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