Author: chucklevine

The Upper Montgomery Lightning will feel the sting of Friday night’s loss to the Wootton Patriots all offseason. In a game in which the Lightning were the far better team, the Patriots’ best player Nathan Barrow rescued Wootton late and advanced the Patriots into a Montgomery Hockey Conference Division Two playoff semifinal game against Blair next Friday night.

The Lightning got off to a flying start and controlled the tempo of the game from the outset. It looked as if Wootton with its fourteen seniors was disinterested playing in the Division Two playoff matchup. A penalty to Wootton center Conor Harris gave Upper Montgomery an early powerplay. However, the skater advantage was short lived as Lightning defender George Benedick was called for holding less than a minute later. It was the beginning of a parade to the penalty box as the poorly officiated game resulted in 19 penalties and four separate ten minute misconduct penalties assessed.

After the penalty to Benedick completed, Upper Montgomery continued to attack and was rewarded with the first goal of the game. Andrew Botti skated the puck from center ice down the left wing boards into the offensive zone. He continued into the corner crossing the goal line. Cutting toward the net he passed the puck out into the high slot area and found Chris Hassett who had maneuvered into the slot. Hassett was wide open. He pivoted and fired a hard, rising wrist shot past the glove of Wootton netminder Julian Piche for the opening score.

Less than a minute later, the lead would grow to 2-0. Andrew Botti cleared the puck in the Lightning defensive zone up the right wing boards to Hassett. Hassett skated with the puck from just outside the blue line down the boards and into the offensive zone. James Botti cut down the slot toward the net. Hassett’s cross crease pass was a beauty, finding Botti’s backhand just inside the left post for a nifty bang-bang deflection past the stick side of Piche.

Maybe the Lightning’s offensive success got the better of the team. A defensive pinch in the offensive zone led to a deflected puck and a three on one Wootton rush up ice. Grady Sellman collected the puck in his defensive zone and centered the puck up ice into the neutral zone to Ilhom Abdulaev. Abdulaev skated down the right wing side and feathered a nice backhand pass through Andrew Botti to Julius Rubin who was in alone in the slot. Rubin swatted the puck five hole past Lightning netminder Landon Bernard to put the Patriots on the board.

With a minute to go in the first period, the Patriots would tie up the game. Just after a roughing penalty to Andrew Botti expired, Nathan Barrow evened the score at two. Martyn Ogorondnikov skated the puck from his defensive position down into the right corner. He lost the puck under pressure from Andrew Botti, but was able to push the puck behind the net. Barrow swooped in and carried the puck around the net from right to left. He open pivoted away from Bradley Cupples and had time and space from a bad angle just below the lower portion of the left faceoff circle. Even with a bad angle toward the net, he fired a wicked wrist shot far side, high and over Bernard’s shoulder for the tying goal. Shots on goal in the first period were even at seven for each team.

The second period was controlled by the Lightning who outshot Wootton fifteen to six. Upper Montgomery skated well and was often able to create good scoring opportunities. The Lightning were helped when Abdulaev took a boarding penalty and was assessed a ten minute misconduct for arguing the call. Then, while shorthanded, Barrow was given a ten minute misconduct for not wearing his mouthpiece despite being warned to do so in the first period. The absence of the two talented Wootton forwards contributed to their lack of offensive push in the second period.

The third period also started off well for the Lightning as they took the lead less than a minute into the frame on a goal by Hunter Cameron. Bradley Cupples won a defensive zone face off in the left faceoff circle directly to the left wing boards where it was picked up by Ethan Hockey. Hockey skated out of the defensive zone up ice. He dumped the puck into the left corner where Cameron collected the puck and skated it around the crease from left to right. Reaching the right faceoff circle, he spun and his attempted wrist shot deflected behind the net short side. Josh Nadler was first to the puck. He circled the net to the weak side moving across the flow of play from right to left. His pass into the slot reached a cutting Cameron whose quick shot beat Piche high to the blocker side.

