The Upper Montgomery junior varsity fell to Walter Johnson 5-3 on Monday afternoon at Wheaton Ice Rink. The loss left the team with a 2-2 record in conference and a 2-3-1 record overall on the season. Up 3-2 with six minutes left in the game, the Lightning gave up three late goals to see the game slip away. The result was impacted by a subpar performance by the referees, which handed out ten powerplays to the Wildcats and only two to the Lightning. The amount of time Upper Montgomery spent on the penalty kill prevented the Lightning from getting into the flow of the game. Once behind late in the third period having to continue to kill penalties prevented the team from mounting a comeback.
The Lightning went to the penalty kill just one minute and sixteen seconds into the game when Brandon Bernard was called for tripping. The Lightning held strong and killed off penalty number one. With four and a half minutes to go in the first period, Lightning forward Greg Felder, who was making his season debut, was called for high sticking and then given an additional two minutes for arguing the call. Just thirty seconds later the Lightning would jump in front while shorthanded. Lightning Center Henry Honacki blocked a shot from the left point. The puck bounced forward and he skated down the right wing outracing the Wildcats defense. At the right faceoff circle, he fired a wrist shot far side and high past Wildcat netminder Becca Freda for his first career high school goal. Less than a minute later while still on the powerplay, Wildcat defender Coleman Santy skated up ice on an individual rush and fired a shot past Lightning netminder Landon Bernard to even the score at one. That would be the only powerplay goal surrendered by the Lightning as the team would go on to kill nine of the ten shorthanded situations.
The second period would be similar to the first period. Early in the period, the Lightning would regain the lead. Off of a faceoff in the Wildcats defensive zone, the puck went to the boards. James Hyman competed in the corner and won the puck. He turned and passed the puck across the ice to the right point where Andrew Gean fired a slap shot past Freda who was dealing with screen in front from Jordan Lynch. A minute later the score would be even at two. Off of a faceoff to the left of Bernard, Wildcat Center Adam Rozsalyi stepped forward and put a wrist shot high past Bernard’s catching glove from the bottom of the faceoff circle. Then, the penalty parade started again. First it was Bradley Cupples for cross checking. Then it was George Benedick for roughing. The Lightning interrupted the penalty parade to re-take the lead. Cupples cleared the zone with a pass to Brandon Bernard who skated down the right wing into the Wildcats zone. He stopped hard, faked, and then slid a beautiful pass over to Hyman who had a wide open net to knock the puck into. The Lightning were back in front with 2:44 left in the second period, a period in which they had three shots on goal and scored twice. Meanwhile, the referees were not done. With 1:37 left in the period, Honacki was called for an apparent hooking penalty. Finally, after six consecutive penalties on the Lightning, a penalty was called on Walter Johnson for roughing.
The Lightning could not capitalize on an early third period powerplay. Then, the game became a test of the Lightning’s defense. For the next three minutes the Wildcats pushed to tie the game and the Lightning defended well. With just less than six minutes left in the game Rozsalyi would score again to even the game. He took a pass along his own blue line from Santy and skated up ice by himself. He entered the Lightning defensive zone and fired a wrist shot past Bernard. On the next shift Rozsalyi would net a hat trick finishing off a nice three on two rush up the ice by the Wildcats. Rozsalyi started the play skating up ice and passing the puck over to Wildcat defender Max Abbott who had joined the rush. Abbott found Leyton Seo in front. Rather than shoot, Seo passed the puck across the crease to Rozsalyi for an easy tap in goal.
Two minutes later Rozsalyi would tally again for his fourth goal of the game, beating Bernard from a sharp angle high glove side to give the Wildcats a 5-3 lead. Then, the game disintegrated. Twelve seconds after the Wildcats goal, Brandon Bernard skated up ice into the Wildcats defensive zone. A penalty was called, and a Wildcats defender skated into the penalty box. Somehow, while carrying the puck into the offensive zone the referees had called a holding penalty on Bernard confusing the Wildcats who were certain they were going shorthanded. On the penalty kill, Cupples was again called for cross checking putting the Lightning down on a 5-3 penalty kill. After the 5-3 was killed off, Benedick was called for a final penalty late in the game.
Game Notes:
- The Lightning were outshot by the Wildcats by a wide margin, 33-9.
- The Lightning penalty kill was excellent in the game killing off nine of ten Wildcats powerplay opportunities while scoring shorthanded. The Upper Montgomery junior varsity penalty kill is 17-19 on the season, 89.5%.
- The Lightning junior varsity powerplay remains scoreless on the season in 18 opportunities.
- James Hyman had his first multi-point game with one goal and one assist.
- The Lightning will be looking to bounce back tomorrow, Tuesday, December 21st at 4:50 pm at the Laurel Ice Gardens for an important divisional game versus Wootton.
Three Stars of the Game:
First Star—Adam Rozsalyi—Walter Johnson Center—4 Goals
Second Star—Coleman Santy—Walter Johnson Defense–-1 Goal, 1 Assist
Third Star—James Hyman—Upper Montgomery Forward—1 Goal, 1 Assist