Author: chucklevine

The Upper Montgomery Lightning knew that to advance to the Montgomery Hockey Conference division two playoff final all they had to do was to control, or at least contain, Sherwood’s electric and supremely talented center, Noi Jonasson. He is that good offensively where he can simply control the game by himself. With a game plan developed to stop Jonasson, the Lightning student athletes failed to follow coaches’ instruction. A late game collapse ended the Lightning’s season one game prior to their ultimate goal of playing in the division two playoff final.

Upper Montgomery’s intensity and concentration was subpar. Maybe it was last week’s drubbing of Blair or the excellent recent performance versus Churchill. The effort displayed by the Lightning was in stark contrast to December’s 6-1 victory over the Warriors. Upper Montgomery gave Sherwood hope that they could win the game and two late defensive lapses cost the Lightning the ability to continue their season, eventually falling 7-5 to the Warriors.

A minute and a half into the game, Lightning center Bradley Cupples was called for roughing after throwing a check. With twenty seconds left on the penalty kill, Jonasson entered the zone with speed and curled up in the left circle. He waited for the rest of his teammates to enter the zone, looked around, and then fired a wrist shot to the top right corner of the net past Lightning netminder Landon Bernard’s catching glove.

Seventeen seconds after Jonasson put the Warriors up 1-0, they were back on the powerplay courtesy of a cross checking penalty to Lightning center Chris Hassett. The Lightning were doing a better job killing off this penalty until the Warriors Jermey Isaacs found his opposite forward Grayson Wincker open in the slot. Winckler’s shot through traffic beat Bernard. The Warriors were ahead 2-0 before the game was even five minutes old. Upper Montgomery was unable to generate any push or flow as they spent almost the entirety of the game thus far shorthanded and killing penalties.

Rather than sulk, the Lightning struck right back. Just nine seconds after the Winckler powerplay goal Upper Montgomery would light the lamp. A hard forecheck by Lightning forward Hunter Cameron caused a turnover deep in Sherwood’s end of the ice. The puck deflected off his stick to Olivia Robbins in the slot. With no hesitation, Robbins fired a wrist shot far side high past Sherwood goalie Samuel Hutt’s right shoulder. For Robbins it was her career high sixth goal of the season and pulled Upper Montgomery right back into the game at 2-1.

With six minutes remaining in the period, Upper Montgomery would pull even on an extremely nice individual play by Hassett. Playing excellent positional defense, standing just outside his defensive blue line along the right wing boards, Hassett intercepted a Sherwood attempted dump in. He raced up ice down the right wing boards outskating the near side Sherwood defender. His speed and body positioning shielded off the Warriors’ right defender who had come over to provide defensive support. Hassett skated at a diagonal into the right faceoff circle in the offensive zone. With the Sherwood defense draped all over him, Hassett made a nice move from his forehand to his backhand and slid the puck far side around Hutt’s right leg pad.

Now tied, with the first nine minutes of action completed, it looked as if Upper Montgomery would take over control of the game. But, it was not to be as the defense got caught watching the action and allowed Jonasson to skate in alone. The play began with Isaacs skating out of his own defensive zone into neutral ice. He sent a pass to the left wing boards to Jonasson entering the Lightning defensive zone. Jonasson’s speed allowed him to go wide around the Lightning defense and in alone on Bernard. A neat little fake and Jonasson snuck the puck around Bernard’s left leg pad to put the Warriors back in front 3-2.

The trouble for Upper Montgomery did not end with Jonasson’s goal. With three and a half minutes remaining in the period, Cameron was called for boarding. Not only was Sherwood back on the powerplay for the third time in the first period, but Cameron would miss the next twelve minutes of game action. His two minute minor for boarding and then the automatic ten minute misconduct penalty that accompanies a boarding call. Luckily for the Lightning, the penalty kill stood tall and kept the score within one goal at 3-2. The end of the first period of play could not come soon enough for the Lightning, a poor period of play by Upper Montgomery. Sherwood outshot the Lightning eleven to eight in the opening period.

Upper Montgomery came out strong to begin the second period and was rewarded with the tying goal. Senior defender Andrew Gean dumped the puck down the boards from the right point. His pass found Lightning 9th grade forward Philip Shkeda in the right corner. Shkeda found Hassett in the slot with a nice centering feed. Hassett took a step to his right and fired a wrist shot past Hutt to even the score at three apiece. Just when it looked like the Lightning were again poised to take over the game their momentum was stunted.

First, Sherwood would respond with a goal of their own a minute later. Warriors forward Cameron Colandro had the puck in the left corner along the goal line. He centered the puck to the crease area around Bernard’s feet. Little in stature, Sherwood center Oz Sachs snuck past the Lightning defense and poked the puck past Bernard finishing off the nice bang bang passing play. On the next shift after the goal, Sherwood was back on the powerplay for the fourth straight time when senior defender Ethan Hockey was called for tripping. While the Lightning were able to kill off the Warriors powerplay, the team was forced to play defensive hockey for two minutes and lost the opportunity to quickly respond to Sherwood taking the 4-3 lead.

With three and a half minutes remaining in the second period, Upper Montgomery’s top two scorers teamed up to bring the Lightning even once again. Upper Montgomery’s second leading scorer, Nathan Cassel started the play in his defensive zone by digging the puck off the left wing boards. He passed the puck to Hassett cutting out of the defensive zone into neutral ice on a two on one break with Shkeda. Hassett held the puck until he was in the left faceoff circle where he passed over to Shkeda in the slot. Shkeda’s one time snap shot missed the net near side left and rested up against the end boards where it was played by the Sherwood defense. Hassett skated in and stole the puck back behind the net. Turning, he found Cassel who was now in the left faceoff circle. Cassel’s wrist shot beat Hutt far side high blocker for his eleventh goal of the season. The second period ended tied at four although Sherwood had taken the play to Upper Montgomery outshooting the Lightning thirteen to seven for the period, and 24 to 15 through two periods of play.

An up and down first ten minutes of the third period saw Landon Bernard make a few nice glove saves to keep the score tied. The game had settled down a bit and either team had chances to score and jump to the lead with hopes of advancing to the division two championship game to face Wootton. With five minutes to go in the game, Upper Montgomery would surge to a 5-4 lead courtesy of the top line. The puck was in the offensive zone along the left wing boards. Cassel took possession of the puck and curled back to the left point. He then skated around George Benedick at the center point along the blue line before sending the puck over to Shkeda in the right faceoff circle. All alone, Shkeda sent a cross ice pass to Hassett cutting to the back left post. Hassett heeled the puck off his stick on the one time attempt, but was able to get enough of the puck to slide it past Hutt’s right leg pad and the near post for his team leading fifteenth goal of the campaign.