A minute later Andrew Botti was called for a questionable slashing penalty. He argued the call and was handed an additional ten minute misconduct penalty, effectively keeping him off the ice for almost the remainder of the game. With a few seconds left in Botti’s penalty, Cameron was called for high sticking putting the Lightning down two skaters for eight seconds. Botti’s two minute penalty ended and the Lightning were just down one skater. Near the end of Cameron’s penalty, Wootton tied up the game. A quick passing sequence from Harris to Barrow to Abdulaev and Abdulaev’s shot beat Bernard tying up the game at three with 9:35 left.

Yet another penalty was called on the Lightning just after the two back-to-back Patriots’ powerplays. Again, a bad officiating decision on a non-high stick that was called a high stick on George Benedick. With that penalty winding down, a make up slashing call was assessed to Sellman. Off the defensive zone faceoff, Harris was called for a hit to the head of a Lightning forward. Harris’ penalty was a two minute minor and a ten minute misconduct eliminating him from the rest of the contest. Off the second offensive zone faceoff on the 4-3 powerplay, Barrow won the faceoff back to Walter Cederbrandt who passed the puck across his own crease to Ogorondnikov who skied the puck out of the defensive zone. Barrow outraced the Lightning defense and broke in alone on Bernard. He easily deked Bernard scoring to put the Patriots up 4-3 with six minutes left in the game.

The Lightning still had a chance to even the score as they were on a 5-3 powerplay once Benedick’s penalty expired. Although the Lightning were able to gain the offensive zone and possess the puck, they did not convert. Instead, Barrow jumped on a loose puck and exited the defensive zone up the left wing boards with Abdulaev. They raced up ice on a two on one rush. Drawing the Lightning defender toward him, Barrow slide a pass across to Abdulaev. Abdulaev collected the pass, made a deke, and also slid the puck past Bernard. Two shot handed goals scored a minute apart when Wootton had only three skaters on the ice.

Down 5-3, the Lightning kept pressing. Piche made a few really good saves to maintain the Patriots’ lead. The penalty brigade kept coming as questionable call after questionable call landed additional student athletes in the penalty box. Lightning center Brandon Bernard was called for slashing. While Wootton was on the powerplay they mainly played keep away, passing the puck on the perimeter not allowing Upper Montgomery to gain control. With three minutes to go in the game, Hassett and Wootton defender Andrew Reynolds were called for coincidental minors, Hassett for roughing and Reynolds for high sticking. Just twenty seconds later, Abdulaev was called for roughing giving the Lightning one final chance to close the margin. The Lightning were unable to mount much pressure and the powerplay fizzled along with Upper Montgomery’s opportunity for their season of growth to continue next week. The game was salted away on an empty net goal scored by Abdulaev as he exited the penalty box on an assist from Barrow.

Game Notes:

• With the loss, Upper Montgomery ends its season with a 5-9-1 record, similar to last season but a huge leap forward in growth and competitiveness, especially against the top tier teams in the conference.
• The Lightning outshot Wootton 30-20.
• Again, shorthanded goals doomed the Lightning who gave up two shorthanded goals in the closing minutes of the contest. Upper Montgomery gave up eight shorthanded goals during the season and lost all seven games in which they conceded a shorthanded goal.
• The Lightning penalty kill, which has been outstanding all season, killed off six of the seven Wootton powerplays and finished the season 51-58, an excellent 87.9% kill rate.
• The Lightning powerplay faltered in all five powerplay chances against Wootton and finished the season 12-54, 22.2% success rate.

Three Stars of the Game:

First Star—Nathan Barrow—Wootton Center—2 Goals, 2 Assists
Second Star—IIhom Abdulaev—–Wootton Forward—3 Goals, 1 Assist
Third Star—Chris Hassett—Upper Montgomery Center—1 Goal, 1 Assist

For most of Friday night’s Montgomery Hockey Conference Division One playoff game, Upper Montgomery went toe-to-toe with a more experienced and talented Richard Montgomery Rockets squad who had their sights set on returning to the Maryland Student Hockey League championship game for a second season in a row. The tenth seeded Lightning were out to prove they belonged in the Division One playoffs having qualified for the playoff tournament for the first time in program history. Judging by the large Richard Montgomery victory celebration it is safe to say that Upper Montgomery has earned the respect of the top teams in the Montgomery Hockey Conference.

