good ethic. They don’t stop skating until the end of the game.”

While H-H has used a number of underclassmen, the Brewer Witches have nine seniors to lead them. Most of them have been playing together since they were freshman, if not going back to youth hockey.

“This team is very unique because four years ago there was hardly anyone play but then we had a freshman class of 12 kids come along,” Brewer coach Steve Van Dolman said.

That group has taken its lumps over the past three years, but they have also steadily improved with time.

Brewer’s 3-2 win over Waterville, Van Dolman believes, shows how far they’ve come.

“Whey they were freshmen and sophomores [they lost to Waterville] in 10-1, 12-0 games. Last year it 6-2, 10-1,” the coach said.

Senior Jeremiah Richter is leading the way with six goals and eight assists. He’s been teamed on a line with senior Robbie Hayes who has eight goals. The third member of the line is a sophomore Matt Grimes who Van Dolman described as a hustler.

Second team all-stater Josh Caldwell centers the second line. His brother Ben is one of his wing men. The brothers combined to scored all three goals in the win over Waterville.

“Going into that game I thought our first line matched up well, but our second line, we had an advantage and we tried to match up against their second line all night long,” Van Dolman said.

Defensively, the Witches are led by Jamison Cocklin. The senior captain is a solid, stay-at-home defenseman. He is teamed with senior Josh Kochis.

“[Kochis] is a play-making defenseman. He likes to jump into the offense and leads the team with 10 assists. He also runs the point on the power play,” Van Dolman said.

They all add up to one of the best Brewer hockey teams in some time. The Witches are ready to dish out a few lumps of their own.

Don Perryman can be reached at 990-8045, 1-800-310-8600 or dperryman@bangordailynew.net