Upper Montgomery had hung tough while not playing their best and now had a 5-4 lead with 4:43 to play. Immediately, Upper Montgomery solely focused on playing defense. And, for the next two and a half minutes they did a very nice job. Sherwood decided to call their time out with 2:15 seconds remaining in the period to plot strategy of when to pull Hutt for the extra attacker and also to give their top offensive skaters a rest as they had been on the ice for an extended period of time.

The next 45 seconds were a bit of a scramble with Sherwood putting on pressure and Upper Montgomery selling out to prevent the game tying goal. As the clock neared 1:20 to play the Sherwood bench began motioning for Hutt to leave the ice for the extra attacker. Hutt would never make it to the bench. A failed Lightning clearing attempt backfired. With the Upper Montgomery forwards headed up ice expecting to retrieve the puck in the neutral zone, to then play the puck deep in the Warriors end, instead Winckler got his body in front of the clearing attempt which was sent high off the glass. From the left boards inside the blue line in the Lightning defensive zone he cut toward the slot. Both Upper Montgomery defenders stepped up to meet Winckler. Sensing the oncoming pressure, Winckler dropped the puck down low to the left post to Jonasson. With Bernard playing Jonasson, and the right side Lightning defender coming down to cut off Jonasson, he outfoxed the Lightning by quickly centering the puck across the crease finding an unguarded Aidan Cook. Cook had a dunk into the empty net from a foot outside the goal line. His tap in went past Bernard’s left pad and the far post. With 1:13 left in regulation, the score was once again tied, this time at five.

After Upper Montgomery used their timeout to settle things down, disaster struck. Jonasson flipped the puck from his own defensive zone to the Upper Montgomery defensive zone blue line. A bad decision by the Lightning defense to try and deflect the puck away backfired as Winckler was able to get there first. He turned and simply fired from between the right circle and the right point from along the boards. The long range, harmless shot toward the net eluded Bernard high blocker and put Sherwood in front 6-5 with just under a minute left. For Bernard, it was most definitely a shot he wanted back and a horrible way for his season of growth to end. Jonasson ended the game with an unassisted empty net goal after stealing a Lightning clearing pass at the blue line. With twenty seconds remaining he easily shot the puck into the empty net finishing off the Lightning’s season in the process.

The upcoming off season will be key for the Lightning. Returning most of the team’s offensive scoring prowess and realizing that the team can compete with every team in the conference should give the squad confidence heading into next season. There is going to be a fair amount of graduation of the league’s top student athletes. The other team’s depleted rosters will provide Upper Montgomery an opportunity next season to have a realistic expectation of making the Maryland Student Hockey League state playoff tournament for the first time in program history. However, it will take work and actions to accomplish this goal. It just won’t happen. Other teams are not going to let Upper Montgomery just run through them. The Lightning will have to earn their way into the state playoffs by outworking their opponents, playing smothering defense, and using their offensive abilities to find success. It is going to be an intriguing 2023 – 2024 season for the green and gold and one you won’t want to miss.

#Our Time, #UML, #Bleed Green, #Go Bolts!

Game Notes:

• Sherwood vastly outshot the Lightning for the game, 37-22.
• Upper Montgomery finished the season with an 8-7-2 record.
• Upper Montgomery had one meaningless six second powerplay at the end of the game.
• Upper Montgomery finished the season 11 for 58 on the powerplay, 19.0%. The eleven powerplay goals over seventeen games was simply not enough. Upper Montgomery averaged only 3.4 powerplay opportunities per game.
• Upper Montgomery’s penalty kill faltered against Sherwood’s talented powerplay finishing the game 2-4.
• The Upper Montgomery penalty kill finished the season 45-62, 72.3%, well beneath the performance a season ago at 87.9%.
• Landon Bernard finished the season with a 3.65 goals against average, an .866 save percentage, and a shutout victory against Northwest. It was a much improved season for Bernard.
• Chris Hassett was the team’s leading scorer for the second straight season with 15 goals and 19 assists for 34 points in 16 games.
• George Benedick led the team in penalty minutes with 64, twice the second highest total on the team.
• The following students set personal career highs:
  • Chris Hassett with 19 assists 34 points.
  • Nathan Cassell with 14 assists and 25 points.
  • Ryan Jacobson with 12 goals.
  • Brandon Bernard with 9 goals, 6 assists, and 15 points.
  • George Benedick with 5 goals, 10 assists, and 15 points.
  • Olivia Robbins with 6 goals.
  • Ethan Hockey with 3 goals, 7 assists, and 10 points.
  • Andrew Botti with 3 goals.
  • Henry Honacki with 4 assists and 5 points.
  • Stephen Shkeda with 4 assists and 5 points.
• The following 9th grade skaters contributed the following scoring:
  • Philip Shkeda with 7 goals, 7 assists, and 14 points.
  • Brady Berkhammer with 6 assists.
  • Owen Robbins with 1 goal, 3 assists, and 4 points.
• The Lightning program will lose five student athletes to graduation with the loss being felt most on defense; team captain George Benedick (defense), Ethan Hockey (defense), Andrew Gean (defense), Stephen Shkeda (forward), Lucas Eyman (forward).
• Stephen Shkeda ends his Upper Montgomery career having played in the most games in program history at 81 games played; 55 varsity games and 26 junior varsity games.

Three Stars of the Game:

First Star—Noi Jonasson—Sherwood Center—3 Goals, 2 Assists
Second Star—Chris Hassett—Upper Montgomery Center—3 Goals, 1 Assist
Third Star—Grayson Winckler—Sherwood Forward–-2 Goals, 1 Assist

The Upper Montgomery Lightning advanced past the Blair Blazers 8-3 Friday night in their Montgomery Hockey Conference division two quarterfinal matchup. For Upper Montgomery the win was a nice bounce back after last week’s devastating shootout loss to the Churchill Bulldogs. Churchill had not lost a county or state playoff game in nine seasons. For the Lightning to have come so close to the biggest upset in Maryland state high school hockey history and just miss out on qualifying for the state playoff tournament, emotionally the coaching staff knew it would be tough for the team to bounce back and find the energy to play in the conference’s division two playoff tournament.