The first five minutes of game action were tight checking with both teams looking to control the tempo and style of the game. Richard Montgomery desired a free flowing contest with lots of end to end rushes. Upper Montgomery wanted a tighter checking game with less action and a clogged up neutral zone. Six minutes into the game, Richard Montgomery struck first. Lucas Perkins dumped the puck from his right point position into the right corner. Dylan Goetz possessed the puck and found Mitchell Bobys on the left wing cutting toward the slot and net. Goetz’s pass was perfectly timed and Bobys wasted no time in slapping the puck past Lightning netminder Will Mellen from the low slot.

The early goal did not deter the Lightning who kept working hard. A tripping penalty to Nathan Lynch gave Upper Montgomery the first powerplay of the game. Ryan Jacobson gained the offensive zone and passed the puck back to James Botti at the point. Botti’s shot was stopped by Rockets netminder Henry Darko, but Chris Hassett was able to jump on the rebound and put it past Darko into the net to even the score at one. The balance of the first period was played evenly with both teams unable to create many good scoring chances. Shots on goal in the first period were ten for Richard Montgomery and eight for Upper Montgomery.

A few minutes into the second period, the Lightning almost took the lead. Hunter Cameron broke in down the left wing on a two on one rush with Bradley Cupples cutting down the slot. Cameron’s centering pass over to Cupples eluded the lone Rockets defender and was right on the money. Cupples shot back across from where Darko had just moved low and toward the left post. The shot from the low slot cleanly beat Darko, clanked off the inside of the post, and stayed out of the net. It was a great chance that just did not go in.

With nine minutes left in the second period, Lightning defender George Benedick was called for interference. Benedick is one of the top penalty killers for Upper Montgomery. The Lightning penalty kill which had been outstanding all season, 91.7% success rate coming into the game was broken down by the Rockets. From his left point position, Luke Guttman passed the puck into the corner to Mitchell Bobys. A whistle from the stands sounded and all student athletes on the ice stopped competing. The referees instructed the student athletes to play on and after a few seconds Bobys found Dylan Goetz cutting backdoor down the slot with a cross ice feed. A wide open Goetz buried the shot past Mellen who had little chance on the play for a 2-1 Richard Montgomery lead. A goal protested vociferously by the Lightning coaching staff.

The Lightning had a chance to tie the game when Guttman was called for interference, but were unable to convert. With three minutes remaining in the second period, Upper Montgomery was back on the penalty kill after another interference penalty, this time to Cupples. On the powerplay, Richard Montgomery brought the puck up ice. Zach Bulson exited the Rockets defensive zone and fed Daniel Martella in the neutral zone along the right wing board. Martella passed the puck to the center of the ice finding Goetz streaking up ice. Goetz took possession of the puck just outside the blue line. He took a couple of strides so that he was a few feet into the offensive zone and let loose with a slap shot. Mellen tracked the puck and stuck out his blocker to make an easy save and direct the puck to the corner boards. Unfortunately for Mellen and Upper Montgomery, the puck took a weird deflection off of Mellen’s blocker, rolled up a couple of inches and fell behind him into the net for a goal. The unforced error with a minute and a half left in the period deflated the Lightning. Shots on goal in the second period were nine for Richard Montgomery and five for Upper Montgomery.

The Lightning began the third period shorthanded after a roughing penalty to Nathan Cassel was assessed in the closing seconds of the second period. It was a critical penalty kill situation for Upper Montgomery as a fourth goal would surely have opened up the game and made a comeback extremely challenging. The Lightning penalty killers came through to keep the score 3-1. With 6:45 left in the game, the Lightning received a final powerplay chance when Paulina Utochkin was called for hooking. With a few seconds remaining on the powerplay Upper Montgomery converted.

