DURHAM – The Oyster River High School boys hockey team has been a model of consistency in recent years.
For the fifth year in a row the Bobcats have reached the semifinals of the Division II tournament, this time with a 4-2 win over Goffstown in a quarterfinal matchup Saturday morning at the Whittemore Center.
Second-seeded Oyster River never trailed while extending its win streak to nine games. The Bobcats have allowed only 11 goals during that stretch and never more than two in any one game.
“Our goal in the last eight games has been to minimize the goals against,” said Oyster River coach Peter Harwood. “At the beginning of the year we were giving up a lot more goals. We’ve tightened up defensively and tried to eliminate odd-man rushes, and that’s made a big difference.”
Miner move proves to be a major difference
Cam Miner’s move from forward to defense following the holiday break helped fortify the Bobcats’ back line.
“That’s probably been the biggest game-changer of the year for us,” Harwood said. “He’s real poised and does a good job getting the puck out of our end.”
The senior captain had experience playing the position on other teams, so it wasn’t that big of an adjustment.
“It was a change but it’s working,” Miner said. “We were never too worried about scoring. It was more just defense wins championships.”
Oyster River jumps out to early two-goal lead
Oyster River led 2-0 after the first period and 3-1 at the end of two. However, the Bobcats endured some anxious moments near the end of the third period after they were assessed a five-minute major penalty for contact to the head elbowing. That meant they had to play shorthanded for all but the final 27 seconds no matter how many goals the No. 7 Grizzlies scored.
The visitors moved within 3-2 on their second power-play strike of the game but when they pulled their goalie for an extra attacker with one minute left in regulation that gave them a 6-on-4 manpower advantage Miner foiled the strategy with an empty-net goal with 49.4 seconds remaining to seal the victory.
“It was a tense ending,” Harwood said. “Coming into the third period we were saying we just have to stay out of the penalty box. It was tough. The kids battled through. It certainly wasn’t the type of ending I would draw up.”
Beyer, DeRosa, Walsh all score for Bobcats
Talon Beyer, Domenic DeRosa and Nolan Walsh also scored for the Bobcats (14-3-2) who…
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