LEWISTON – Seventy-one seconds into Saturday’s Class B state championship game against Greely of Cumberland Center, Brewer’s Devin Fitzpatrick was sent to the penalty box to serve two minutes for tripping.

Twenty-three seconds after Fitzpatrick’s penalty expired, the Witches’ John Ambrose was whistled for tripping.

And thoughts briefly reverted to last year’s state final, when Brewer’s hopes for a championship were flooded by a sea of penalties in the Witches’ 4-2 loss to Cape Elizabeth.

“There was a moment there,” said Fitzpatrick, a senior captain. “I got the first penalty last year, too. I got that penalty this time and it was disappointing, but you’ve really got to look past it. I sat there for two minutes and came back out and we got things done.

“They didn’t score on the penalties, which was good. I think if they had, it might have had a different impact on the game, but they didn’t, so we were all set.”

Brewer committed just three more minor penalties the rest of the way before earning its 4-3 overtime victory, one coming in a matching-penalty scenario.

“The kids just needed to settle down,” Brewer coach Bill Schwarz said. “The first one [of the game] was a penalty, but I’m not so sure about the second one. Once we killed those off we settled down and started playing our game.

“They weren’t deliberate penalties, they were hockey penalties, and once we killed those two off right away, that was big.”

Greely did score one power-play goal, but that just matched a power-play goal by Fitzpatrick early in the second period.

“The difference this year was we didn’t panic,” said senior captain Reid McLaughlin. “We knew we could kill those off and play our game. They were a smaller team and we came out hitting and they went down and they were calling it, so we just had to adjust our game. Last year we probably would have just cried about it the whole game and gone down the tubes, but today we didn’t, we’ve got a bunch of fighters.”

Much of the credit for that disciplined approach goes to Schwarz, who brought his Marine and police background back to the Brewer bench this season to begin his second stint as the Witches’ head coach.

“It goes back to the superintendent, to the principal and the athletic director, to the coaching staff, everyone,” said Schwarz. “Everybody made a concerted effort that what happened wasn’t going to happen anymore. I just think the kids played with class.”

Witches’ defense delivers

Offense has been the name of the game this year for the Brewer hockey team.

But defense played an equally crucial role Saturday as the Witches outlasted Greely of Cumberland Center 4-3 to win the program’s first Class B state championship.

Brewer outshot the Rangers 28-22, thanks not only to its own offensive firepower but a defense that was effective in limiting the number of point-blank bids against senior goalie Aaron Saunders.

That unit, led by seniors Ambrose, Jim Nicknair, and Devin Fitzpatrick and also including sophomore Matt Helfen and freshman Chris Lopez, helped protect the net, with Saunders coming up with 19 saves as the last line of defense.

“We always thought throughout the season that our forwards were the strongest part of our team, but the defense did a heck of a job all through this tournament,” Schwarz said.

“We gave up six goals in four playoff games, and that’s pretty good. That’s partly Aaron, partly defense, partly the forwards coming back and playing in our end. We felt that the only way Greely was going to score was by scuffling around in front our end. When we didn’t chip the puck out, we got ourselves in trouble, but when we did chip it out, we did all right.”

That defensive effort included making it hard for the speedy Rangers to get to the puck, particularly in situations where it would lead directly to shots on goal.

“I thought there were a lot of pucks that went through the crease, across the top of the crease, diagonally through the crease, or vertically out from the goal line that we couldn’t seem to get a stick on and put back on the net in a way that might have led to a goal,” said Greely coach Barry Mothes.

Perhaps the biggest moments of defensive strength came late in the second period, when Greely had a 3-2 lead as well as a two-minute power play.

“Our penalty kill all season has been phenomenal,” said Fitzpatrick. “We’ve been killing penalties all year like that, and as you can see it’s really helped us out.”

Overcoming adversity

Like nearly all hockey teams that survive to play meaningful games in March, the Brewer Witches had to overcome their share of injuries and illness.

Brewer entered the game with junior captain Prentiss Swett in street clothes, the result of a broken leg suffered late in the regular season.

Schwarz had to shuffle his forward lines further early in the state final after senior forward Marc Relford aggravated a shoulder injury that had sidelined him late in the season.

And the rest of the team had to play through typical end-of-winter health woes.

“These guys are all sick,” said McLaughlin. “They’ve got the flu, they’ve got bronchitis, but they came down here and we just knew if we played our hearts out we could win the game and that’s what we did.”