The Upper Montgomery Lightning junior varsity faced off against the Churchill Bulldogs Friday night dressing only seven skaters. The team rotated three defenders and four forwards the entire game. Faced with four students out-of-town with their external travel teams, three students ill with the virus circulating through Damascus High School, two students injured, and one student suspended, some observers may have thought that Upper Montgomery was going to be trounced by the Bulldogs. Not so fast!
Putting forth a heroic effort, Upper Montgomery’s vastly outnumbered roster of senior defenders Cole Howerton and Patrick Sell along with ninth grade defender Matt Rivera stood tall. The four forwards sold out all evening long to get the puck out of the defensive zone and to dump the puck in deep into the Churchill defensive zone. It was an outstanding effort by senior AJ Marks and sophomores Aiden Zheng, Mason Jagoz, and Ilan Shterenberg, the Lightning’s varsity goalie who skated out and played forward to assist the junior varsity.
In the pregame preparation meeting, the Lightnin’g’s coaching staff instructed the team to go out play hard and have fun. There were no expectations on the outcome of the game as it was such an unfair request of these young students to play with hardly any rest in between shifts. If a team forfeits a game, they are prevented from participating in the season ending junior varsity playoffs. Thus, the Lightning were left to summon the fortitude to compete and make it extremely difficult for Churchill. And, compete they did!
The first period was played even although Upper Montgomery finished the period outshooting the Bulldogs seven to four. Upper Montgomery spent the period making sure that they had multiple skaters back on defense to force the Churchill skaters to skate through a couple of defenders on each shift to bring the puck up the ice. The Lightning’s defense held the blue line forcing Churchill to dump the puck into the Upper Montgomery defensive zone and chase after the puck. Upper Montgomery was patient and comfortable simply to pound the puck off the boards out to center ice and let the Bulldogs try and gain the offensive zone again and again, over and over.
With four minutes remaining in the first period, Shterenberg got his stick caught under the skates of a Churchill skater and took a minor tripping penalty. Upper Montgomery remained in a tight box and Churchill fired several shots wide of the net. Other attempts were blocked by the Lightning penalty killers who quickly iced the puck to relieve pressure. Five seconds after the successful Lightning penalty kill, Churchill center Elias Elhallou was called for a minor roughing penalty behind the play. Upper Montgomery showed gumption by forcing Churchill senior goalie Nicholas Nelson to come up with several challenging saves to keep the score tied. Shterenberg had two quality scoring chances from in front while the Lightning were on the powerplay.
Churchill played much better in the second period but could not pull away from the tiring Lightning. Three minutes into the second period, Bulldogs defender Michael Dong was called for a minor hooking penalty. The Lightning struggled a little on their second powerplay opportunity and did not nearly muster as much offensively as they did on the extra skater advantage at the end of the first period.
After Dong’s penalty time expired, Churchill ramped up the offensive pressure once again. Upper Montgomery swatted the puck down ice to relieve the pressure and get repositioned. Churchill forward Oskar Sims retrieved the puck in the left corner of his defensive zone. He fired the puck up ice along the left wing boards. As the puck crossed the Churchill defensive blue line it deflected off of a Lightning skater to Churchill forward Saami Yousufi in the neutral zone. Yousufi sent a pass to Elhallou on the left wing entering the Upper Montgomery defensive zone. It was a very close play at the blue line and barely onside as Elhallou motored up the left side of the ice. At the top of the left faceoff circle, Elhallou jump cut and juked to the center of the ice while avoiding Sell, the lone Lightning defender back on the play. Coming in alone down the slot, Elhallou shifted the puck from his forehand to his backhand and slung the puck past Stutsrim-Lyons’ glove hand to give Churchill the lead.
If the Bulldogs thought that jumping into the lead would cause the Lightning to fold they were sorely mistaken. Upper Montgomery continued to play hard and fight for loose pucks earning yet another powerplay chance when Dong was sent back to the penalty box for a cross checking minor with four minutes remaining in the middle period. Upper Montgomery had a few chances on powerplay number three but could not get one by Nelson to tie up the game.
Then, as time wound down in the second period, Upper Montgomery’s forecheck paid dividends. A turnover was caused by Zheng getting in heavy on the forecheck to the left of Nelson. His poke check loosened the puck from a Churchill defender. Nelson stepped out and smacked the puck to the right wing boards with his goalie stick. Zheng raced over to the boards and took possession of the puck with eleven seconds remaining in the period. He fired on net from long range and from a bad angle. Nelson cuffed the puck down with his glove but did not make a clean save. Marks, standing at the left post, had an excellent chance but he fired wide into the meshing of the net just outside the left goal post. Churchill’s defense got to the puck and shot it up the ice. The puck traveled less then two feet before connecting with a backchecking forward’s skates. The puck changed directions and quickly slid though Nelson’s five hole to tie the game with 3.4 seconds remaining in the period. It was Upper Montgomery’s eleventh shot of the period compared with ten fired on net by the Bulldogs.