It took some time for Upper Montgomery to gain possession of the puck in the offensive zone. Eventually the puck was kept in at the point by Ethan Hockey. His slap shot was saved by Darko who again left a juicy rebound. Hassett beat Darko’s attempt to cover and freeze the puck, again shoveling the puck past him to cut the Richard Montgomery lead to 3-2 with five minutes remaining in the game. After the goal, the Lightning pushed with everything they had. With just under three minutes to go in the game, Jacobson fired a slap shot from the top of the right faceoff circle that beat Darko. The puck ricocheted so hard off the crossbar that the puck cleared itself landing back in the neutral zone. The Lightning were so close to tying up the game.

With 1:40 remaining in the game, the Lightning bench called for Mellen to head to the bench for an extra attacker. Just as Mellen left the crease and started skating toward the bench, a turnover at the Richard Montgomery blue line turned into a two on one rush up ice. Gutmann easily slid the puck across to Bulson for a tap in goal at the right post as Mellen scrambled to get back into position and square up to the action. As the puck crossed the goal line into the net, Upper Montgomery’s hopes for the upset dissipated, but not for a lack of effort and some unlucky circumstances. Richard Montgomery received everything the Lightning had and were very happy to have survived and to advance on in the conference playoff tournament. The first ever playoff win in program history will have to wait at least one more season, but the team’s performance gained the respect of the entire conference.

Game Notes:

• With the victory Richard Montgomery moves on to face second seeded Walter Johnson for a spot in the Maryland state playoff tournament.
• The Lightning were outshot by the Rockets 31-18 and 21-10 over the final two periods.
• The Lightning penalty kill which had been outstanding all season, faltered. Richard Montgomery connected for two powerplay goals in three chances. The Upper Montgomery penalty kill is now 45-51 on the season, still an excellent 88.2% kill rate.
• The Lightning powerplay bounced back from last week’s poor performance and was 2-3 in the game.
• The Lightning will next be in action on Friday night, February 18th at Rockville Ice Arena versus an undetermined opponent in the quarterfinal round of the Montgomery Hockey Conference Division Two playoffs.

Three Stars of the Game:

First Star—Dylan Goetz—Richard Montgomery Forward—2 Goals, 1 Assist
Second Star—Mitchell Bobys—–Richard Montgomery Forward—1 Goal, 1 Assist
Third Star—Chris Hassett—Upper Montgomery Center—2 Goals

In a game with several student athletes missing the contest due to travel team commitments, the St. Johns Cadets downed the Upper Montgomery Lightning 4-1 in the regular season finale for both teams. To a person, the student athletes and the coaching staff were not pleased with the performance against St. Johns, in what might have been the team’s weakest performance of the season. It was not the way to honor the program’s three seniors, James Botti, Adarsh Nair, and Joshua Miller who were each celebrated prior to the start of the game. With the loss, the Lightning will enter next week’s Montgomery Hockey Conference Division One playoffs on a four game losing streak. The playoff bracket will be released in the next few days, but expectations are that Upper Montgomery will open the playoffs as a road team seeded somewhere between nine and eleven out of the twelve team field.

The game started sluggishly with both teams struggling to find any rhythm. Three minutes into the game Cadet’s defender Joseph Krauth took a hooking penalty. Maybe it was the absence of having Ryan Jacobson and Nathan Cassel available that disrupted the Lightning’s flow with the advantage, but the powerplay fizzled with very little zone time. As Krauth’s penalty ended, Lightning Center Bradley Cupples was called for high sticking. It took only six seconds for the Cadets to capitalize. Blake Russell cleanly won a faceoff in the right faceoff circle. The puck went straight back to Krauth at the right point. He took one stride to the middle of the ice and blasted a snap shot through traffic and past Lightning netminder Will Mellen on the glove side.