The recent division one playoff victory over St. Johns and Friday’s win against Blair pushes the Lightning one round further in each playoff tournament this season than what the team accomplished a year ago. Progress that the team will look back upon fondly once this season reaches its conclusion. Against Blair, while missing several key student athletes, Upper Montgomery dominated in all aspects of the game thoroughly outplaying the overmatched Blazers.

It took a bit of time for the Lightning to find their legs, likely a hangover effect of the emotion put into last week’s game. Upper Montgomery needed nearly seven minutes to break out in front of the Blazers. Off of a faceoff in the defensive zone to Landon Bernard’s right, Lightning center Ryan Jacobson won the draw into the right corner to senior defender and team captain George Benedick. Benedick rimmed the puck around the net over to the left wing boards. Upper Montgomery forward Henry Honacki dug the puck off the boards and made a backhand pass to Jacobson exiting the defensive zone. Jacobson pushed the puck up ice using his speed to split the Blazers defenders. He was ridden off the puck allowing Lightning forward Brandon Bernard to swoop in and gather the puck with no defenders remaining between him and Blair goalie Lily Bendavid. Bernard faked a forehand shot and deked to his backhand completely outmaneuvering Bendavid who was far out of position by the time Bernard slid the puck into a wide open net.

A minute and a half later, concluding a long shift in the offensive zone, Upper Montgomery would go up 2-0 on a goal by the team’s leading scorer Chris Hassett. Blair was temporarily able to gain control of the puck and flip it out to center ice. Upper Montgomery forward, Hunter Cameron collected the puck between the blue line and the red center stripe. He passed the puck up to Lightning forward Bradley Cupples along the right wing boards. Cupples took a few strides and re-entered the offensive zone. Cupples then passed the puck toward the center of the ice to Hassett cutting down the slot. Hassett immediately fired a shot, short side high past Bendavid’s glove hand.

Up two to nothing, the Lightning had seemingly taken over control of the game. With three minutes remaining in the opening period, Benedick was called for roughing. On the powerplay, Blair’s trio of offensive superstars worked the puck around and would close the gap with a powerplay goal. Landon Bernard made a routine save with the puck caroming into the right corner. Chris Birchard raced over and retrieved the puck. He then swung the puck around the net to his brother Alex Birchard in the left corner. Alex Birchard centered the puck into the slot to Michael Humphreys. With Chris Birchard crashing the net and falling into Bernard, Humphrey’s snap shot whistled past Bernard blocker. An animated discussion between the Upper Montgomery coaching staff and the referees ensued as to why there was no goalie interference negating the goal. What was even more confusing was that Chris Birchard was called for a roughing penalty on the play, deemed after the goal by the referees but sending Upper Montgomery to a powerplay of their own. Although pressure was applied, Upper Montgomery failed to score, and the first period ended 2-1 Lightning with shots on goal even at eight for each team.

Upper Montgomery exploded at the beginning of the second period to take control of the game. Off the opening faceoff to begin the period, the Lightning struck paydirt in just nine seconds. Hassett won the center ice faceoff to Cupples on the right wing. Cupples dropped the puck back to Cameron at the defensive blue line. Cameron sent the puck up ice to Hassett in the neutral zone as he was entering the offensive zone. Hassett cut to the right circle and fired a wrist shot that went five hole past Bendavid and into the far side of the net.

On the next shift the lead grew once again. Upper Montgomery dumped the puck into the Blair defensive zone into the left corner. Lightning forward Philip Shkeda outraced the Blair defense to the puck. Shkeda pushed the puck around the net to Hassett. Hassett reversed the puck to Cupples who had followed the play into the left corner himself. Cupples banked the puck off the side boards back to Lightning defender Andrew Botti at the center of the blue line. Botti deked around the onrushing Blair forward and skated down the left wing boards. His sharp angle shot was blocked into the slot. Hassett poked the puck over to Cupples in the left corner. Cupples sent a backhanded a pass into the slot to Shkeda. Shkeda fired a forehand wrist shot past Bendavid’s left leg pad to conclude a dominating shift for the Lightning.

On the next shift the lead would grow to 5-1. Honacki made a play in the Upper Montgomery defensive zone playing the body along the boards which dislodged the puck from the Blair forward. Jacobson swooped in and collected the puck heading up ice out of the defensive zone along the left wing boards. He sent an indirect pass off the boards to Brandon Bernard cutting past the red line. Bernard traveled down the left wing boards into the offensive zone. He centered the puck back to Jacobson at the top of the slot. Jacobson sent a one time sweeping wrist shot five hole into the back of the net.

Halfway through the second period Upper Montgomery would strike again to open the lead to 6-1. After a turnover in the Blazers defensive zone, Botti kept the puck in at the left point. He skated across the ice to the top of the right faceoff circle where he shot the puck back across the grain toward the left post. Cupples, with his stick on the ice at the bottom of the crease, deflected the puck through Bendavid for another five hole goal. With the five goal cushion, the Lightning’s coaching staff began rolling the lines and giving depth forwards and defenders some quality playing time. The second period would end with Upper Montgomery well in control and outshooting Blair eleven to four in the period.

The third period was full of fireworks and unnecessary nastiness as the game was already out of hand. Four minutes into the final period Benedick and Humphreys came together and were tied up. Benedick had Humphreys in a hug in front of the net. Humphreys hauled off and punched Benedick in the head resulting in a five minute major and game misconduct for fighting, ending his high school career unceremoniously. Benedick received a minor penalty for head contact and a ten minute misconduct ending his night prematurely as well.

While the teams were skating four on four, Blair would light the lamp. In his defensive zone, Blazers defender Robert Woodward won the puck along the boards. He sent the puck up to Ari Gardner at the defensive blue line. Gardiner made a touch pass to Alex Birchard cutting up the middle of the ice. Birchard lost control of the puck as he tried to split the Lightning defenders. The puck slid directly over to Garnder trailing the play with both Upper Montgomery defenders tangled up with Birchard. From the right side of the ice Gardner fired a wrist shot to the far post past Bernard’s blocker to pull Blair within four.