Inexplicably, Upper Montgomery’s seven skaters had played thirty minutes of hockey even with Churchill. Surely the Bulldogs depth would become a factor in the third period as Churchill looked to take advantage of the supremely tired Lightning. However, Churchill kept the Lightning invested in the game with poor choices. Two minutes into the final frame of regulation, Churchill defender Cyrus Sawyer was assessed a holding minor penalty for grabbing onto Shterenberg. Upper Montgomery again had a few nice scoring chances but could not put one past Nelson. Then, halfway through the period, Elhallou was called for a hit from behind body check way away from the play. The referees missed the call as Elhallou’s hit was not from behind. The result of the bad officiating decision was that Churchill’s most talented student athlete was forced to watch the remainder of the game from the penalty box. First, as his two minute minor penalty put Upper Montgomery back on the powerplay for the fourth occasion in the game and then with the automatic ten minute misconduct penalty that is assessed for checks from behind.
Upper Montgomery misfired on its second powerplay of the third period. With the referees holding their arms in the air, Nelson charged over to the Churchill bench area. As play continued, Zheng hit the right goal post with a shot from the offensive blue line and no goalie near the net. The Churchill coaching staff believed that a delayed penalty was going to be called on Upper Montgomery. Instead, the penalty was being called for Churchill having too many skaters on the ice. Churchill had narrowly dodged disaster striking with Zheng’s shot landing a few inches wide of Upper Montgomery taking a late lead.
Once again Upper Montgomery’s powerplay faltered. The two minutes of play where Upper Montgomery had the extra skater allowed time to come off the clock. Churchill was forced to defend on the defensive side of the ice rather than pushing forward in an attempt to take the lead. The final three and a half minutes of the game were played with Upper Montgomery doing everything in their power to get the puck out of the zone and get to overtime and scratch a point out of the game. The buzzer to end regulation brought with it an exhale of relief for the exhausted Lightning skaters. They had left everything on the ice in the third period pushing to try and win the game. Upper Montgomery outshot Churchill ten to nine in the third period where Churchill could reasonably have been expected to dominate play.
It was an awesome performance just to get to overtime. Now, more skating for the shorthanded Lightning. With three on three overtime, there was much more open ice. Upper Montgomery won control of the opening faceoff of overtime and eventually had a promising rush up the ice that was thwarted as Howerton reached only as far as the slot area. Churchill marched back down to the Lightning defensive zone and Upper Montgomery was able to ice the puck to slow the overtime period down. With running clock, over a minute of overtime had already elapsed when the faceoff draw occurred to the right of Stutsrim-Lyons. Off the draw, the puck shot across the ice directly to the left wing boards. The Lightning’s Rivera reached out and poked the puck forward towards the blue line while being pressured by Churchill forward Atahun Saydam. Sims kept the puck in at the left point and skated forward two strides. His long range shot his Saydam’s legs and dropped right back onto his stick. Sims skated through the left faceoff circle and fired a wrist shot at the net from the bottom of the left faceoff circle. His rising shot far side was placed perfectly over Stutsrim-Lyons’ glove hand into the apex of the goal sending the Bulldogs over the bench celebrating their overtime victory.
It was hard to know which team had achieved more at the conclusion of the game. Upper Montgomery’s performance of guts and determination was far more impressive in earning a tie against a full Churchill roster. Churchill may have come away with the victory on this night, but Upper Montgomery gained the knowledge of how to play to overcome the odds which will help the team throughout the rest of the season. The Lightning junior varsity has a bye next week before they return to action against bottom dweller Blair. The Lightning may play the contest with student athletes who may not play significant minutes on varsity this season as Upper Montgomery has back to back junior varsity and varsity games that evening. Either way, look for Upper Montgomery to finish the month of October with a 2-1-2 record and right in the thick of the conference standings fighting for playoff positioning and a first round playoff bye.
Game Notes:
- Shots on goal were fairly even for the game with Upper Montgomery firing 28 at Churchill goalie Nicholas Nelson and Churchill putting 25 on Upper Montgomery goalie Porter Stutsrim-Lyons.
- The Lightning were 0-5 on the powerplay and have yet to score a powerplay goal in four games this season.
- Upper Montgomery’s varsity goalie, Ilan Shterenberg, skated out and played forward for the junior varsity.
- Upper Montgomery’s junior varsity team returns to action in two weeks on Friday, October 25th when the team takes on the DC Stars. Anticipate that the Lightning will rest certain student athletes in preparation for the varsity game later that same evening. Game time is at 6:30 pm at Cabin John Ice Rink.
Three Stars of the Game:
First Star—Nicholas Nelson—Churchill Goalie—Overtime Win, 27 Saves, .964 Save Percentage
Second Star—Oskar Sims—Churchill Forward—Game Winning Overtime Goal, Assist
Third Star—Elias Elhallou—Churchill Center—Goal