The Upper Montgomery Lightning junior varsity faced off Tuesday evening against the Oakdale Bears a top non-conference opponent. Entering the game, the talent of Oakdale placed the Lightning’s eight game season opening undefeated streak in jeopardy. Further complicating Upper Montgomery’s chances of beating Oakdale was that Lightning varsity senior co-captain Chris Hassett (a position skater) would be playing goalie in place of standout ninth grade netminder Ilan Shterenberg. All of the pre-game worry was for naught as the game quickly turned into a blowout. With the victory, the Upper Montgomery junior varsity tied the program record for wins in a season with their eighth victory.
Entering the game Oakdale goalie Zachary Sanford seemed to give the Bears a decided advantage. He played goalie whereas Upper Montgomery would be hoping that Hassett could make enough saves to provide the squad with an opportunity to stay in the game. Maybe having a position player in net lit a fire in the Lightning. Maybe the opportunity to set the team record for wins in a season was the ignitor. Whatever the motivation, the team erupted offensively and shellacked the Bears, completely outplaying Oakdale in a one-sided 10-4 destruction.
Upper Montgomery scored its first goal on the second shift of the game. Upper Montgomery center Josh Nadler scored the first of his career high four goals. It was as if Sanford was allergic to stopping anything Nadler put toward the net. His first goal came off of a faceoff in the right circle where he won the puck to the side boards. Lightning forward Jason Woodman kicked the puck back to the point to Upper Montgomery defender Miles Wendland. Wendland dumped the puck down along the boards and around the net where Upper Montgomery’s other forward, TJ Gottesman rushed over to retrieve the puck. Gottesman tripped and fell. Upon standing up, Gottesman and Woodman worked the puck free of the Bears defense. Gottesman then pushed the puck to Nadler in the left faceoff circle. Nadler’s wrist shot from a bad angle went far side along the ice and past Sanford’s left leg pad.
At the tail end of the same shift, Nadler would increase the Lightning’s lead to two. Wendland sent the puck around the boards in the Upper Montgomery defensive zone. Nadler picked the puck up along the right wing boards. He then chipped the puck by the Bears defense into neutral ice. He raced after the puck and beat the Oakdale defense to the puck. Upon entering the offensive zone, he fired a wrist shot from the right faceoff circle. The shot went far side past Sanford’s blocker into the net.
Three minutes later the Upper Montgomery lead would swell to three. Lightning defender Patrick Sell held the puck at his own blue line along the right wing boards. He flung a pass cross ice to Upper Montgomery ninth grade forward Aiden Zheng. Zheng took possession of the puck at the red line along the left wing boards. Zheng skated the puck into the offensive zone and went around the net from left to right. Nearing the right corner he turned and centered the puck to the crease where Upper Montgomery center Adam Levine used his backhand to redirect the puck under Sanford’s right leg pad. The goal was Levine’s sixth straight game recording at least one point setting the Upper Montgomery junior varsity program record.
Just five and a half minutes into the game Upper Montgomery led 3-0. To their credit, Oakdale did not quit on the game. With just under six minutes left in the first period, Oakdale cut the lead to 3-1. Off of a faceoff in the left faceoff circle, Oakdale won possession along the left wing boards. Joshua Rath skated the puck down into the left corner where he fought through the Upper Montgomery defense. As he headed toward the net underneath the red goal line he dished the puck over to Oakdale forward Ryan Baez. Baez then fed the front of the net where Bears center Shaun Hulton poked a quick backhand shot along the ice short side past Hassett.
Fifty seconds later Gottesman would provide Upper Montgomery with another three goal lead. Gottesman pressured at the right point in the Upper Montgomery defensive zone forcing a weak shot attempt towards Hassett. The shot was intercepted by Lightning forward AJ Marks. Marks skated until he was one step outside the defensive zone blue line and fired a pass up to Gottesman who had skated past the Bears defense. Marks’ pass was right on the money. Gottesman collected the puck as he crossed the offensive zone blue line onsides. Gottesman advanced to the top of the faceoff circles before he fired a wrist shot across his body to the far side of the net. The puck went low past Sanford’s glove hand just inside the right goal post.