With nine and a half minutes remaining in the game, Blazers forward Chris Birchard was called for a head contact penalty. With a short four on three powerplay for twenty seconds before the Lightning would head to a five on three powerplay for 1:40, Upper Montgomery looked to salt the game away. The Lightning never reached the five on three portion of the powerplay as it took only seven seconds for Jacobson to tally his second goal of the night. Brandon Bernard won the faceoff back towards the point. With ample open ice he raced to retrieve the puck himself near the right wing boards. He passed the puck across to Jacobson at the left point. Jacobson skated to the middle of the ice and from the top of the slot shot low along the ice toward the right post past Bendavid’s left leg pad.

While still on the powerplay created by Humphrey’s penalty, Blazers defender J.J. St. Aubin took an elbowing penalty to put the Blazers down two skaters. Six seconds later the score would balloon to 8-1. Bernard won another offensive zone faceoff, this time to the left boards to Honacki. Honacki sent the puck cross ice to Cameron at the right point. Cameron’s long range wrist shot went high glove side past Bendavid. The final goal of the game was scored by Blazers forward Ryan Alberts on an individual play that started in the neutral zone. As he skated into the offensive zone, he fired a knuckle puck from the top of the circles toward Bernard. The puck fooled Bernard and snuck past his glove.

With the victory, Upper Montgomery advanced one round further in the division two playoff tournament than last season’s quarterfinal exit. The task will stiffen next week as the Lightning will play the team with the most dangerous individual skater remaining in the division two playoffs in Sherwood’s electric Noi Jonasson. Jonasson can single handedly win games with his superior offensive skill. If the Lightning can contain him, it will be off to the division two finals. If Jonasson is able to skate freely, it will be a frustrating evening for the Lightning.

Game Notes:

• Shots on goal for the game were Upper Montgomery with 32 and Blair with 26.
• Upper Montgomery had multiple skaters have big games, Bradley Cupples and Brandon Bernard each had a goal and three assists. Chris Hassett and Ryan Jacobson each had two goals and an assist.
• Hunter Cameron had a goal and two assists for points in three straight games.
• Henry Honacki had his first multi-point varsity game with two assists.
• Upper Montgomery was 2-5 on the powerplay. The two late powerplay goals finished off the victory.
• Upper Montgomery next faces Sherwood in the division two semifinals. The Lightning will be looking to reach the Montgomery Hockey Conference division two playoff final for the second time in program history. The program won the division two final in the 2018 – 2019 season beating Rockville/Magruder by a score of 6-3.
• Game time versus Sherwood is Wednesday afternoon at 4:00 pm at Laurel Ice Gardens.

Three Stars of the Game:

First Star—Bradley Cupples—Upper Montgomery Center—1 Goal, 3 Assists
Second Star—Brandon Bernard—Upper Montgomery Forward—1 Goal, 3 Assists
Third Star—Chris Hassett—Upper Montgomery Center–-2 Goals, 1 Assist

For much of the week leading up to Friday’s Montgomery Hockey Conference quarterfinal matchup between the Upper Montgomery Lightning and the unbeatable Churchill Bulldogs, the pundits had speculated about how non-competitive the matchup would be. Upper Montgomery was a prohibitive underdog against Churchill, with the matchup being the only quarterfinal game where no prognosticator gave the Lightning a shot to win. The Bulldogs had not lost a county or state playoff game in nine years. The Bulldogs have won eight of the past nine Maryland state championships. The only time Churchill was not state champion was during the recent COVID season when too many Bulldog student athletes were in quarantine and unavailable to play and Churchill was not permitted to compete in the state playoffs.

Conversely, Upper Montgomery won its first ever county playoff game last week. Overtime was needed to prevail against St. Johns who was seeded tenth out of the twelve teams to make the county playoffs. To say that Upper Montgomery was a prohibitive underdog against the Bulldogs was about as big an understatement as one could make. No worries, Upper Montgomery embraced the underdog role. An additional practice was added leading up to the game, with the coaching staff going so far as to conclude the practice session practicing shootout breakaway attempts.

All week calls flooded in from around the state wishing the Lightning luck and to provide strategic advice on how the Lightning should play the Bulldogs. The entire state outside of Churchill’s section of Potomac were rooting for the Lightning to do the unexpected. The advice would not be necessary. The Upper Montgomery coaching staff prepared a masterful game plan focused on utilizing a zone defensive shell. The student athletes implemented the game plan masterfully leading to the game playing out just the way Upper Montgomery needed it to go.

Churchill entered the game with an 8-3-1 record with all losses coming against either top seeded Walter Johnson or to private high school teams. In their last regular season game, Churchill had pummeled third seeded Quince Orchard 9-1. In early November in their regular season meeting against Upper Montgomery, Churchill had prevailed easily 8-2. What was unknown to Churchill was that Upper Montgomery was missing half the squad due to illness. Upper Montgomery was confident that if they could keep the score close, Churchill would get frustrated.

That is exactly what happened. Churchill with their six AAA student athletes took on an Upper Montgomery Lightning roster with zero AAA student athletes. Further damaging Upper Montgomery’s chances, the Lightning played without their third leading scorer, Ryan Jacobson who was out of town with his external travel team. Over the first eight minutes of game action, Upper Montgomery never threatened the offensive side of the ice. Content to sit back and thwart the Bulldogs attack, Upper Montgomery mucked up the neutral zone and forced the Bulldogs to dump the puck in deep into the Upper Montgomery defensive zone and chase in after the puck. Upper Montgomery regularly got to the puck first and simply cleared the zone.

Quick line changes ensured that the Lightning skaters did not tire and did not get caught on the ice for long shifts. With the talent and speed differential that Churchill possessed, the Lightning need to focus on every detail, play excellent positional defensive hockey, and be rewarded with some luck. The opening eight minutes of play included many faceoff stoppages for offsides or when a shot was directed on net, Lightning goalie Landon Bernard froze the puck. For Bernard, his goaltending performance would become the pinnacle of his high school career.

With seven minutes remaining in the first period, Upper Montgomery would earn the first powerplay of the game when Bulldogs depth defender Noah Gibbs was called for interference. Unfortunately for the Lightning, just twenty seconds later defender Andrew Botti was called for roughing ending the Lightning’s powerplay chance. With four on four hockey and all of the open ice, Upper Montgomery played the next couple of shifts as if they were killing a penalty instead of skating at even strength. With three minutes to go in the opening period, Churchill forward Allen Huebl was called for roughing. Upper Montgomery was unable to keep possession of the puck and often found itself defending in front of Bernard.

