ORONO, Maine — Senior goalie Tyler Friel made 36 saves and the Brewer High School Witches received goals from Tyler Hersey, Dan Beal and Dylan Severance to beat archrival Bangor before more than 1,000 enthusiastic fans at the ninth annual Fill the Alfond game at Alfond Arena Tuesday night.
Hersey’s first-period goal and Beal’s second-period tally gave the Witches a 2-0 lead after two periods.
Ben Crichton scored a power-play goal with 7:14 left in the third period but Severance added an empty-netter as Class B North Brewer improved to 9-7.
It was Brewer’s eighth win in its last nine games and the Witches have allowed only 10 goals in those nine games.
“We’ve focused a lot on our defensive zone play,” said Brewer coach Lance Ingerson.
Class A Bangor fell to 8-5-2 after having its three-game unbeaten streak (2-0-1) snapped. Bangor has been held to two goals or less in five of its last eight games.
“This was one of my best games of the year,” said Friel. “We played tough. My defensemen did a great job and I appreciate it.”
The Brewer defensemen were Jack Schroder, Trey Wood, Jack Watkins and Kyle Webb.
It was the Brewer seniors’ first win over Bangor in a Fill the Alfond game.
“We ran into a hot goalie. He stood on his head,” said Bangor coach Quinn Paradis. “And we’ve struggled to score all season.”
“He played a really good game and we didn’t capitalize on our chances,” said Bangor senior center and leading scorer Trevor DeLaite.
The Witches did a nice job defensively as they clogged the middle of the ice, limited Bangor’s odd-man rushes and effectively protected the front of their net so Friel could see the shots. They also cleared loose pucks so Friel didn’t have to make second and third saves.
Bangor carried the play in a physical and penalty-free first period but it was the opportunistic Witches who scored the only goal.
Wood pounced on a loose puck along the left-wing boards and fed it to an unattended Hersey who was skating down the slot. Hersey took a couple of strides and fired a 20-foot wrist shot past the glove hand of Bangor goalie Derek Fournier.
“There was a Bangor defenseman in front of me so I shot it past his left shin pad,” said Hersey.
Bangor outshot Brewer 15-8 and had a distinct advantage in offensive zone possession.
Beal extended the lead at the 8:15 mark of a more evenly-played second period off a goalmouth scramble. A pass from behind the net went to Caleb Eggert in the low slot and he spun around and flipped the puck toward the net.
“It went off the goalie’s pad and popped in the air and I just swatted it,” said Beal.
Friel preserved the lead with two terrific saves later in the period. He dove across to his right to rob Cam Cota with his blocker after a Cameron Burpee rebound had spilled across the net front.
“I got my helmet on that one,” said Friel.
Two minutes later, Ben Crichton swept the puck away from a Witch in the neutral zone and slid the puck across to DeLaite, who broke in alone on Friel. He held his ground and made a pad save with 4:01 remaining in the period.
Bangor finally put one behind Friel when Crichton skated down the ice in a four-on-three rush and took a 35-foot wrist shot from the middle of the slot that squeaked through Friel’s pads.
But Friel preserved the win with a great blocker save off DeLaite’s one-timer from a Crichton pass with three minutes left.
“I barely got my blocker on that one,” said Friel.
Bangor outshot Brewer 37-23.