The Upper Montgomery Lightning junior varsity faced off on Thursday afternoon against the Churchill Bulldogs. Instead of facing the Bulldogs regular junior varsity squad, the Lightning played against three quarters of the Bulldogs varsity two team. All of the Churchill student athletes were eligible to compete at the junior varsity level, and many would say that the Churchill two varsity team is really a junior varsity team competing against varsity competition. Maybe it was the fear of facing off against one of the best junior varsity teams in the county in the Lightning. Maybe it was respect for Upper Montgomery and wanting to put forth a more challenging game, but the Lightning played a vastly different Churchill junior varsity team than the rest of the teams in the Montgomery Hockey Conference had faced. AND, Upper Montgomery should have easily won the game. The Lightning played one of their most frustrating games of the season before settling for a 4-4 tie.
If nothing else, the game was entertaining with rushes up and down the ice. Unfortunately for the Lightning, that is not a style of play that is most effective for the team. Upper Montgomery needs to defend well, clog up the neutral zone and the defensive side of the ice, and make it hard for the opposition to score goals. The game against Churchill turned out to be just the opposite with free flow skating up and down the ice and too many offensive chances.
The first period was up and down the ice. Both teams had chances. Most of Upper Montgomery’s shots were directed right into the pads of Bulldog netminder Lucas Petrosyan who played a stand up style of goaltending. He was credited with twelve saves in the first period, with many of the Lightning shots simply hitting off of him rather than Petrosyan making good saves. At the other end of the ice, Lightning netminder Ilan Shterenberg made eight saves of his own. Each team had a powerplay opportunity in the scoreless period with Upper Montgomery failing to score when Ahmed Elkousy was called for unsportsmanlike conduct at the 9:30 mark of the period. Churchill failed to score when Upper Montgomery forward AJ Marks was called for slashing with 2:30 remaining in the period. For the Lightning it was the team’s 21 straight successful penalty kill to begin the season.
It was during the second period when the fireworks began. Just one minute and eight seconds into the middle period the Bulldogs would jump in front. Churchill defender Samuel Lifsey cleared the puck in his defensive zone up the right wing boards. A missed pinch by the Lightning defense at the offensive blue line allowed Churchill center Joseph Ahn to head up ice unimpeded along the right wing boards. Elkousy joined the rush and made it a two on one chance with Lightning defender Jake Roth the only defender back. When Ahn reached the right faceoff circle in the offensive zone, Roth pressured and closed on him. Ahn was able to slide the puck past Roth to Elkousy charging down the slot with no other Lightning defender able to get back into the play. Elkousy deked and went to his forehand to tuck the puck around the right leg pad of Shterenberg for the breakaway goal.
On the next shift the Lightning would answer right back. Off of a faceoff to the left of Petrosyan, Adam Levine pushed the puck forward attempting a step through play. The Bulldog defense got to the puck first but under pressure from Levine, did not get enough on the clearing attempt to clear the zone. Lightning defender Patrick Sell kept the puck in at the right point. His long range shot was blocked with the puck deflecting down into the right corner right onto the stick of Lightning forward TJ Gottesman. Gottesman’s pass to the slot was behind Levine, with Levine able to touch drag the puck further into the low slot to Marks. Marks’ shot was low along the ice and Petrosyan made a stick save. The puck bounded up in the air behind the net where Gottesman captured the puck exiting the corner. Gottesman continued around the net from right to left and sent a pass into the slot that was collected by Marks. Marks’ second shot of the sequence was a backhand shot that was also stopped by Petrosyan’s stick, but not covered. Gottesman continuing around the net was right there at the left post to shovel the puck over Petrosyan’s right leg pad and into the net to even the score. For Gottesman it was his career high fifth goal of the season. For Levine, it was his team leading seventh assist of the season.
Six minutes later, the Bulldogs would jump back in front. Off of a faceoff in the left faceoff circle in the Lightning defensive zone, Upper Montgomery got the puck to center ice. Bulldog defender Michael Dong banked the puck off the right wing boards at his defensive zone blue line. The puck was collected by Ahn coming over the offensive blue line. Ahn fired a wrist shot from the right faceoff circle. The harmless shot looked like it was going to be an easy save for Shterenberg, but the puck deflected off the stick of Lightning defender Avery Evans and quickly changed directions, fluttering higher and to the left of its original flight path. The puck settled over Sheterenberg’s blocker and into the top left corner of the net.
Three and a half minutes later, the score would be deadlocked at two. Churchill pressured in the Lightning defensive zone with Roth defending on the puck. The Bulldog forward attempted a pass toward the net from the left corner which clicked off Roth’s skate over to Marks deep along the red goal line extended. Marks flung a well timed clearing attempt / pass out of the defensive zone in the direction of Gottesman on the left wing. Gottesman raced after the puck crossing the offensive blue line just ahead of the Churchill defender trying to hustle back to slow him down. With no one between him and Petrosyan, from the mid-slot area, Gottesman fired low far side past Petroysan’s glove to again knot up the contest, this time at two. The pretty evenly played period ended with each team firing eight shots on goal and each team scoring twice.
The third period started exactly as the second period had, with an early Elkousy goal. Upper Montgomery cleared the puck to the Bulldog defensive line. Churchill defender Adam Klewans banked the puck up the left wing boards to Elkousy in the neutral zone. Elkousy skated into the Lightning defensive zone and approached the top of the left faceoff circle. His snap shot ramped up off of Evans stick and launched higher than Shterenberg expected finding its way into the top corner of the net short side over Shterenberg’s catching glove. Upper Montgomery was now down one goal with 12:42 left to go in the game.
