Schwarz a good fit for Brewer Coach wants more discipline for Witches, fewer penalties

There is an adage in sports that says “You are always remembered by your last performance.”

Unfortunately for the Brewer High School hockey team, its Eastern Maine Class B championship was overshadowed by a 4-2 loss to Cape Elizabeth in the state game in which it was assessed 19 penalties including three ejections.

The Witches have a veteran new coach with a background as a Marine and policeman and Bill Schwarz knows he has some housecleaning to do.

“We have to correct the discipline problems we had at the end of the year,” said the 61-year-old Schwarz, who is in his second stint as the head coach at Brewer with other stops at Foxcroft Academy (two years), Bangor (six years) and Hampden Academy (two). He had spent eight years at Brewer.

“They obviously had a good team last year to get as far as they did. But they’ll have to be more disciplined and play under control. They’ll have to stay out of the penalty box,” said Schwarz.

Brewer athletic director Dennis Kiah said Schwarz is a “proven coach” and a disciplinarian who won’t tolerate the behavior that marred the state game.

Former coach Steve Van Dolman departed to pursue a teaching certificate.

The players are buying into Schwarz’s disciplined approach.

“He’s pretty strict,” said senior defenseman Devin Fitzpatrick. “We’ve seen him a week and half in tryouts and he doesn’t put up with a whole lot of crap.

“It should be a good season,” added Fitzpatrick.

Junior left wing Prentiss Swett said they learned a valuable lesson in the state game.

“When we beat Cape Elizabeth during the regular season, they had more penalties than we did. In the state game, we fell apart and had more penalties than they did and they capitalized,” said Swett.

Senior right wing Reid McLaughlin said, “We were all disappointed with the state game. That’s why we’re so eager to get back there.”

The Witches, 19-5 last season, may not score as many goals this year but Swett said some of the top point-producers they lost were also among their most penalized players.

The Witches have a solid nucleus led by linemates McLaughlin and Swett along with brothers Devin and Dylan Fitzpatrick and goalie Aaron Saunders. There are also some promising newcomers.

“We have a lot of talent,” said McLaughlin.

They will have to replace the high-scoring Wilson brothers, Zach and Matt, as well as prolific Ben Caldwell.

“We only lost a couple of guys. We’ve got basically the whole team back. We have the talent to be better than last year. This new coach has some great systems he’s going to put in. I can’t wait,” said Devin Fitzpatrick who expects another run at a state title.

“We might not have as much pure [goal-scoring] talent up front but we have the depth that will equal it out,” said Swett. “Our defense is going to be stronger so we shouldn’t give up as many goals.”

Schwarz said, “It’s going to be a lot of fun. They seem to be really good kids. They want to work hard. Hopefully, they’ll key in on what we want them to do and we’ll have a good year.”

High school hockey practice began last week and Brewer opens against Orono on Dec. 9.