Four goals in 3rd give Brewer win Witches rally past Broncos

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BREWER – The Brewer High School hockey team conquered two opponents Monday night: the Hampden Academy Broncos and itself.

Despite surrendering five power-play goals on 14 chances, the Witches rallied for four unanswered third-period goals to beat the Broncos 8-5 at the T.J. Ryan Center.

Brewer (3-0) scored on four of its seven power-play chances in the penalty-filled Class B game. The Witches were decisively better, but they made life difficult on themselves by taking penalty after penalty.

“They are bigger, stronger, faster, and better than we are,” said Hampden coach Bill Schwarz. “They outplayed us. And with their depth and experience, we couldn’t stay with them.”

Brewer freshman Dylan Fitzpatrick’s power-play goal with eight seconds left in the second period tied it 4-4 and defenseman Killian Kilroy and center Ben Caldwell scored in the first 2:10 of the third period to give the Witches the lead for good.

Reid McLaughlin and Zach Wilson extended the lead to 8-4 before Dan Mangano capped the scoring for the 0-3 Broncos.

“Our power play worked pretty well. We came out pretty flat-footed. But we said after the second period that we had to get it done [in the third],” said senior Kilroy, who broke the tie 1:06 into the third period after being set up by the Wilson brothers, Zach and Matt.

Matt Wilson’s goal and three assists, Zach Wilson’s goal and two assists, and Caldwell’s two goals paced the Witches. Talented senior defenseman Ian Lee had a pair of goals for HA.

Zach Wilson set up Kilroy’s go-ahead power-play goal by sidestepping a Bronco defenseman to the left of goalie Ryan Richards and sliding the puck to the unattended Kilroy coming down the slot.

“Everyone was in front of the net, so I snuck in,” said Kilroy. “I had a wide-open net. I put it glove side.”

Less than a minute later, Caldwell chased the puck down along the left-wing boards and raced down the left wing alone on Richards.

“I went as fast as I could to the net, drew him across, and when he went down, I put it in,” said Caldwell.

McLaughlin made it 7-4 at the 5:21 mark as he took a pass from behind the net by Tyler Coombs and directed it inside the far post from the low slot.

The Witches found themselves trailing 3-0 just 5:02 into the game as the Broncos made them pay for their lack of discipline.

Steve Boutin opened the scoring for Hampden before Lee scored the next two.

Zach Wilson and Caldwell scored 57 seconds apart later in the period to get the Witches back into the game.

Matt Wilson’s rush and 30-foot wrister into the far corner tied it 3:18 into the middle period before Matt Soucy capitalized on a three-on-one with a wrister that glanced in off the body of Brewer senior goalie Christine Thoms, making her first varsity start.

But Fitzpatrick equalized off the rebound of a Matt Wilson blast.

“I tucked it in far post because he [Richards] slid over to the neat post,” said Fitzpatrick.

Both goalies finished with 29 saves.

WITCHES 8, BRONCOS 5

Brewer (3-0) 2 2 4 – 8

Hampden Acad. (0-3) 3 1 1 – 5

First period – 1. HA, Boutin (Beal), 2:54 (pp); 2. HA, Lee (Soucy), 4:04 (pp); 3. HA, Lee (unassisted), 5:02 (pp); 4. Brew, Z. Wilson (M. Wilson), 7:53 (pp); 5. Brew, Caldwell (De. Fitzpatrick), 8:50. Penalties: Brew, M. Wilson, interference and unsportsmanlike conduct, 1:05; Brew, Caldwell, interference, 3:37; Brew, Kilroy, holding, 6:17; HA, Mangano, holding, 7:11; Brew, Coombs, contact to head roughing, 10:42; Brew, Caldwell, hooking, 10:46; HA, Soucy, interference, 11:31; Brew, M. Wilson, hooking, 12:59

Second period – 6. Brew, M. Wilson (unassisted), 3:18; 7. HA, Soucy (Kirk), 11:18 (pp); 8. Brew, Dy. Fitzpatrick (M. Wilson), 14:52 (pp). Penalties: Brew, Kilroy, tripping, 7:21; Brew, Coombs, slashing, 10:50; Brew, Relford, hitting from behind and 10-min. misconduct, 10:50; HA, Beal, 10-min. misconduct for mouthpiece infraction and game misconduct for unsportsmanlike conduct, 11:51; HA, Boutin, hooking, 12:06; Brew, M. Wilson, slashing, 12:26; HA, Kirk, interference, 14:20; HA, Richards, slashing, 14:41

Third period – 9. Brew, Kilroy (M. Wilson, Z. Wilson), 1:06 (pp); 10. Brew, Caldwell (Dy. Fitzpatrick), 2:10; 11. Brew, McLaughlin (Coombs, Nadeau), 5:21; 12. Brew, Z. Wilson (De. Fitzpatrick), 11:10 (pp); 13. HA, Mangano (unassisted), 13:09 (pp). Penalties: Brew, Nadeau, hooking, 6:21; Brew, Kilroy, hooking, 6:51; HA, Kirk, charging, 8:45; Brew, McLaughlin, misconduct for mouthpiece infraction, 9:38; HA, Sparacio, tripping, 9:56; Brew, Relford, interference, 12:30; Brew, Z. Wilson, interference and 10-min. misconduct, 14:10

Shots on goal: Brewer 16-9-12-37; Hampden 17-4-13-34

Goaltenders: Brewer, Thoms (34 shots-29 saves); Hampden, Richards (37-29)

Power-play opportunities: Brewer 4 of 7; Hampden 5 of 14

Attendance: 175 (est.)