In an unfortunate development, the Upper Montgomery Lightning had to play against a varsity AA level travel goalie in Tuesday afternoon’s game against Wootton. While the Lightning played an excellent game, they came away on the short end of a 1-0 loss to the Patriots, who have been one of the worst teams in the league this year.
Due to the recent uptick in COVID cases in Montgomery County, the Patriots’ expected junior varsity goalie was not available to participate in the game. Instead, senior netminder Julian Piche won the game for the Patriots with a 29 save shutout which included good stops on two different two on one rushes and two breakaways, one in the first period on Stephen Shkeda, and one late in the third period as the Lightning pushed to tie the game. Without Piche in net the Lightning would have easily won this game.
The first period was played at a fast tempo. The Lightning were the far better team threatening on multiple occasions with high quality scoring chances and repetitive rebound opportunities among the 14 shots the Lightning threw at Piche. Wootton, on the other hand, had only five shots on goal and most were one and done chances from long range. Late in the first period, William Rusiecki fired a wrist shot from the left circle that Landon Bernard got most of but could not fully control. The puck landed at the feet of Matvei Shaposhnikov who easily tapped in the rebound to put the Patriots in front 1-0. That would be the only goal for the Patriots as Bernard recovered to play excellent hockey in the second and third periods to keep the Patriots off the board and give the Lightning a chance to even the score.
The second period was a tightly contested and defensive. Each team managed six shots on net that Piche and Bernard saved with little difficulty. The Patriots had the lone powerplay of the period after Bradley Cupples was called for interference for knocking a dropped stick into the corner and out of the way of the play.
In the third period, the Lightning pushed to get the equalizer. Brandon Bernard and Adam Levine had two separate two on one opportunities. Bernard elected to shoot coming down the left wing on both opportunities. His shots were saved by Piche with no rebound opportunity for Levine who was wide open in front having driven hard to the net both times. Any rebound would have surely been in the net to tie the game.
At the conclusion of the last of the two on one breaks, Greg Felder was called for slashing Piche coming through the crease late after the play looking for a rebound. The Lightning again did the job on the penalty kill and the game remained 1-0. With under three minutes to go in the game, Brandon Bernard got loose in the neutral zone, skated past the Patriots defense and went in alone on a breakaway. He faked and stick handled around Piche. With a wide open net, the puck trickled off his stick on the final fake and went behind the net. With 45 seconds to go in the game, Landon Bernard made an acrobatic, diving stick save on a Patriots breakaway by Rusiecki. His save gave the Lightning an opportunity at a tying goal in the final minute. With Bernard pulled for an extra attacker, several shots from the point hit traffic in front and bounced harmlessly away allowing the Patriots to prevail in a game that under normal circumstances would have had a much different outcome.
Game Notes:
- The Lightning outshot the Patriots 29-21.
- The Lightning penalty kill did not allow a powerplay goal and is now 19-21 on the season, 90.5%.
- The Lightning junior varsity powerplay did not have an extra attacker advantage against the Patriots and remains scoreless on the season in 18 opportunities.
- The Lightning will be looking to bounce back into the win column when they return to action over the winter break on Wednesday, December 29th at 7:45 pm at Skate Frederick for a non-conference game versus Frederick County.
Three Stars of the Game:
First Star—Julian Piche—Wootton Goalie—29 save shutout
Second Star—Landon Bernard—Upper Montgomery Goalie–-1 goal against, 20 saves, .952 save percentage
Third Star—Brandon Bernard—Upper Montgomery Center