The Upper Montgomery Lightning earned a signature win Friday evening at Rockville Ice Arena against the Whitman Vikings. The 2-1 victory playing against the division one Vikings was a complete team effort and should be enough to propel the Lightning into the varsity playoffs for the first time. With five games remaining in the regular season, Friday evening’s victory is sure to push Upper Montgomery up the league rankings heading into the finishing homestretch. The Lightning are next in action after the winter break against the Wilson Stars, a team the Lightning easily beat 9-0 just before Thanksgiving.
Will Mellen was excellent in net stopping 39 of 40 shots and holding the Vikings off the scoresheet until three and a half minutes remained in the game. The Lightning defense of James Botti, George Benedick, Ethan Hockey, Andrew Gean, and Andrew Botti were key to preventing many open looks, and when the Vikings did have chances, Mellen was there to shut the door. At winter break, Mellen leads the Montgomery Hockey Conference goalies who have played at least three games with a 1.40 goals against average and a .932 save percentage.
The game began inauspiciously. Just one minute and twelve seconds into the contest, Lightning high scoring winger Ryan Jacobson was assessed a two-minute checking from behind penalty. That penalty automatically comes with a ten-minute misconduct penalty, effectively eliminating Jacobson from competing in the entire first period. The excellent Lightning penalty kill took care of the Viking’s powerplay, just to go back on the penalty kill immediately thereafter when Upper Montgomery defender Andrew Botti was given a minor penalty for roughing. Halfway through the second penalty kill, Viking’s defender Morrison Cohen took a holding penalty to negate the balance of the Viking’s powerplay.
As the Upper Montgomery powerplay was ending, the Lightning would jump out in front. Lightning winger Hunter Cameron collected the puck at the Lightning blue line. He curled with the puck and skated up the right wing side, dumping the puck past the Vikings defense as he entered the Vikings zone. He pressured behind the net and forced the Vikings defense. The puck squirted lose and bounced off Lightning Center Bradley Cupples. Cameron poked the puck back to the left point. George Benedick hustled to keep the blue line, just barely keeping the puck in the zone. He fired a long range wrist shot toward the net. The puck clicked off the skates of the lone Vikings defender in the slot and past Viking’s goalie Reed Crichton at the 8:16 mark of the first period. The Lightning would have to kill off another minor penalty, this time roughing to Benedick with three minutes remaining in the first period. At the end of the first period the Lightning led 1-0 playing without Jacobson, killing off three penalties, and being outshot 11-8.
The second period would be played almost entirely in the Lightning defensive zone. Mellen made some of his best saves in the period to maintain the Upper Montgomery lead. There were several goal mouth scrambles where the defense blocked shots, shots went wide of the net, and Mellen was there to rob Vikings forwards with great saves. He even endured a goalie interference penalty to Viking’s star center Charlie Allen. At the end of the second period, the Lightning still led 1-0, while being outshot 20-2 in the period.
On the second shift of the third period, the Lightning lead would grow to 2-0. Off of a defensive zone faceoff loss, James Botti hustled out to the point to knock the puck loose from the Vikings defense. Cupples collected the puck just inside the Lightning defensive zone and skated the puck through neutral ice and into the Vikings defensive zone. He passed cross ice to James Botti. Botti collected the puck with two Viking defenders covering him and got off a backhand shot on net. Crichton made a stick save. The puck squirted away from his catching glove over to Cupples before he could freeze the puck. Cupples took a stride to the right near the right goal post and centered the puck back into the slot where Cameron had driven the net. Cameron was in perfect position to volley the puck into the left side of the net past the outstretched leg pad of Crichton.
Over the next ten minutes of action the Lightning did an excellent job of playing positional defense and limiting the Vikings. There were minimal high scoring chances and the Vikings found it difficult to escape the defensive pressure being applied by Upper Montgomery. It was only off of a crazy carom with three and a half minutes remaining in the game that the Vikings would get on the board. Allen skated the puck into the Lightning defensive zone. He took a shot from the top of the circles in the center of the ice. The shot went several feet wide of the net and hit the back boards on its side. Rather than continuing into the corner and up the right wing boards, the puck ricocheted back into the slot past the Lightning defense who were headed to chase down the puck in the corner, gain possession, and clear the zone. All alone in front with a wide open net, Viking’s winger Teddy Hauptman scored to cut the Upper Montgomery lead to 2-1.
It made for a nerve wracking last 3:28 for the Lightning faithful in attendance. Upper Montgomery did not let the bad bounce affect them and they went right back to playing pressure defense. As the minutes and seconds on the clock wound down, with each defensive zone clear, the Lightning gained momentum. When the Vikings pulled Crichton from net for the extra attacker, James Botti gained control of the puck behind the Upper Montgomery net. With great individual effort, he pinched the puck against the boards for twenty seconds running off precious time. The Lightning faced a defensive zone faceoff with 24.8 seconds left. Jacobson won the draw and the Lightning immediately iced the puck. With 18.5 seconds left, off the next defensive zone faceoff, the Lightning lost this draw and immediately pressured the puck. The Vikings were unable to penetrate the interior of the Lightning defense and could not get into the high scoring areas. The puck stayed to the exterior along the boards until it was sent back to the left point with 7.3 seconds remaining. The point shot hit a Vikings forward in front and deflected into the right corner where Benedick outraced the Vikings and fired the puck out of the zone and down ice. As the final seconds ticked off, the Lightning poured off the bench in celebration skating over to congratulate Mellen on his season defining performance.
Game Notes:
- The victory over Whitman was the Lightning’s first win over a division one opponent.
- The Lightning were outshot by the Vikings by a wide margin, 40-17.
- Will Mellen lowered his goals against average to 1.40 and increased his save percentage to .932.
- The Lightning penalty kill killed off all three Vikings powerplays and is now 27 of 30 on the season, 90.0%.
- The Lightning powerplay went one for two and is now 7 of 30 on the season, 23.3%.
- The Lightning picked up their fourth straight victory and are unbeaten in their last five games 4-0-1.
- The Lightning are next in action after winter break on Friday, January 7th at 9:00 pm at Rockville Ice Area for a game against the Wilson Stars.
Three Stars of the Game:
First Star—Will Mellen—Upper Montgomery Goalie—Win, 1 GAA, 39 saves, .975 save percentage
Second Star—George Benedick—Upper Montgomery Defense–-1 Goal
Third Star—Hunter Cameron—Upper Montgomery Forward—Game Winning Goal, 1 Assist