BREWER – It’s not often one particular play can be THE most critical one in a hockey game with a final score of 9-2.

Usually, there is no one key play. It’s the overall collective team effort that’s the key.

While the overall effort by Brewer High School was critical in Saturday night’s 9-2 victory over Lawrence of Fairfield at T.J. Ryan Center, there was one single play that loomed large.

With the Witches holding a 3-1 lead and 11 minutes, 47 seconds left in the second period, Lawrence found itself not only with a power-play opportunity, but a two-man advantage after interference and roughing calls put two Brewer players in the penalty box for 37 seconds.

Ten seconds later, Brewer center Dylan Fitzpatrick picked off a soft pass near the blue line and broke the opposite way with only Lawrence goalie Chris Caron between him and the goal. Fitzpatrick went with a quick shot from about seven feet out and buried it in the net.

“That was the back-breaker,” said Lawrence coach Yvon Boudreau. “We had a 5-on-3 with five seniors out there and were trying to get within a goal, but it just fell apart.”

Fitzpatrick had two unassisted goals and three assists to help lead the 4-1 Witches to their fourth straight win.

“I think we were a little flat early on after all the time off,” Fitzpatrick said of the slow tempo and offensive funk his Witches were in during the first period. “We were kind of playing down to their level and I thought that was a combination of them getting on us fast and us not playing to our potential.”

Brewer coach Bill Schwarz addressed the problem in the first intermission.

“They were shutting down the middle on us in front of their end, so we told them to take the puck wide and create some open space, shoot quicker, and make quicker passes,” Schwarz said. “Our guys were jostling with them instead of bumping off them and creating space to receive passes better.”

That’s not to say the Witches were less physical.

“In the second period, Brewer brought it to us,” said Boudreau. “They started taking the body and our guys just shut right down. We couldn’t even break the puck out of our zone.

“We actually have a bigger team, but we didn’t have the heart tonight that Brewer did.”

Senior forward Tyler Coombs paced Brewer with a hat trick (three goals) – his first this season.

Coombs scored his first goal with 1:01 left in the second period to make it 5-1 Brewer.

“I don’t even know where the puck came from. I looked down and it was on my stick so I shot it five-hole and put it right through his legs,” he said. “I don’t know how the second one went in, but on the third one Dylan hit me perfectly with the pass and I put it in.”

Sophomore wing Nick Risser scored two goals and assisted on three others. Junior forward Ryan Nadeau scored two goals and assisted on another. Senior Kayla Dunn made 22 saves on 24 shots for the Witches.

The goals for the 2-3-1 Bulldogs came from Jeshua Dearborn and James Banks. Both were on the power play. Caron made 30 saves.

WITCHES 9, BULLDOGS 2

Lawrence (2-3-1) 1 0 1 – 2

Brewer (4-1) 2 3 4 – 9

First period – 1. Brewer, Fitzpatrick (unassisted), 4:15; 2. Lawrence, Dearborn (Hersom, Lawrence) 9:04 (pp); 3. Brewer, Risser (Fitzpatrick) 14:42; penalties: Lawrence, Roy, interference, 5:41; Brewer, Coombs, interference, 7:06; Lawrence, Hutchinson, unnecessary roughness, 12:24

Second period – 4. Brewer, R. Nadeau, (Risser) 0:55; 5. Brewer, Fitzpatrick (unassisted), 3:23 (sh); 6. Brewer, Coombs (Swett, McNally) 13:59; penalties: Brewer, Helfen, interference, 1:50; Brewer, Lopez, roughing, 3:13; Lawrence, Lawrence, high-sticking, 6:54; Brewer, Clune, interference, 6:54; Brewer, Fitzpatrick, unnecessary roughness, 9:42; Brewer, Kotredes, unnecessary roughness, 11:20; Lawrence, Roy, unnecessary roughness, 11:20

Third period – 7. Lawrence, Banks (unassisted) 1:05 (pp); 8. Brewer, R. Nadeau (Fitzpatrick, Risser) 1:31; 9. Brewer, Risser (R. Nadeau) 3:06 (pp); 10. Brewer, Coombs (E. Nadeau) 4:27 (pp). Penalties: Lawrence, Langley, interference, 2:01; Lawrence, Langley, tripping, 4:00; Lawrence, Woodbury, elbowing, 5:28; Brewer, Risser, unnecessary roughness, 7:05; Brewer, Kotredes, unnecessary roughness, 8:22; Lawrence, Banks, unnecessary roughness, 8:22; Lawrence, Boudreau, unnecessary roughness, 11:30; Lawrence, Hersom, unnecessary roughness, 12:10; Brewer, McNally, slashing, 13:18

Shots on goal: Lawrence 4-11-9-24; Brewer 9-13-17-39

Goaltenders: Lawrence, Caron (39 shots-30 saves); Brewer, Dunn (24-22)

Power-play opportunities: Lawrence 2 of 6; Brewer 2 of 7

Attendance: 200 (est.)