With a minute and a half left in the period, Zheng would tally to finish the Lightning’s first period scoring onslaught. Wendland attempted to clear the puck out of the defensive zone. His clearing attempt hit Woodman and deflected over to Lightning forward Sean Levine in the right circle of the defensive zone. Levine banked the puck out of the defensive zone off the boards. Zheng chased the puck down and skated into the offensive zone down the right side of the ice. As he neared the right corner, he cut to the middle of the ice and sent a backhand shot five hole on Sanford. For a team that had difficulty scoring goals entering the game, Upper Montgomery had erupted for five goals on just eight shots on net in the period. Meanwhile, Hassett had made seven saves allowing only one goal. A couple of Hassett’s saves were of the high quality variety and earned him stick taps of appreciation from his teammates.
With a four goal bulge and the ability to play freely, Upper Montgomery began to press forward offensively. The game began to take on the appearance of a pick up game and play design details began to escape both teams. Nadler scored his third goal at the ten minute mark to push the Upper Montgomery lead to 6-1. Lightning defender Jake Roth kept the puck in at the blue line after a weak Oakdale clearing pass. He passed to Nadler wide open in the high slot. Nadler skated in a few steps closer down the slot. He fired a wrist shot low to the stick side along the ice just inside the left post for his hat-trick goal.
A minute and a half later a loud roar overtook the rink. Upper Montgomery ninth grade defender, Avery Evans picked up the puck in her defensive zone. She skated down the ice as if fired out of a cannon all the way through the neutral zone and into the offensive zone. From the bottom of the left circle and from a bad angle, Evans shot the puck toward the net. The puck went over Sanford’s leg pads and under his glove before settling over the goal line. It was Evans’ first career high school goal and the jubilant team celebration added to the night’s festivities.
With a six goal lead in the second period, the game turned into running clock. Oakdale was called for the first penalty of the game for too many skaters on the ice with just over three minutes left in the second period. Upper Montgomery’s condensed powerplay due to the running clock was disastrous. With the large lead, the Upper Montgomery coaching staff utilized skaters not normally used on the powerplay. The Bears took advantage. Oakdale defender Daniel King retrieved an Upper Montgomery dump in deep in the Bears defensive zone. From the right faceoff circle he skated up ice along the right wing boards heading out of his defensive zone. He skated past Upper Montgomery’s left defender and then the right defender overplayed the play. King cut around the second Lightning defender to the middle of the ice. Entering the offensive zone he drifted left to the inside edge of the left faceoff circle. King then shot back across from where he had just skated into the far side of the net. The puck whizzed past Hassett’s left leg pad under his glove for the unassisted shorthanded goal.
The second period ended with the score 7-2 in favor of the Lightning. Hassett again made seven saves. Through two periods he had stopped 14 of 16 shots on goal. Sanford had a better period making saves on five of the seven shots fired at him during the second period. However, through thirty minutes of game action he had made eight saves and had allowed seven goals.
At the end of the second period, Sell took an interference penalty. Up until this point in the season, Upper Montgomery had been perfect on the penalty kill. Oakdale would end that streak with the qualifier that Hassett was in net. The puck was dumped into the Upper Montgomery zone and went on net. Hassett steered the puck aside into the right corner. Hulton raced in and retrieved the puck before the unassuming Lightning penalty killers (who had all anticipated that Hassett would play the slow rolling puck up ice to one of the skaters or directly out of the zone on his own). Hulton skated behind the net with the puck, then reversed course and came out in front near side. His short pass to Oakdale forward Morgan Venezie at the right post was immediately wristed past Hassett’s glove as Hassett was trying to track down where the puck might be on the transition from behind the net to out in front.
