The Upper Montgomery Lightning and the Wootton Patriots engaged in a barnburner of a hockey game on Wednesday evening at Cabin John Ice Rink. The two talented squads left everything they had on the ice as both teams played with short benches with each team missing several key student athletes. Upper Montgomery ninth grade goalie Porter Stutsrim-Lyons stole the show making a career high and junior varsity program record 47 saves. Stutsrim-Lyons’ play, along with the Lightning’s defensive effort and shot blocking took top ranked Wootton to overtime before the Patriots eventually prevailed 3-2. The game is recorded as a tie for Upper Montgomery, and an overtime victory for Wootton, last season’s top regular season junior varsity team.
The game resembled Upper Montgomery’s style of play from last year, when the Lightning went undefeated during the regular season finishing with a 9-0-1 record. The Lightning jumped out to an early lead and then spent most of the game selling out on the defensive side of the ice doing their best to clog up the middle of the ice and block shots. When the Wootton shots did make it through Stutsrim-Lyons was there to make the save. He gave up very few rebounds and was quick to smother the puck when it was loose around his feet.
From the outset of the game it was clear that Wootton was the faster and more skilled team. After each Upper Montgomery clear of the defensive zone, the Patriots regrouped at center ice and attempted to quickly cycle back in offensively. The Patriots played with pace. However, having to consistently go through three, four, and five Upper Montgomery skaters resulted in the puck getting batted away, the play getting broken up, and Wootton committing turnovers that were once again cleared back out over the Lightning defensive blue line to center ice.
Five and a half minutes into the game the Lightning would strike first. Sophomore forward Jake Hudson took control of a loose puck in his defensive zone behind the net. He skated up the right wing side of the ice. His outlet pass to the left wing found Lightning forward Mason Jagoz. Jagoz swung wide and entered the Wootton defensive zone where he dumped the puck deep into the left corner. As Jagoz followed the puck behind the net a puck battled ensued with the Patriots defense. Upper Montgomery ninth grade forward Siddy Bhasin came away from the scrum with the puck at the near goal post. He traveled around the net where he sent the puck back across the crease. Hudson was tied up by the Wootton defense and the puck slid through the crease to Jagoz at the back post. Wootton sophomore goalie Kevin Yu made a goalie stick paddle save on Jagoz’s shot with the puck deposited behind the Wootton net. Hudson reached the loose puck first along the back wall and he skated around the net where he passed the puck to Bhasin in the low slot. Bhasin faked a shot with a defender in front of him and slid the puck to his left to Jagoz standing all alone wide open four feet in front of the goal. With Yu overplaying Bhasin to shoot from in close, Jagoz has plenty of time and net to shoot at. He calmly deposited his first goal as a member of the Lightning program.
Two minutes later the Upper Montgomery lead would grow to 2-0. Wootton dumped the puck into the Upper Montgomery zone and headed off for a line change. Lightning sophomore defender Miles Wendland retrieved the puck and passed the puck up to Hudson along the right wing in the defensive zone. Hudson carried the puck out past the defensive blue line and through neutral ice down into the Upper Montgomery offensive zone. His attempted dump in ricocheted off the Wootton defender to the right corner. Hudson rushed over to the puck and passed the puck into the high slot. Bhasin entered the offensive zone coming up ice from just having jumped over the boards during a line change. Bhasin snagged the pass and skated to the left edge of the right faceoff circle. His wrist shot went short side low just over Yu’s left leg pad. The puck found its way in close to Yu’s body seven hole beneath his glove hand having crept through and into the net for Bhasin’s second goal of the season.
Even though they had been outplayed and outshot by a wide margin, Upper Montgomery had taken advantage of their two primary scoring chances to build a lead. With three and a half minutes remaining in the first period a scramble in front of the Upper Montgomery net resulted in Wootton being awarded a penalty shot when Lightning senior defender Patrick Sell was deemed to have closed his hand on the puck in the crease area. It was the proper officiating call and gave smooth skating Wootton sophomore forward Nathan Geeng a one on one opportunity to skate in alone against Stutsrim-Lyons. Geeng came down the left side of the ice. From the mid slot between the circles he fired a snap shot far side under Stutsrim-Lyons’ glove hand. The Lightning netminder played the penalty shot well, but the shot from directly in front from that close and that hard got Wootton on the scoreboard. The Patriots outshot the Lightning seventeen to five during the opening period of play.
The second period was filled with Wootton pressure and offensive attacks, Stutsrim-Lyons big saves, and Upper Montgomery valiantly trying every which way to get in front of the Wootton shot attempts. Three and a half minutes into the period, Sell was called for his second penalty of the game, this time for hooking. The Upper Montgomery penalty killers assisted by Stutsrim-Lyons making some huge saves kept the puck out of the net. With six and a half minutes remaining in the period, Upper Montgomery junior forward Jason Woodman was called for an interference minor penalty. This time, the Lightning penalty killers were more organized and were able to clear the defensive zone on multiple occasions. Both successful penalty kills ran the program’s consecutive successful penalty kill streak to 33 straight shorthanded chances dating back to the end of the 2022 – 2023 season. Although again badly outshot twelve to six, and 29 to 11 for the game through two periods of play, the Lightning took a 2-1 lead into the third period.
