Brothers James and Andrew Botti helped lead the Upper Montgomery Lightning to a 13-0 blowout win Friday night against the clearly overmatched Wilson Stars. James scored four goals and added an assist and Andrew scored a goal and had three assists in the game which served as a tune up before the Lightning finish the regular season with four games against higher quality opponents. The win, coupled with the DC Stars loss to Sherwood, means that Upper Montgomery has just about clinched its first ever division one playoff appearance.
The Lightning would score routinely throughout the game against Stars junior netminder Jack Kobil. Although he gave up 13 goals, Kobil played outstanding throughout the game making 44 saves, many of them of the incredibly difficult variety. The Lightning also hit the post 6 times. Without Kobil’s play, the score would have been even more lopsided.
Upper Montgomery pressured right from the beginning of the game. On the third shift of the contest, the Lightning would strike for what would turn out to be the game winning goal. Andrew Botti passed the puck up ice from his own blue line to Joshua Miller on the left wing at the Stars blue line. Miller bumped the puck to the middle of the ice and hit Josh Nadler in stride as he was entering the offensive zone. Nadler took the puck wide toward the right faceoff circle and shot the puck back against the grain far side and past Kobil’s blocker for his first career varsity goal. A minute and a half later, Andrew Botti would make the score 2-0 firing a wrist shot from the blue line through traffic in front of the net. James Botti had skated the puck in a circle from the left wing boards back to the point, and then to the right side of the ice and around the net. His pass found Bradley Cupples in front. Cupples turned with the puck in the left circle and fed Andrew Botti at the mid point of the blue line for the shot. Upper Montgomery had been craving depth scoring and the first two goals against the Stars came via the third and second lines, a theme that would continue throughout the game.
After Andrew Gean took a cross checking penalty behind the Lightning net, the Lightning would strike while on the penalty kill. The first of their three shorthanded goals in the game. Off of a faceoff in the offensive zone, a failed Wilson clearing attempt was kept in the zone by George Benedick at the right point. He stickhandled around the Stars forwards into the slot before unleashing a wrist shot that got by Kobil. Midway through the first period the Upper Montgomery defense would score for the third consecutive time. Nadler won an offensive zone faceoff in the left circle back to Gean at the blue line. Gean passed left to his defensive partner Ethan Hockey. Hockey stick handled into the slot and passed the puck to Miller near the left post. Miller’s backhand pass into the crease area found Hockey all alone for an easy score high glove side into an unguarded open net. Wilson would manage to keep the Lightning off the scoreboard for the rest of the period, largely due to the play of Kobil. Shots on goal in the first period were 26-1 in favor of the Lightning demonstrating how lopsided the play was in the first period.
The second period started with the Lightning again on the penalty kill after a roughing minor to Benedick. Starting the period down a skater contributed to a slow start in the period by Upper Montgomery. It would take 5:30 seconds for the team to turn up the heat. From the neutral zone Chris Hasset dropped a nifty backhand drop pass on the left to Hunter Cameron cutting into the Stars defensive zone. Cameron got behind the defense and cut toward the net. His patience with the puck allowed Nathan Cassel to drive the zone and cut to the far post. Cameron found an unguarded Cassel for an easy snapshot into the wide open far side of the net. Kobil had absolutely no chance on the play. A minute later the score would grow to 6-0 on James Botti’s first goal of the game and his first goal of the season. Cupples won another offensive zone faceoff in the right faceoff circle back to Gean at the right point. Gean passed to the middle of the ice where Andrew Botti’s wrist shot trickled wide of the net. The puck bounced off the end boards directly to James Botti alone at the right post for an easy tap in goal. Forty seconds later the score would become 7-0 and the rest of the game was played with a running clock. Ethan Hockey carried the puck down the left wing into the Wilson offensive zone and fired a shot on Kobil. Kobil made the initial glove save but could not control the rebound. The rebound landed at the feet of Nadler who from the bottom of the right circle immediately fired a wrist shot on the rebound attempt. Kobil again made a glove save but could not squeeze the puck. The puck landed in the crease and Adam Levine swatted a backhand whack connecting with the puck and putting it past Kobil for his first goal of the season in limited playing time.