The next six minutes of game action saw the Lightning struggle to enter the offensive zone against St. Johns’ smothering defense. When Upper Montgomery was able to generate some offensive zone time, the shots directed on net against Cadet’s netminder Julian Goodfellow were not high quality chances. With three and a half minutes left in the first period, Lightning forward Olivia Robbins was called for slashing in the neutral zone. Upper Montgomery’s best offensive chance came while shorthanded when Chris Hassett and Hunter Cameron came in alone on a two on zero rush. Hassett’s pass across the crease was just a bit too deep toward the net and Cameron did not have much net to shoot at. Goodfellow was able to make a left leg pad save on the chance. The Lightning were able to kill off the remainder of the shorthanded advantage, but just after Robbins was released from the penalty box, the St. Johns lead would grow.

Cadet’s defender Thomas Pilkington collected the puck in the offensive zone along the left boards near his point position. He curled toward the middle of the ice along the blue line. He had time and space. He cut around a Lightning skater stickhandling into the high slot area, where he made another nifty move around a Lightning defender before finally snapping a shot far side past Mellen’s glove hand. It was a goal that never should have been scored as two Lightning student athletes had opportunities to body Pilkington and dislodge him from the puck. Shots on goal in the first period were nine to eight in favor of the Lightning.

The Lightning started the second period on the powerplay after a high sticking penalty to John Stanek. Upper Montgomery was unable to mount any real threat. In the middle of the second period, the Lightning were able to kill off a shorthanded situation after Andrew Botti was called for roughing. With just under three minutes remaining in the period, St. Johns would score an insurance goal, the result of poor defensive coverage by Upper Montgomery.

Off of a recoil in the neutral zone, Krauth passed the puck indirect off the left wing boards. The pass was collected by Austin Kirika who bumped the puck forward a few feet to William Spicer entering the zone with speed down the left wing side. Spicer cut in front of the Lightning defender which caused Andrew Botti to come over from his left defensive position to help stop Spicer. Spicer extended his stick and poked the puck toward the low slot area where Russell was all alone. Russell collected the puck, made a quick deke, and jammed the puck past Mellen’s right leg as Mellen shifted over toward the middle of the net in an attempt to stop Russell. Shots on goal in the second period were Lightning with eleven and St. Johns with nine.

The start of the third period saw Upper Montgomery with a shot lived sliver of hope. Chris Hassett scored early in the third period off of a nice pass from Hunter Cameron to cut the deficit to 3-1. Hassett’s shot beat Goodfellow low, stick side. Then, thirty seconds later, the Lightning went on the powerplay with an opportunity to further shrink the Cadets lead when Willem Desimone was called for tripping. However, it was the Cadets who took advantage scoring a shorthanded goal to salt away the game. Spicer took possession of the puck just inside his defensive blue line along the right wing boards. He exited the zone on a two on one advantage and rushed up ice. As he reached the top of the right faceoff circle in the offensive zone Spicer dished the puck over to Russell who tapped the puck past Mellen’s outstretched right leg into the wide open net for the final tally of the game.

Game Notes:

• Upper Montgomery finished the regular season with a 5-7-1 record.
• The Lightning outshot St. Johns 31-25.
• The Lightning penalty kill was 4-5 for the game, allowing a powerplay goal for the first time in months. The Upper Montgomery penalty kill is now 44-48 on the season, an excellent 91.7%.
• The Lightning powerplay struggled all night and was 0-3 in the game.
• Another shorthanded goal given up by the Lightning, the sixth shorthanded goal allowed on the season. All six shorthanded goals against have come in games the Lightning have lost.
• The Lightning will next be in action on Friday night, February 4th versus an undetermined opponent in the first round of the Montgomery Hockey Conference Division One playoffs. This season is the first time in program history that the Lightning have qualified for the Division One playoffs.

Three Stars of the Game:

First Star—Blake Russell—St. Johns Center—2 Goals, 1 Assist
Second Star—Julian Goodfellow—–St. Johns Goalie–Win, 30 Saves, .968 Save%
Third Star—Joseph Krauth—St. Johns Defense—1 Goal