It was a late night Friday in Reston, Virginia as the Upper Montgomery Lightning and the DC Stars battled to a 3-3 tie. The game was delayed at the start and then somehow the teams played through the full five minutes of overtime action. The DC Stars felt that they should have won the game in regulation and the Lightning were left wondering what they needed to do to finish off the comeback with six superb chances in the extra session yielding no result.
The game itself was an unusual second act of the season series between the two programs. The Lightning dominated the earlier game in October only to have Stars goalie Anton Tracy steal the victory, a 3-1 decision where the Stars cashed in late. In this game, Upper Montgomery only had eleven skaters available due to external travel team commitments, injuries, and illnesses. Compounding the short roster situation, was that Brady Berkhammer was the only Lightning regular defender present for the game. This made the Upper Montgomery coaches scramble to fill in the defense with a rotation of almost every forward skater. Depth forward Adam Levine and 9th grade forward Aiden Zheng saw significant action alternating every other shift with the second line. Rest was impossible to come by as Upper Montgomery ran only two sets of five skaters during the entire game.
The patchwork lineup worked extremely hard the entire game. The Lightning’s effort was outstanding. Defensively, the first period saw senior center and co-captain Chris Hassett play on defense paired with forward Nathan Cassel while Berkhammer was paid with senior forward Brandon Bernard. While the Upper Montgomery’s offense suffered with the top line forwards playing defense, the Lightning were able to limit the DC Stars to seven shots on senior netminder Landon Bernard. Tracy had a rather easy first period making saves on all seven Lightning shot attempts. The abysmal Upper Montgomery powerplay fizzled on two opportunities, the first five minutes into the game when Stars talented defender Leo Nyberg was called for interference, and then five minutes later when little used forward Adam Chilbert was called for roughing. After one period of play the game was tied as it would be for much of the evening.
The second period saw a shuffling of Upper Montgomery forwards shifting back to play defense along side Berkhammer. Olivia Robbins, Henry Honacki, and senior co-captain Hunter Cameron were deployed to stop the DC Stars while the first line was reunited on offense; Hassett centering Cassel and Philip Shkeda. Brandon Bernard shifted up to center the second line with Bradley Cupples and the Levine/Zheng forward rotation. The juggling of skaters paid dividends on the very first shift of the second period when Hassett scored to put the Lightning in front. With the Stars pressuring in the Upper Montgomery defensive zone, Berkhammer took the puck behind his net for cover before passing to Cassel in the left defensive corner. Cassel skated up the left wing boards before sending an outlet pass to Hassett who had snuck behind the Stars defensive in the neutral zone. Hassett received the long stretch pass at the offensive zone blue line. He skated in alone on Tracy in alignment with the right goal post before firing to the left low blocker side past Tracy.
The Upper Montgomery lead did not last long. On the following shift the Stars would even the score. The puck was batted out of mid air just inside the DC Stars defensive zone. Stars defender Jonathan Lust gathered the puck and nudged it over by approximately a foot to Stars forward Walter Bernstein skating up the left wing with speed. Bernstein got around Honacki and skated all they way down the left side on a two on one rush before firing a wrist shot from low in the left faceoff circle far side past Bernard’s glove. While Honacki may have misplayed the rush, it is hard to fault a skater who has never before played defense. Judging the speed of the oncoming attacker takes years to develop as a defender. Two minutes later, on his next shift, Honacki was called for hooking trying to stop another DC Stars attack. Upper Montgomery was able to thwart the Stars powerplay with Berkhammer and Cameron playing most of the penalty kill situation on defense. The remainder of the period was played at even strength with both goaltenders making a few nice saves over the final nine minutes of action to keep the score tied at one apiece after two periods of play.
The third period saw another shuffling of forwards back on defense. Bernard was shifted back once again to play with Bradley Cupples and Shkeda joined Berkammer on the blue line. Honacki took Shkeda’s spot on the top line while Cameron centered Robbins and the Levine/Zheng platoon. The final fifteen minutes of regulation was the beginning of a wild end to the contest. Two minutes into the third period, DC Stars forward Eli Rubin scored an unassisted goal to give the Stars their first lead of the game. Off of a faceoff in the Upper Montgomery defensive zone, from the right faceoff circle the puck was played to the side boards. Stars defender Benjamin Lust sent the puck deep into the corner. The Upper Montgomery defense jumped on the puck and attempted to clear the zone. The clearing attempt was intercepted by Rubin along the wall. He skated into the low slot before firing a wrist shot over Bernard’s shoulder top shelf.
In almost a replica of the second period, the lead lasted less than one shift, this time with Upper Montgomery quickly pulling even. The puck was cleared to the neutral zone by the DC Stars. The puck was poked by Cassel back towards his defensive zone where it was corralled by Hassett just inside the Lightning defensive zone. Hassett took the puck up the right wing. At the offensive blue line he cut toward the middle of the ice. Dancing away from the Stars defense he pivoted back to his right. With the puck again on his forehand, Hassett shot far side past Tracy’s stick and blocker to knot the game up at two.
A cascade of powerplays followed. Upper Montgomery had another opportunity when Stars forward Liam Saxon was called for roughing with ten minutes left in regulation. After the Lightning powerplay was unsuccessful, the Stars had an opportunity when Brandon Bernard was called for high sticking. A minute into the Stars powerplay, Rubin was called for tripping negating the extra skater advantage. Four on four hockey saw some up and down trading of chances, but no goals. Then, Upper Montgomery whittled away their remaining minute on the powerplay with Rubin still in the penalty box.
