Written by Anthony DelMonaco
The Class B North Hockey Tournament kicked off in Brewer on Tuesday night with a double header of action at the Penobscot Ice Arena. The #3 seed Brewer Witches with a record of 11-6-1 took on the #6 seed Presque Isle Wildcats with a record of 9-9-0.
Coach Lance Ingerson’s Witches opened the scoring late in the first period as senior Trey Wood set up the eventual game winning goal for Tyler Hersey.
Coming out of the locker room the Witches pounced on the Presque Isle squad coached by Carl Flynn. 14 seconds into the second period Jack Watkins took a pass from Tyler Hersey and skated in on the breakaway shooting the puck past Presque Isle goalie Bryce Bonville making it 2-0 for the Witches. Just 42 seconds later Zac Duncan skated across the blue line for an unassisted goal to give Brewer a 3-0 lead.
Trey Baker would hit the back of the net with the help of Zach Stinger and Ben Byorak taking a 4-0 lead a few minutes later. Tyler Hersey soon made it a 5-0 advantage with the help of Jack Watkins.
Presque Isle’s Denny Young got called for tripping late in the 2nd period and Brewer’s Josh Pellegrino put the Witches up 6-0 before PI could touch the puck on the delayed call.
Brewer came out in the third on the power play on Young’s penalty and notched a power play goal for Kirk Small with Pellegrino and Baker on the set up.
Two more third period goals from Jordan Parkhurst and Brandon Cook with assists to Josh Hart, Zac Duncan, Riley Kenney and Marty Hewes paced Brewer to the 9-0 victory.
Witches Senior Goalie Drew Baker was stellar in net along with Konlon Kilroy combining for the shutout.
Brewer will face #2 Old Town/Orono in the semifinals who beat 7th seed Camden Hills 3-2.