The first period would end scoreless, Bernard having made twelve saves and Bulldogs netminder Avery Schiff having turned away three harmless shot attempts. While Churchill had dominated possession and controlled the territorial play, the frustration of being tied after fifteen minutes of action was beginning to weigh on the Bulldogs.

The second period played out a bit more to Churchill’s liking. Even so, the Bulldogs frustration was apparent. There were several instances where the Churchill student athletes were yelling at each other. Throughout the second stanza, the Churchill coaching staff made no changes to their game plan to counter the Upper Montgomery defensive system.

Churchill continued to dominate puck possession to start the second period. Two minutes into the fame, the Bulldogs would jump in front. Churchill defender William Stanish sent an outlet pass from his own defensive zone to Joshua Wong streaking up the left wing. Wong skated into the Lightning defensive zone deep past the left circle as he was forced wide around the net. He overskated the puck leaving it for Churchill forward Asher Wang trailing the play. Wang continued around the net and scored on a wraparound past Bernards left leg pad and the near post. The goal energized the Bulldogs who continued to carry play over the first half of the second period.

Halfway through the second period the Lightning seemed to gain confidence as the score still remained Churchill 1 and Upper Montgomery 0. The Lightning began to generate some offensive looks and fire some rubber at Churchill’s netminder Schiff. With every offensive thrust that failed to result in a goal, Churchill seemed to play more and more tight, trying to make the perfect play. With four minutes remaining in the second period Upper Montgomery would face their defining moment in the contest.

With Lightning captain and stalwart senior defender George Benedick in the penalty box for hooking, Churchill went to the powerplay. Halfway through the advantage, another top Lightning defender, Botti, was called for high sticking. Arguably the top two Lightning defenders were in the penalty box and Churchill had a five on three powerplay advantage for 54 seconds late in the second period. Rising to the challenge, Upper Montgomery killed off both the five on three disadvantage and then also the five on four portion of Churchill’s powerplay. Bernard made two outstanding saves during Churchill’s extended powerplays. Failing to score while playing with the additional skater further inflamed the Churchill student athletes who began slamming the doors to the bench area when coming off the ice and loudly criticizing one another. Shots on goal in the second period were Churchill with twelve for a two period total of 24. Upper Montgomery was able to register seven shots on goal for a two period total of ten.

A wild scene developed between the second and third periods. As word of the Churchill / Upper Montgomery score filtered throughout Rockville Ice Arena, spectators unattached to either team began pouring into the stands and filling the standing room only portions of the rink. What had begun as a partisan Churchill crowd quickly changed into a rowdy group of several hundred pro Lightning supporters equal in number to the Churchill fan base.

Churchill’s inability to separate from Upper Montgomery on the scoreboard began to affect the Bulldogs performance and self control on the ice. One minute into the third period, Upper Montgomery had a golden opportunity when Churchill star forward Zachary Silver was called for interference. The Lightning were unable to score, but playing with the extra skater early in the period seemed to restrict the Churchill dominance. Upper Montgomery was finally able to skate forward with puck possession while Churchill was forced to defend.

After Upper Montgomery came up empty on their early third period powerplay, the Lightning had another important penalty kill when Benedick was called for roughing with nine minutes remaining in the game. Churchill’s lack of adaptation to Upper Montgomery’s playing style allowed Upper Montgomery to begin to take more chances and counterpunch the Churchill rushes up ice. Benedick’s penalty was the result of an aggressive step up in the neutral zone as the Lightning had begun to play with more aggression. While Churchill was on the powerplay, Wang took a lazy tripping penalty in the offensive zone. While playing four on four, Upper Montgomery was able to begin controlling play. Just after Benedick returned to the ice, Churchill defender Dalton Esko-Himmelfarb took a slashing penalty.

Suddenly, with just under seven minutes remaining in the game, Upper Montgomery had a five on three powerplay advantage of its own. The rink was loud with the crowd cheering on the Lightning hoping to see the green and gold score the tying goal. Pandemonium would course through the rink at the exact second that Wang’s penalty expired. From the left corner of the net besides Schiff, Churchill’s defense cleared the puck. Lightning forward Hunter Cameron, last week’s overtime hero, picked up the puck in his own defensive zone to the right of Bernard. Cameron’s long stretch pass up ice was knocked out of mid-air by Upper Montgomery’s leading scorer, Chris Hassett near the offensive blue line. Hassett stickhandled to the middle of the slot from the right wing board avoiding the Bulldog penalty killers. Upon reaching the slot he unleashed a low backhand shot against the grain toward the near post. The change of direction of the shot fooled Shiff, with the puck passing by Schiff’s glove hand and over the goal line. One second earlier and the Lightning would have remained on the powerplay. But, because Wang’s two minute penalty had exactly ended both he and Esko-Himmelfarb were both set free from the penalty box.

Upper Montgomery clearly had all of the momentum and played like the better team over the last six minutes of regulation. With just over four minutes left in regulation, Churchill forward Daniel McNelis was called for high sticking. It was a marginal call that put Upper Montgomery back to the powerplay with a chance to take the lead. Thirty seconds later, Botti was called for his third penalty of the game, this time for roughing. More four on four action. Then, Churchill forward Brook Chapman was called for interference. A break for the Lightning as the contact was not worthy of a penalty, much less in a tie playoff game with three minutes remaining.

With the boisterous crowd urging them on, the Lightning had a four on three powerplay, which turned into four on four play for thirty seconds, and then back to a 45 second powerplay once Botti was released from the penalty box. Upper Montgomery had one good flurry while playing with the extra skater, but was unable to capitalize. Play was back to five on five action for the last 55 seconds of regulation. Bernard made a final good save at the end of the third period to keep the game tied at one entering overtime. Upper Montgomery was controlling longer stretches of play and even outshot Churchill eleven to ten in the third period.

High school overtime is played three on three just like professional hockey. The building was electric. As the other games in the rink concluded, the standing room became flooded with an overflow of bodies. Many spectators watched from the upper floors of the rink. For the entire overtime session Churchill had at least two AAA skaters on the ice at all times. Upper Montgomery countered with its best effort of the game and had the better of the chances in the overtime session. One bang, bang play on a two on one rush between Hassett and Lightning forward Nathan Cassel nearly won the game in sudden fashion. Hassett’s pass across the slot area was just out of Cassel’s reach and Schiff got her right toe on the puck to kick it aside with fifteen seconds remaining in overtime. Bernard had to make just one save in overtime. It was a tough one at the buzzer from a sharp angle from the bottom of the right faceoff circle.