Two minutes later the score would be tied for the third time in the game. Levine won a neutral zone faceoff to the right wing boards for Gottesman. Gottesman lost control of the puck, but it was recovered by Roth and shot into the offensive zone. The Churchill defense arrived at the puck first and rimmed the puck around the boards to their right wing inside the defensive zone. The puck took a strange bounce off the boards and caromed into the area of the ice between the top of the left faceoff circle and the blue line. Levine was first to the puck, and he gathered possession of the puck. He stickhandled through and around three Bullddog defenders into the high slot where he fired a low wrist shot back across the direction he had just skated in from. His shot went along the ice past Petrosyan’s right skate and into the far side of the net.
With six and a half minutes left in the third period, the Lightning would take their only lead of the game. Churchill had possession of the puck in their defensive zone. The Bulldog defender shot the puck off the boards into the neutral zone where it was picked up by Marks. Marks skated down the right wing and from the lower portion of the right faceoff circle fired a wrist shot short side high past Petrosyan’s left shoulder for the unassisted goal.
All that remained was for the Lightning to play lock down defense over the remainder of the third period to walk away with their eighth straight victory to begin the season. It was not to be. On the very next shift Churchill would tie the score on a goal that Shterenberg felt he should have saved. Churchill defender Jacob Wiederhorn skated the puck out of his defensive zone into neutral ice. Along the right wing at the benches, Wiederhorn skated into Marks and the puck was left behind. Churchill forward Tye Glazer snagged the puck. Glazer continued the rush up ice and crossed over the offensive blue line before launching a long range slap shot on net. The puck hit a crouching Shterenberg low and continued over his stick and body into the air behind him before settling into the net to once again tie the game with just under six minutes remaining.
The action did not stop. Instead of each team playing solid defense to earn points for a tie, the game opened up with Upper Montgomery having half a dozen incredibly high quality chances to win the game. With just over four minutes left in regulation, Churchill forward Victor Levonenko was called for tripping. The Lightning had several grade A chances on the powerplay around the net with two Levine deflections hitting an unsuspecting Petrosyan and somehow staying out of the net. Just after Levonenko’s penalty expired and the Bulldogs returned to equal strength, Levine sprung Marks with a nifty pass. From the inside edge of the lower left faceoff circle, Marks’ hard wrist shot hit Petrosyan who did not move. The puck just rebounded off the netminder and into the slot.
Upper Montgomery caught another break when they ended regulation and began overtime on the powerplay after Ahn was called for interference with 22 seconds remaining in regulation time. Levine won the faceoff too strongly and the puck leaked out of the offensive zone concluding regulation play knotted at four apiece. Starting overtime with a four on three powerplay, there was lots of open ice. Upper Montgomery controlled play while on the powerplay with Levine having two more good looks at the doorstep. The first was a deflection in front that hit Petrosyan’s leg pads. The second was a shovel shot with Petrosyan trying to cover the puck that also would not go over the goal line. After the powerplay ended, each team had possessions with the puck to suddenly end the game. As time ticked out in overtime, the Lightning’s unbeaten streak remained intact, 7-0-1. The chance to win the Montgomery Hockey Conference regular season junior varsity championship took a hit, but other more lofty goals remain.
Next up for the Lightning junior varsity is a game against the highly touted Oakdale Bears. The coaching staff intentionally scheduled this game to allow the junior varsity students to get a sense of what the upcoming Montgomery Hockey Conference playoff tournament will be like. The Lightning will be an underdog in the Oakdale game and will likely play without two key components, Shterenberg and junior defender Cole Howerton. With a first round bye secured for the Montgomery Hockey Conference junior varsity playoffs, Upper Montgomery awaits the results of the opening round of action before their quarterfinal opponent will be determined. Expect that most teams who have varsity student athletes eligible for junior varsity action to drop those student down to participate in the junior varsity playoffs. This tactic is allowed if a student athlete has played in four of the seven junior varsity league games. To prepare for the more talented skaters that the team will face in the playoffs, Upper Montgomery intentionally scheduled the Bears as a means of preparation. The Frederick County junior varsity teams have different rules regarding who may play in junior varsity games. The Lightning expect the non-league contest will feature some very talented Bears upper level skaters.
Game Notes:
- Adam Levine scored a goal and added an assist for the second straight game. He now has points in five straight games.
- Adam Levine leads the team in assists with seven.
- AJ Marks set a career high in points in one game with three against the Bulldogs.
- TJ Gottesman took over the team lead in points with nine on six goals and three assists. His six goals are a career high.
- The four goals given up by the Lightning were the most allowed in a game this season. Prior to the Churchill game, the Lightning had given up only eight goals on the season in seven games, with only two of those goals allowed during the third period of games.
- Shots on goal for the game were basically even, Upper Montgomery with 34 and Churchill with 29.
- Upper Montgomery killed off their only shorthanded situation in the game and remain a perfect 21-21 on the season.
- Upper Montgomery failed on two key powerplay opportunities late in the game and during overtime.
- The Lightning need to win their final conference game of the season to secure a top two seed in the Montgomery Hockey Conference junior varsity playoffs.
- The Upper Montgomery junior varsity returns to game action on Tuesday evening, January 2nd for a non-conference game against top junior varsity program Oakdale. Game time is 8:35 pm at Skate Frederick.
Three Stars of the Game:
First Star—AJ Marks—Upper Montgomery Forward—1 Goal, 2 Assists
Second Star—Ahmed Elkousy—Churchill Forward—2 Goals
Third Star—TJ Gottesman—Upper Montgomery Forward—2 Goals