Can Brewer High School’s Eric White and Dylan Fitzpatrick extend their memorable seasons?

Can Bangor High School feed off its season-ending four-game winning streak?

Those questions will begin to be answered tonight when the second-seeded Brewer Witches and sixth-seeded Bangor Rams open the Eastern Maine Class A hockey quarterfinals.

Brewer, 16-4, hosts No. 7 Brunswick, 11-8, at 7:20 while Bangor, 11-9, visits No. 3 seed Waterville, 12-7-1, at 6 p.m.

Sophomore White was a backup last year but has had an impressive season with a 12-4 record, a 2.00 goals-against average and a .917 save percentage.

“I’ve had a few games where I wasn’t there mentally but, overall, I feel I’ve played pretty well,” said White.

“He’s the reason they’re where they are,” said Bangor senior center and leading scorer Christian Dionne.

White said the biggest improvement in his game has been in his rebound control.

“I’ve let the puck come to me and that has enabled me to deaden it [and control it],” explained White. “I’ve worked a lot on it in practice.”

White also benefits from facing Class A’s top scorer, Fitzpatrick, who has 32 goals and 28 assists.

“He’s got great hands. He can get around anyone one-on-one and he can put his shot within an inch of where he wants to put it,” said Brewer senior defenseman Prentiss Swett.

Fitzpatrick said he has been “kind of surprised” at his numbers and credits two-year linemates Nick Risser and Ryan Nadeau, for his success.

“They’ve made it possible,” said Fitzpatrick, who spends a lot of time working on his shot and quick release.

“If you release it quickly, the goalie isn’t ready,” said Fitzpatrick.

“He has nice hands, he keeps his head up and he has a knack for the net,” said Brewer coach Bill Schwarz whose Witches beat Brunswick 5-0 early in the season.

But the Witches expect a tough battle from the speedy Dragons.

Across the river, Dionne and senior goalie Andrew Riley feel the winning streak will fuel their confidence against a Waterville team they split with during the season.

“We’ve got to make good passes in the defensive zone and shut down their top line of [John] Massey, [Zach] Jochem and [Ian] Rowe,” said Dionne.

“We can’t panic in the defensive zone,” added Riley. “We also need to get more shots on them.”

Dionne said they need to “work hard” and avoid the inconsistency that has plagued them this season.

“And we’re going to have to rely on [Riley] to steal one for us,” said Dionne.

Fitzpatrick’s linemates, Nadeau (16 & 26) and Risser (20 & 18) have had great years while Swett (9 & 14) and Chris Lopez (3 & 16) have anchored the defense for the defending state Class B champs.

Bangor has been led by Dionne (9 & 18) and linemates Johnny Warren (10 & 10) and David Pardilla (16 & 3) along with defensmen Nick George (4 & 9) and Chad Kelley (0 & 9) and Riley (8-6, 2.30, .907).

Speedsters Blaine Cardali (13 & 13) and Wes Caparratto (8 & 10) have paced Brunswick along with Jason Lachance (6 & 13), defenseman Tyler Cohen (1 & 8) and goalie Matt Pellerin (9-8, 2.52, .908).

Massey (9 & 17), Jochem (10 & 15) and Rowe (12 & 8) have led Waterville along with defenseman Shawn Lee (6 & 9) and goalie Nolan MacDonnell (12-7-1, 1.85, .905).

lmahoney@bangordailynews.net

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