On to the five round shootout both teams went. As the home team, Churchill chose for Upper Montgomery to shoot first.

Lightning forward Hunter Cameron was up first. He deked and went backhand. Schiff pushed over and made a glove save.

Up first for the Bulldogs was Joshua Potenti. He skated in and went forehand high past Bernard’s glove to put Churchill up 1-0 in the shootout.

In round two, Cassel skated in wide down the left wing. He deked backhand, short side and the wrapped the puck onto his forehand sliding the puck past Schiff’s pads to even the score at 1-1.

For Churchill in round two Silver was stoned by Bernard who made a left pad save on a hard low shot.

In round three, Hassett the Lightning’s leading scorer was up next. He got too deep skating in on Schiff and was left with just a backhand chance at the net. Although he elevated the puck, Schiff made what she made seem like a routine blocker save.

With an opportunity to retake the lead, McNelis skated in at Bernard with speed. His forehand shot was blockered away by Bernard. The shootout was tied after three rounds at 1-1. Bernard was hanging tough making two saves against Churchill’s AAA level skaters.

In round four, Jacobson’s absence was really felt. Upper Montgomery’s fourth shooter was team captain and senior defender, Benedick. Benedick, not known for his offensive firepower, came in on Schiff and chose to shoot from the bottom middle of the slot. He fired wide of the net.

Churchill’s fourth shooter was Qin Lai. He came in and make a quick deke and was able to elevate the puck over Bernard’s blocker.

Entering the fifth and final shootout round down 2-1, the Lightning needed to score to remain in the contest. Brandon Bernard had all the pressure to keep the shootout going. He made a forehand, backhand deke and had Schiff completely out of the play before sliding the puck across the goal line into the back of the wide open entire goal.

With the shootout tied at 2-2 and moving to the bottom of the fifth round, Churchill turned to Samuel Strand. Strand skated in straight at Bernard. He waited very late until he was a few feet from the net positioning his body to wind up and take a slap shot from just feet in front of Bernard. The force of the shot was enough to power the puck through Bernard’s body and into the net.

As the puck hit the net, the Bulldogs spilled over the boards to mob Strand along the far side boards in front of their student section. With the victory, Churchill was back in the state playoffs looking to defend their state championship(s). For Upper Montgomery it was crushing devastation. To have been so, so close and to have done what no other program had done in nine seasons, the Lightning student athletes were left completely numb.

The manner in which Churchill celebrated and the comments from the other programs about how good the Upper Montgomery program had become was of little consolation in the moment. That Upper Montgomery was able to compete with and go toe to toe with a team the caliber of Churchill shows where the program is headed. One additional powerplay goal, a couple of feet at the end of overtime, one additional shootout goal, that is how close the Lightning were to the greatest upset in the history of Maryland high school hockey. And that is why the loss was so devastatingly painful.

#Our Time, #UML, #Bleed Green, #Go Bolts!

Game Notes:

• Churchill outshot Upper Montgomery 35-24 for the game.
• Upper Montgomery will lament going one for seven on the powerplay. Upper Montgomery had two late third period powerplay opportunities with a chance to take the lead late in regulation.
• The much maligned Upper Montgomery penalty kill was a perfect five for five against the Bulldogs.
• Landon Bernard stopped 34 of 35 shots. He is currently leading the Maryland state high school hockey playoff goalie rankings in save percentage .966, and goals against average 0.98.
• After fifteen years with no overtime games, Upper Montgomery has now played in back to back overtime games. The program’s overtime record stands at 1-0-1.
• Officially the game is recorded as a tie with Churchill advancing to the state playoffs by way of a shootout. The tie is the first ever game where Upper Montgomery has not lost to Churchill. Previously, the closest the Lightning have played Churchill was to a four goal loss (twice).
• With the shootout loss, the Lightning will maintain their position in the top fifteen in the Maryland state public high school ice hockey rankings. The team will also remain in the top 25 overall when the private high schools are included.
• Upper Montgomery will now await the seeding of the Montgomery Hockey Conference Division Two playoff tournament. Opening games of the quarterfinal round begin next Friday night at rinks located throughout the county.

Three Stars of the Game:

First Star—Landon Bernard—Upper Montgomery Goalie—34 Saves, .971 Save Percentage, 1 Goal Against, Shootout Loss
Second Star—Asher Wang—Churchill Forward—1 Goal
Third Star—Chris Hassett—Upper Montgomery Center–-1 Goal

In thrilling fashion, the Upper Montgomery Lightning won its first ever division one varsity playoff game late Friday night with a come from behind 2-1 overtime victory against the St. Johns Cadets. With the win, Upper Montgomery advances to face long-time perennial powerhouse Churchill in the quarterfinals of the division one playoffs. The winner of next Friday’s game will advance to the Maryland state high school playoff tournament. The game against Churchill will be Upper Montgomery’s first ever chance to earn a state playoff berth.

In Upper Montgomery’s first ever overtime game, Lightning forward Hunter Cameron finished off a two on one rush with a forehand snapshot into a wide open net. The play originated deep in the Lightning defensive zone. Lightning center and leading scorer Chris Hassett swung the puck from behind the Upper Montgomery goal up the right wing boards to George Benedick. Benedick protected the puck with his body. While shielding the puck from the St. Johns’ attacking skater, he placed a neat little spinning backhand pass into open ice toward Cameron in the center of the defensive zone.  Behind the net, Hassett collided with the onrushing St. Johns’ defender who then lost his balance and dropped his stick behind the goal. Hassett alertly beat the St. Johns skater up ice as he went to retrieve his stick creating the two on one rush with Cameron. 

As they entered the offensive zone, the lone remaining defender closed in on Cameron. Seeing the defender’s positioning, Cameron made the correct read and sent the puck over to Hassett coming down the off wing on the left side of the ice.  Cameron’s pass was an aerial pass, knee high, and Hassett did an excellent job knocking the puck out of mid-air while also maintaining control of the puck. In doing so, he traveled wide of the net on his backhand with a poor angle to get off a quality shot. Instead, with St. Johns goalie Jack Faricy committing to Hassett and expecting a likely shot on goal, Hassett backhand passed the puck across the ice to Cameron who was wide open in front of the net at the right post. Cameron buried the cross ice return pass into the empty net from three feet in front of the net and two feet outside the right post. The goal sent the jubilant Lightning bench pouring over the boards into a mob pile along the far boards surrounding Cameron. For Cameron, it was a memorable way to score his first goal of the season and sent the Upper Montgomery spectators into a wild celebration.