The score had closed to 7-3 with nearly the entire third period to be played. A minute later any Oakdale comeback thoughts were erased by Nadler. Nadler broke up the play in the Upper Montgomery defensive zone. Woodman made an outlet pass up to Gottesman through neutral ice. Gottesman took the puck into the offensive zone along the right side. Gottesman’s pass from the right side was behind both Nadler and Woodman. Woodman hustled to the left wing boards and crashed into the boards and the Bears defending forward. While doing so, he was able to knock the puck further down the boards to Nadler. Nadler took the puck directly at the net shooting into and ultimately past Sanford’s feet.
Two minutes later Gottesman would score his second goal of the night off of a Bears turnover. The puck was in the Oakdale defensive zone behind the net. The Bears defender chipped the puck off the boards on the left wing side. Nadler stepped in front of the puck and played the puck forward a few feet to Gottesman in the left faceoff circle. Gottesman fired far side into Sanford’s leg pads. He followed up his shot and knocked the rebound into the net five hole.
Even though there was still 11:30 left in the game, at 9-3 with running clock the game was effectively over. Gottesman threw a bad hit in the corner to earn a boarding penalty and a ten minute misconduct ending his evening early. The Lightning easily killed off the Bears powerplay this time. Then, after Upper Montgomery returned to even strength, Wendland was called for tripping. It was more a penalty in light of the score rather than an actual penalty. With the game out of hand, and with back to back penalty kills, the Upper Montgomery coaches utilized different skaters on the second penalty kill. King would score his second unassisted goal of the game with six minutes left. He had possession of the puck behind his own net and went end to end on a rush up ice. Entering the Lightning defensive zone down the left wing, he skated around the Lightning defender and cut to the net. He sent a backhand shot far side past Hassett’s left leg pad.
As the clock wound down with under two minutes left, Marks would tally Upper Montgomery’s tenth and final goal of the game. After Hassett made a save, Roth banged the puck around the net up the right wing boards. Sean Levine carried the puck up to the blue line along the right wing boards. Levine was tripped up. The puck was then swatted out of the defensive zone by Roth and went straight to Marks in the neutral zone. Marks stickhandled and weaved his way up ice into the Upper Montgomery offensive zone. From the inner edge of the right faceoff circle, he shot far side low over Sanford’s left leg pad.
Upper Montgomery closes the regular season with an important game against the Blair Blazers. The team has earned an opening round bye in the upcoming Montgomery Hockey Conference junior varsity playoffs. A victory over the Blazers would set the junior varsity program record for wins in a season and would earn the Lightning a top two seed in the playoff tournament. On Thursday, history could be made!
Game Notes:
- Josh Nadler set a career high in goals with four. He also added an assist for a five point game, tied for second all time in program history for points in a game.
- Josh Nadler now has a team leading eleven goals on the season.
- Adam Levine scored a goal increasing his consecutive game points streak to six straight games with at least one point, also a junior varsity team record.
- Jason Woodman had three assists, a career high in assists in a game and points in a game.
- TJ Gottesman leads the junior varsity in scoring with eight goals and five assists for thirteen points. His eight goals extend his career high.
- Shots on goal for the game were basically even, Oakdale with 24 and Upper Montgomery with 22.
- Upper Montgomery’s penalty kill gave up two goals with Chris Hassett in net ending a run of 22 straight successful penalty kills to begin the season.
- The Lightning need to win their final conference game of the season to secure a top two seed in the upcoming Montgomery Hockey Conference junior varsity playoffs.
- The Upper Montgomery junior varsity returns to game action on Thursday evening, January 4th for their final regular season conference game against Blair. A victory over the Blazers would set a program record for wins in a season with nine. A victory over the Blazers would cap an undefeated regular season at 9-0-1. Game time is 5:45 pm at Wheaton Ice Rink.
Three Stars of the Game:
First Star—Josh Nadler—Upper Montgomery Center—4 Goals, 1 Assist
Second Star—TJ Gottesman—Upper Montgomery Forward—2 Goals, 2 Assists
Third Star—Jason Woodman—Upper Montgomery Forward—3 Assists