The first nine and a half minutes of the third period was a mirror image of the second period. Wootton was on the attack. Upper Montgomery competed as hard as they possibly could defensively to keep the puck out of the net. When defensive breakdowns occurred, Stutsrim-Lyons was there to save the day including on a Wootton breakaway chance by sophomore forward Brendan Lau with eight minutes left in regulation. Upper Montgomery had one quality scoring opportunity in the third period. Off of a faceoff win by Hudson in the right faceoff circle in the offensive zone, Sell’s long range wrist shot from the point went past a screened Yu. Unfortunately for the Lightning, the puck clanked off the near side right goal post tumbling into the right corner out of harms way.
With just over five minutes left in regulation, Wootton would score the equalizer. A failed Upper Montgomery clearing attempt along the boards provided the impetus that the Patriots needed. The failed clear from the right wing boards in the Lightning defensive zone kept the Upper Montgomery skaters pinned on the ice for an extended shift. At the left point the puck was kept in by Wootton ninth grade defender Nathan Tian. Tian skated to the top of the slot where his shot was blocked by Wendland. Geeng collected the puck in the right corner where he passed it back into the slot to sophomore forward Jayden Ahn. Ahn’s shot was blocked by Lightning senior forward AJ Marks. The puck bounced forward a few feet where Lau was stationed unguarded. Lau was able to get enough on his shot to sneak the puck past Stutsrim-Lyons and over the goal line to tie the game at two.
Regulation ended tied ensuring that both teams would earn a least one point on the evening. It was well deserved for both teams who each had played a whale of a game although with differing styles. Wootton had outshot Upper Montgomery 42-15 in regulation after pumping thirteen shots on Stutsrim-Lyons in the third period while the Lightning only sent four shots on Yu. Three on three play in overtime was going to be a challenge for the tired Lightning skaters. With Wootton’s highly skilled and smooth skating forwards having a sizeable amount of additional open ice to work with, it seemed as if every shift in overtime was played with Upper Montgomery just willing time on the scoreboard to continue ticking. Overtime in high school hockey is played three skaters on three skaters with running clock.
With 45 seconds left in the game, the Lightning’s bubble burst. With a faceoff draw outside of the Wootton defensive zone, Geeng won the puck back to Tian. Tian returned the puck to Geeng in the neutral zone along the right wing. Somehow, Wootton was already in on a two on one rush against Wendland defending. Geeng passed the puck to his left to Ahn. Wendland played the incoming rush in excellent fashion forcing Ahn wide and making him circle the net. With no shot of his own, Ahn looked to pass to Geeng standing in front. The Upper Montgomery forward responsible for covering Geeng went past the net into the corner for some reason, leaving Wendland as the only defender involved in the play. Stutsrim-Lyons made the initial save on Geeng from in close, he then made a rebound save on Geeng, and another save on a shot by Ahn from in close. Finally, Ahn was able to pull the puck back a foot or so and he then lifted the puck into the top portion of the net high short side to send the Patriots off celebrating the victory on their side of the ice.
Upper Montgomery’s young student athletes got a taste of upper level high school hockey during the game against Wootton. The Lightning played hard even if there were some fundamentally shaky moments throughout the game. The team will need to bring the same level of compete once again on Friday night against BCC and frankly into all remaining games on the schedule. The game against Wootton also showed that the Lightning may be a bit ahead of schedule having performed so well against that quality of opponent without four key contributors.
Game Notes:
- Wootton vastly outshot Upper Montgomery 50-15 for the game, and eight to zero in overtime.
- Upper Montgomery goalie Porter Stutsrim-Lyons made a career high and junior varsity program record 47 saves.
- Upper Montgomery sophomore forward Mason Jagoz scored his first goal with the Lightning program. He scored one goal last season while playing high school hockey in Frederick County.
- Upper Montgomery did not have a powerplay in the game.
- Upper Montgomery killed off both Wootton powerplay opportunities running the program’s penalty kill streak to 33 straight shorthanded situations.
- Jake Hudson assisted on both Upper Montgomery goals.
- Siddy Bhasin has scored in his first two high school hockey games.
- Over the past three regular seasons, Upper Montgomery’s junior varsity program has runs its unbeaten streak to sixteen games, 12-0-4.
- Upper Montgomery’s junior varsity team has a quick turnaround when it returns to action this Friday night against the BCC Barons. Game time is a late start, 10:00 pm at Cabin John Ice Rink.
Three Stars of the Game:
First Star—Porter Stutsrim-Lyons—Upper Montgomery Goalie—47 Saves, .940 Save Percentage, Tie
Second Star—Jayden Ahn—Wootton Forward—Game Winning Goal, Assist
Third Star—Nathan Geeng—Wootton Forward—Penalty Shot Goal, 2 Assists