The game itself was a gritty and tightly contested contest. Exactly what one would expect in a playoff game. Upper Montgomery defended all over the ice and limited the Cadets scoring opportunities. St. Johns managed just 23 shots on goal for the game and went a long stretch of the second and third period with zero shots. This included a four minute span of the second period where the Lightning were forced to play with six skaters on the ice after Upper Montgomery’s goalie Landon Bernard lost a skate blade that needed to be replaced on the bench. It was an unbelievable circumstance that added a level of drama as Upper Montgomery tried to fend off the Cadets and earn their first ever division one playoff victory. Imagine four minutes of game action with no goalie. It was close to a miracle that St. Johns was unable to score. Many in attendance had never seen anything like it.

From the outset it was clear that Upper Montgomery was the better team, even while missing two important forwards, Nathan Cassell and Ryan Jacobson. Cassel and Jacobson are the Lightning’s second and third leading scorers. The Lightning earned eight powerplays during the game, but were unable to mount much pressure with the extra skater, likely a function of missing both Cassel and Jacobson. When Upper Montgomery was able to tilt the ice, St. Johns’ netminder, Jack Faricy was there to make critical and timely saves to keep the Cadets in the game.

With two and a half minutes remaining in the first period, St. Johns would jump in front with Cadets leading scorer Teddy Kurowski scoring a shorthanded goal. Unfortunately for the Lightning, the play was two feet offside, a call that was missed by both referees. Cadets’ defender Thomas Pilkington shot the puck in on net from the neutral zone. Lightning netminder Landon Bernard blocker padded the shot to the corner. Kurowski raced into the zone while a St. Johns forward was skating to get back onsides. Kurowski entered the zone early placing the play offside. While play continued, Kurowski collected the puck which should have immediately stopped play. Bernard made the save on Kurowski’s initial shot which went low to his stick side. The puck bounded back to Kurowski who skated one more step to his right as he beat Bernard low glove hand into the far side of the net. St. Johns had a 1-0 lead with two minutes remaining in the first period, the Cadets most effective period of the game. Shots on goal in the first period were St. Johns with twelve and Upper Montgomery with eight.

The St. Johns lead would hold until ten minutes remained in the second period. Upper Montgomery would get on the board when Lightning 9th grade forward Philip Shkeda scored off of a two on one play with Brandon Bernard. The play began ten seconds after the end of a St. Johns powerplay. A fine defensive play and pass up ice by Lightning forward Olivia Robbins made the play. St. Johns rewound in the neutral zone. Robbins stacked up the blue line and blocked the St. Johns entry play with her skates, directing the puck back into the neutral zone. St. Johns attempted for a second time to dump the puck into the Upper Montgomery defensive zone. This time, Robbins blocked the puck again with her skates, but was able to play the puck with her stick up the ice. Her pass went to Bernard standing just outside the offensive blue line. Bernard entered the zone with Shkeda cutting down the left wing. Bernard was poke checked by the St. Johns defender with the puck sliding over to Shkeda. Shkeda’s wrist shot went far side toward Faricy’s glove hand. The knuckling puck snuck just under Faricy’s catching mitt sort of seven hole to tie up the game. Shots on goal in the second period were heavily one sided in favor of the Lightning, fourteen to three.

The score would remain even at one for the final 25 minutes of regulation setting up the climatic three on three overtime session. Prior to the end of third period each team had to kill off a late powerplay. First, Lightning team captain Benedick was called for roughing with 4:30 remaining. Then, Kurowski evened up the number of skaters by also taking a roughing penalty with 3:45 remaining in regulation. With a minute and fifteen seconds of late powerplay time, Upper Montgomery failed to convert. Shots on goal in the third period were Upper Montgomery with thirteen and St. Johns with eight.

Overtime would last just one minute and ten seconds before Cameron’s deciding goal. For Cameron it was redemption after struggling for much of his junior season. Sending Upper Montgomery to next week’s quarterfinal matchup against Churchill wiped away a season of personal disappointment.

Upper Montgomery will be a prohibitive underdog against Churchill. A massive underdog one would conclude. The Bulldogs have not lost a county or state playoff game in nine years. The Bulldogs have won eight of the past nine Maryland state championships. The only time Churchill was not state champions was during the recent COVID season when too many Bulldog student athletes were unavailable to play while in quarantine and Churchill was not permitted to compete in the state playoffs.

Upper Montgomery is going to need to play together and within the defensive system that the coaching staff is installing for the matchup. Make no mistake, it will take an unbelievable effort. A Lightning victory would be the greatest upset in the history of Maryland high school ice hockey. That is not an understatement, just a fact. One team has not lost a county or state playoff game in nine seasons, with eight straight state titles when they were allowed to compete, the other team won its first every playoff game this past Friday night. Upper Montgomery has never played Churchill to within three goals. Join the Lightning faithful this upcoming Friday night to see if the Lightning can make history and rain on Churchill’s parade to this year’s state playoffs. It’s time to shock the world!

#Our Time, #UML, #Bleed Green, #Go Bolts!

The remaining teams alive in the Montgomery Hockey Conference varsity playoffs are:

Wootton (9) versus Walter Johnson (1)

Upper Montgomery (7) versus Churchill (2)

Richard Montgomery (6) versus Quince Orchard (3)

Whitman (5) versus BCC (4)

Game Notes:

• Shots on goal for the game were lopsided, Upper Montgomery with 36 while St. Johns managed only 23.
• Upper Montgomery was very poor on the powerplay finishing 0-8, and giving up a shorthanded goal.
• The Upper Montgomery penalty kill was a perfect 4-4.
• Landon Bernard stopped 22 of 23 shots for his first career varsity playoff victory.
• The game was Upper Montgomery’s first ever overtime game.
• With the victory, the Lightning will enter the top fifteen in the Maryland state public high school ice hockey rankings. The team will be ranked 23rd overall when the private high schools are included.
• Upper Montgomery will seek to claim its first ever Maryland state ice hockey playoff berth next Friday night against the mighty (and historically unbeatable) Churchill Bulldogs. Game time is 9:00 pm at Rockville Ice Arena. In early November, Churchill easily handled Upper Montgomery by a score of 8-2.