The next several minutes were played either with Upper Montgomery killing penalties to Benedick (roughing) or Cameron (interference) or skating four on four. Just before the penalty to Cameron ended, Stephen Shkeda fed James Botti cutting down the middle of the offensive zone. Botti faked around a Wilson defender and went in alone on Kobil from the middle of the slot on a quick developing breakaway. He easily beat Kobil top shelf glove side to score his second goal of the game as well as the Lightning’s second shorthanded goal of the night. Just as the second period was ending, with five seconds left, Hassett would cap the five goal second period burst. Cameron sprung Hassett into the offensive zone with a pass along the right wing boards. Hassett briefly lost control of the puck, recovered, and passed cross ice to Cassel in the left wing corner. Cassel acted as if he was going to skate around the net, but passed the puck out front prior to fully going behind the net. His pass found Hassett wide open in the slot for a quick wrist shot past Kobil’s glove. Shots on goal in the second period were 20-2 in favor of the Lightning.
Upper Montgomery scored with five seconds remaining in the second period would reach double digits in goals five seconds into the third period. Cupples won the neutral zone faceoff to start the third period directly left to Shkeda who had cut inside the Wilson winger. Shkeda skated the puck into the Wilson defensive zone and fired a wrist shot low glove side and past Kobil for his first goal of the season. A minute later the score would increase to 11-0. Benedick sent the puck up ice from the Lightning defensive zone to Shkeda on the left wing. Shkeda skated into the zone wide and around a Stars defender. He then cut toward the net from the bottom of the left faceoff circle. His shot low to the pads of Kobil was saved. With the rebound sitting in the slot for a brief moment, it was there long enough for James Botti to poke the puck into the net before Kobil could get on top of the puck to cover and force a whistle. For James Botti, it was his hat trick goal.
With 10:35 left in the game, the Lightning would score their final shorthanded goal of the game with Cassel in the box for slashing. Ethan Hockey back checked hard through the neutral zone forcing a turnover at the Upper Montgomery blue line. Hassett took control of the puck and skated the opposite direction on a two on one rush. Hassett floated wide on the right wing allowing Cameron to charge hard at the back post of the net where a perfectly placed pass led to an easy back door tap in for Cameron. The Lightning then would kill off a slashing penalty to Nadler before James Botti would net his fourth goal of the game. Andrew Botti passed the puck from the side of Will Mellen’s net up the center of the ice to Cupples who led a two on one rush with James Botti. Cupples carried the puck into the offensive zone toward the left faceoff circle and drew the defender toward him. With the defender committed, he passed the puck over to James Botti who had a clear lane to fire a wrist shot past Kobil. The goal capped a feel good win, but the Lightning fully understand that the level of competition will increase significantly over the rest of the season.
Game Notes:
- The victory was the second straight shutout victory by the Lightning over the Stars.
- The Lightning outshot the Stars 46-3 over the first two periods and 57-4 for the game.
- Will Mellen lowered his Montgomery Hockey Conference leading goals against average to 1.17 and increased his Montgomery Hockey Conference leading save percentage to .935.
- The Lightning penalty kill smothered all seven Wilson powerplays, while scoring three short-handed goals. the Upper Montgomery penalty kill is now 34 of 37 on the season, 91.9%.
- The Lightning picked up their fifth straight victory and are unbeaten in their last six games 5-0-1.
- The Lightning are next in action on Friday, January 14th at 9:00 pm at Rockville Ice Area for a game against the Richard Montgomery Rockets.
Three Stars of the Game:
First Star—James Botti—Upper Montgomery Defense—4 Goals, 1 Assist
Second Star—Andrew Botti—Upper Montgomery Defense–-1 Goal, 3 Assists
Third Star—Ethan Hockey—Upper Montgomery Defense—1 Goal, 2 Assists