HIGH-SCHOOL

ClipperCats up to the challenge

Dreher’s penalty shot goal sparks squad in local-local showdown

Mike Zhe mzhe@seacoastonline.com
Oyster River/Portsmouth players celebrate after Laura Dreher, second from left, scored on a second-period penalty shot during their game against St. Thomas/Winnacunnet/Dover at the Whittemore Center in Durham on Monday. [Mike Zhe/Seacoastonline]

DURHAM — Laura Dreher had a plan in her head and the skills to execute it.

The penalty shot is often called the most exciting play in hockey, and when officials ruled a St. Thomas/Winnacunnet/Dover defender had covered the puck with her hand in the second period, it was senior captain Dreher of Oyster River/Portsmouth who got to make the unobstructed rush from center ice.

“I knew if I could get (the goalie) to one side, I could have the other side open,” said Dreher. “I brought the puck over and it was an open net.”

The second of Dreher’s two goals was seen as a key one by both sides, as the ClippersCats pulled away for a 7-2 win at the Whittemore Center that improved their record to 6-2.

A game that was 3-2 midway through the second period after a goal by Payton Fleury of St. Thomas was all ClipperCats the rest of the way, and they closed out a valuable win against a team they were tied with at the beginning of the day.

Kelly Zhang scored twice for OR/Portsmouth, and Natalie Lessard, Lilli Poitras and Anna Mazza each had a goal and an assist. Amelie Cowieson earned the win in goal.

“I told the girls before the game, we’ve got to start beating the teams that are ahead of us in the standings,” said OR/Portsmouth coach Jamie Long. “Today they did. This was a quality win against a quality team.”

The Saints (5-3) were missing two of their top four scorers (Elizabeth Karatzas and Molly Connor) but hung around, killing penalties well — including one they incurred just 11 seconds into the game — and denying Grade-A chances well into the game.

Dreher scored the only goal of the first period, a rush that began in her own end and ended with her snapping a wrister past goalie Jaeda Fuller from the high slot.

The Saints, which saw a Memphis Brown bid hit the post in the final minutes of the first, got on the board after earning a power play early in the second. Olivia Kimball’s shot from close in was saved at first glance, but after players backed off an official pointed to the puck across the line and it was 1-1.

The ClippersCats responded. First, Zhang broke the deadlock. Then, just 2 1/2 minutes later, Dreher was awarded a penalty shot and calmly skated in and deked her way to an open net to make it 3-1.

“I think the turning point in the game was the penalty shot,” said Saints coach Al Oliveira. “That was a huge thing.”

Fleury got one back for the Saints midway through the period, but Mazza struck with four minutes left to send OR/Portsmouth to the third period with a 4-2 lead.

Dreher, a defenseman who’ll play field hockey — her best sport — in college next year at Smith, is an unquestioned leader on the team, the only captain along with Mazza.

“Laura’s a leader. That’s why she’s a captain,” said Long. “Those two are as good as any players in the state, as far as I can tell.”

The only real blemish on the OR/Portsmouth resume is a recent 7-0 loss at Berlin/Gorham, and they’d like to prove that it was an aberration, especially with strong teams like Exeter, Hanover and Concord still on the regular-season schedule.

“We’ve had a roller-coaster season,” said Long. “We shouldn’t get shut out by anybody, and we shouldn’t be embarrassed and have it go to running time, which it did in Berlin. But we’ve picked it up since then.”

St. Thomas, meanwhile, is coming off a tight loss to Berlin/Gorham (2-1). At full strength, Oliveira feels they can compete with anyone, even if they couldn’t take Monday’s game all the way to the end.

“Jamie’s team, came, they were ready to play and they beat us,” said Oliveira.

“Very pleased with how we played, from our goaltending on out,” said Long. “Everybody played hard and they kept their feet moving.”