With neither team scoring during the special teams play, the game was still tied at two with five minutes to play. Upper Montgomery’s line of Cameron, Robbins, and Levine had a dominating shift. Tracy made two big saves on Cameron from the inside edge of the left faceoff circle. Cameron had been set up by passes from Levine originating from behind the net on both occasions. The Stars cleared the puck down ice to relieve the pressure and both teams made line changes. With the puck in the the right corner of the Lightning defensive zone, from his knees Cupples tried to shovel the puck up the right wing boards. The puck was kept in at the left point. Cupples’ second clearing attempt was knocked out of mid air by Saxon who then ran right into his own teammate, Nyberg. Nyberg gathered the puck after the collision and sent the puck back to the point to Stars forward Thomas Cooperman who was covering for Nyberg. Cooperman’s long range shot was blocked by Hassett with the puck squirting to the right wing boards and to Nyberg. Nyberg curled to the point deking around Cassel and unleashed a wrist shot from the top of the left faceoff circle that went low blocker side past Bernard to give the Stars a 3-2 lead with three minutes remaining in the third period.
With time dwindling down and the Lightning desperately trying to tie the score, a nice breakout passing play would set up Cameron. Deep in the right defensive corner once again, Cupples sent the puck up the boards. Along the right wing Levine controlled the breakout pass just inside the Upper Montgomery defensive zone. He fired the puck up ice and fed Cameron in stride coming with speed at the center faceoff dot. Streaking up the ice, Cameron entered the DC Stars defensive zone down the right wing. At the top of the faceoff circle, he made a jump cut inside towards the slot. Cameron deked around both Stars defenders and ripped a wrist shot top shelf over Tracy’s glove to tie the game with under two minutes to play. In the final minute plus, neither team could get the game winning goal as time would run out on regulation play.
On to three on three overtime with five minutes of running clock. No longer having to play with two defenders, Upper Montgomery was free to use its top end talent. Cameron played defense with Cassel and Hassett, while Berkhammer played defense with Shkeda and Brandon Bernard. Upper Montgomery dominated overtime play with sequence after sequence of unbelievable opportunities to win the game. Seconds into the overtime session, a DC Stars defender fell down to create a two on rush from the blue line in for Cassel and Hassett. Cassel sent the puck in front to Hassett who was looking for a hat-tick goal. Hassett went forehand to backhand with Tracy making an excellent save with his outstretched big right leg pad.
Cassel then stole the puck and went in alone. He circled the net and tried a wrap around shot from beneath the left faceoff circle. Tracy made a nice save with his arm to keep the puck out of the net. The DC Stars then had their only rush of the overtime session with Bernard able to make a save on a wrist shot from the top of the faceoff circles. Next, with the puck in the neutral zone, Cameron sent Hassett in with a pass to the left side. Hassett tracked down the puck and went into the left corner. He curled to the top of the offensive zone just inside the blue line. As he hit the top of the defensive zone he found Cassel with a pass at the left post. Cassel tried a one time redirection of the pass. Although the creative play beat Tracy, the puck was sent inches wide of the goal.
After retaking possession, Cassel and Hassett had another two on one rush. Cassel went down the left wing. He outwaited the sliding Stars defender and passed to Hassett all alone in front. Hassett tipped the puck past Tracy but it clanked off the right goal post and the puck stayed out of the net with Tracy able to recover and smother the puck. Off the ensuing offensive zone faceoff, Hassett came out of a puck battle in the corner with possession. He cut around the faceoff circle and down the slot. His quick wrist shot went just wide of the left goal post with a lot of open net to shoot at.
Finally, with time running out in overtime, the Lightning had one final terrific opportunity. A horrific clearing attempt by the Stars set up the Lightning. A Stars defender sent the puck through their own slot diagonally from the left side of the ice to the right. The pass was intercepted by Cassel in the right faceoff circle. Cassel sent the puck down low to Hassett directly in front of the net. Hassett deked forehand to backhand and beat Tracy with the backhander. The puck went off the inside of the left goal post and out the other side of the crease from where the puck was cleared from danger by the Stars. The final buzzer sounded on a chaotic and wild last ten minutes of action with the score remaining tied and exhausted skaters from both teams bemoaning lost chances.
Game Notes:
- Upper Montgomery outshot the DC Stars 45-28.
- The Lightning dominated overtime out chancing the Stars six to one.
- Adam Levine’s assist was his first varsity point of the season.
- Upper Montgomery’s futility on the powerplay continued. Four more failed powerplay opportunities. The Lightning has now stared the season 0-25 on traditional powerplays, excluding Nathan Cassel’s penalty shot goal which technically counts as a powerplay marker.
- Upper Montgomery will try to keep building on their better play of late when the team plays the top ranked public high school team in the state. The Lightning travel to Frederick on Monday evening, January 8th to face the Oakdale Bears. Game time is 8:20 pm at Skate Frederick.
Three Stars of the Game:
First Star—Anton Tracy—DC Stars Goalie—42 Saves, .973 Save Percentage
Second Star—Chris Hassett—Upper Montgomery Center—2 Goals
Third Star—Hunter Cameron—Upper Montgomery Forward—Late Third Period Game Tying Goal