Three Stars of the Game:

First Star—Hunter Cameron—Upper Montgomery Forward—Game Winning Overtime Goal
Second Star—Jack Faricy—St. Johns Goalie—34 Saves, .944 Save Percentage, 2 Goals Against
Third Star—Philip Shkeda—Upper Montgomery Forward–-1 Goal

Upper Montgomery closed out the 2022 – 2023 regular season with a dud of a performance. The late 10:00 pm start time may have contributed especially with the game starting closer to 10:15 pm after the Lightning celebrated the careers of its five senior student athletes (team captain, defender George Benedick, defender Ethan Hockey, defender Andrew Gean, and forwards Stephen Shkeda and Lucas Eyman). The pre-game ceremony was by far the highlight of the evening for the Lightning’s supporters. On Halloween, Upper Montgomery shocked the conference by tying BCC. On Friday night, the Barons took out their revenge hammering the Lightning by a score of 8-2. With losses in two consecutive games to close out the regular season, the Lightning’s recent five game winning streak seems like a long time ago.

The first ten minutes of the game were fairly even in terms of shots on goal, but BCC controlled play and possession of the puck. The BCC shots on goal were far more challenging than the Upper Montgomery attempts. Upper Montgomery’s shots were from the outside, from bad angles, or zone entry dump ins that happened to go on net. Conversely, Lightning netminder Landon Bernard made some nice saves to keep Upper Montgomery even. The Lightning did not generate much offensive thrust with an early first period powerplay after BCC defender Benjamin Lyons was called for interference.

With just under six minutes remaining in the first period the BCC deluge of goals would commence. First, BCC center Sebastian Harrison took a pass from defender Henry Blumberg, skated through both the neutral zone and into the offensive zone before firing a wrist shot past Bernard. Two minutes later on a similar play, BCC star offensive forward Henry Caldicott scored on a wrist shot from the left circle after being sprung up ice on a pass from center Matthew Duffy. For Caldicott it would be the first of his five points on the night. For Duffy it was the first of his four assists in the game.

BCC would score early in the second period on a long range shot from the point. Duffy won the faceoff in the right faceoff circle in the offensive zone. The puck went to Caldicott along the right wing boards. Caldicott passed back to Lyons at the point. The big defender unleashed a low, hard slap shot that went along the ice and past a screened Bernard. Just under the eight minute mark of the second period Harrison scored on an end to end rush with several Lightning skaters attempting to play the puck rather than take the body. Harrison went in alone on Bernard and scored from the low slot area.

Upper Montgomery would have two additional powerplays at the end of the second period when Grady Jiggens was called for roughing. The second opportunity was when Collin Eccles was called for tripping. Upper Montgomery mounted some shots on net with the skater advantages but did not really threaten Barons’ goalie Graham McGrath White. After two periods of play, BCC had a 4-0 lead and was cruising to the season ending victory.

The Lightning were able to find a brief spark at the beginning of the third period. In his final regular season game, Benedick would score to cut the Barons lead to 4-1. Lightning forward Henry Honacki shot the puck from the right circle. McGrath White made an easy stick save with the puck shuffled off to the boards behind the net. The BCC defense cleared the puck around the boards where it was stopped by Lightning center Bradley Cupples along the left wing boards. Cupples sent the puck cross ice to Benedick back at the right point. Benedick skated in a few strides. He let loose with a long range wrist shot that beat McGrath White far side blocker with both Cupples and Lightning forward Josh Nadler screening in front of the net.

The comeback would be short lived. On his next shift Benedick would be called for interference for a high body check. Caldicott would score on a shot from the left circle after the Barons moved the puck around on the powerplay. Aleksander Talty sent the puck from the right wing boards to Graham Leblanc at the middle point. Leblanc sent the puck across to Caldicott who stopped, changed the angle of the shot, and ripped the puck past Bernard to restore the Barons four goal cushion.

Upper Montgomery would score a powerplay goal of its own with Marlowe Curalli in the box for roughing after an over aggressive play with seven minutes remaining in the game. Lightning leading scorer Chris Hassett moved the puck down the left wing boards behind the net. He curled around and went back toward the left faceoff circle. With the BCC defense paying attention to Hassett, linemate Nathan Cassel snuck into the slot area. Hassett’s backhand pass found Cassel in prime scoring position. Cassel’s snap shot went low stick side past McGrath White. The Lightning were back to within three goals at 5-2 with 6:45 remaining in the game.

That would be as close as the Lightning would get. After two consecutive shifts with their top offensive scorers on the ice and the three goal bulge remaining, Upper Montgomery began putting several of their seniors who do not typically receive a lot of ice time on the ice. BCC would receive goals from John Brunn (twice) and Eccles in garbage time to widen the margin of victory to 8-2. On many of the late goals Bernard was let down by the skaters in front of him.

The regular season is now complete. Upper Montgomery earned the seventh seed in the Montgomery Hockey Conference playoff tournament. Last season, Upper Montgomery earned the tenth seed in making the division one playoffs for the first time ever. The Lightning showed progress and improvement this season. The team is probably one more year away from everything falling into place for a deep playoff run. However, this year’s team has an outside chance to shock one of the top teams in the conference and make it to the state playoffs. The playoffs start next Friday night. The storm is brewing. The Lightning are coming. Watch out.

#Our Time, #UML, #Bleed Green, #Go Bolts!

Game Notes:

• Shots on goal for the game were fairly even, BCC with 35 and Upper Montgomery with 32.
• Upper Montgomery was 1-4 on the powerplay.
• The Lightning finished the regular season with a .500 record at 6-6-1. Five of the team’s six losses were to teams ranked in the top ten in the Maryland state public high school ice hockey rankings.
• Upper Montgomery will seek to claim its first ever Montgomery Hockey Conference division one playoff victory next Friday evening. The Lightning’s likely opponent is the St. Johns Cadets, although the opponent and schedule will be announced over the next 24-48 hours.

Three Stars of the Game:

First Star—Henry Caldicott—BCC Forward—2 Goals, 3 Assists
Second Star—Sebastian Harrison—BCC Center—2 Goals
Third Star—Matthew Duffy—BCC Center–-4 Assists