In thrilling fashion, the Upper Montgomery Lightning won its first ever division one varsity playoff game late Friday night with a come from behind 2-1 overtime victory against the St. Johns Cadets at Rockville Ice Arena. With the win, Upper Montgomery advances to face long-time perennial powerhouse Churchill in round two of the division one playoffs. The winner of next Friday’s game will advance to the Maryland state high school playoff tournament. The Churchill game will be Upper Montgomery’s first ever chance at a state playoff berth.
In Upper Montgomery’s first ever overtime game, Hunter Cameron finished off a two on one rush with a forehand snapshot into a wide open net. The play originated deep in the Lightning defensive zone. Lightning center Chris Hassett swung the puck from behind the Upper Montgomery goal up the right wing boards to George Benedick. Benedick protected the puck with his body. While shielding the puck from the St. Johns’ attacking skater, he placed a neat little spinning backhand pass into open ice toward Cameron in the center of the defensive zone. Behind the net, Hassett collided with the St. Johns’ defender who dropped his stick behind the goal. Hassett beat the St. Johns’ skater up ice to create the two on one play.
As they entered the offensive zone, the lone remaining defender closed in on Cameron who made the correct read and sent the puck over to Hassett coming down the off wing on the left side. Cameron’s pass was an aerial pass, knee high, and Hassett did an excellent job knocking the puck out of mid-air while controlling the puck. In doing so, he was wide of the net with a poor angle to shoot on his backhand. Instead, with St. Johns’ goalie Jack Faricy committing to Hassett and a likely shot on goal, Hassett backhand passed the puck across the ice to Cameron who was wide open in front of the net at the right post. Cameron buried the cross ice return pass into the net from three feet out and two feet outside the right post sending the jubilant Lightning bench pouring over the boards and into a mob pile along the far boards surrounding Cameron. For Cameron, it was a memorable way to score his first goal of the season and send the Upper Montgomery spectators into a wild celebration.
In a gritty and tightly contested game, Upper Montgomery defended all over the ice and limited the Cadets scoring opportunities. St. Johns managed just 23 shots on goal for the game and went a long stretch of the second and third period with zero shots. This included a four minute span of the second period where the Lightning were forced to play with six skaters on the ice as Upper Montgomery’s goalie Landon Bernard lost a skate blade that needed to be replaced on the bench.
From the outset it was clear that Upper Montgomery was the better team, even while missing two important forwards, Nathan Cassell and Ryan Jacobson. The Lightning earned eight powerplays during the game, but were unable to mount much pressure with the extra skater. When Upper Montgomery was able to tilt the ice, St. Johns netminder, Jack Faricy was there to make the timely saves.
With two and a half minutes remaining in the first period, St. Johns would jump in front with leading scorer Teddy Kurowski scoring a shorthanded goal. Unfortunately for the Lightning, the play was two feet offside, a call that was missed by both referees. The St. Johns lead would hold until the five minute mark of the second period when Philip Shkeda scored off of a two on one pass from Brandon Bernard. The play was set up by a fine defensive play and pass up ice by Lightning forward Olivia Robbins who sprung her linemates on the two on one odd skater rush. The score would remain even at one for the final 25 minutes of regulation setting up the climatic three on three overtime session.
The remaining teams alive in the Montgomery Hockey Conference varsity division one playoffs are:
Wootton (9) versus Walter Johnson (1)
Upper Montgomery (7) versus Churchill (2)
Richard Montgomery (6) versus Quince Orchard (3)
Whitman (5) versus BCC (4)