The Upper Montgomery Lightning sent shock waves throughout the Montgomery Hockey Conference by stunning second ranked Quince Orchard Friday night at Cabin John Ice Rink. For Upper Montgomery it was the highest ranked opponent the team has ever beaten. The victory will surely move the Lightning to the sixth spot in the conference rankings, the highest ranking the Upper Montgomery program has ever received since beginning play back in 2008. While Quince Orchard will claim the outcome of the game would have been different if starting goalie Jeremy Eager and star offensive talent Joshua Weitzman were available for the contest, that claim rings hollow as Upper Montgomery was missing several top student athletes as well including second leading scorer Nathan Cassel, top flight defender Andrew Botti, and key contributing forwards Hunter Cameron and Bradley Cupples.
The flow of the game was certainly interesting to say the least. Due to being without Weitzman, Quince Orchard chose to double shift its other star forward Dylan Eyester the entire game. He was on the ice constantly and was by far the best and most dangerous skater on the ice. He would strike early, just three minutes into the game to put the Cougars on top. Quince Orchard forward John Sherikjian sent the puck from the left wing in his defensive zone across the ice to Eyester who was skating through the neutral zone on the right wing. Eyester entered the offensive zone and let loose with a snap shot from between the right faceoff circle and the blue line. The shot went high, far side past Lightning goalie Landon Bernard’s blocker. Bernard would recover from the early goal to stop 31 of 34 shots during the game.
Less than two minutes after the opening goal, Quince Orchard would go on what would be the first of their six straight powerplays when Lightning senior captain George Benedick was called for holding. Although Quince Orchard had several shot opportunities while playing with the powerplay advantage, Bernard was there to make several key saves to prevent the Quince Orchard lead from growing. With five and a half minutes remaining in the opening period Upper Montgomery forward Josh Nadler took an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty for knocking the stick away from a Quince Orchard forward deep in the Lightning defensive zone well away from the play. The unnecessary penalty put the Lightning shorthanded and would put Nadler on the bench for the remainder of the game.
While shorthanded, Upper Montgomery would cash in to tie the game. Quince Orchard had possession of the puck in the Lightning defensive zone. A pass back to the point split the Cougars’ defenders. Lightning center and leading scorer Chris Hassett outraced the Quince Orchard defenders to the puck. He tracked down the errant pass deep in the right corner in the Cougars defensive zone. He then sent a pass out in front of the crease to where Olivia Robbins had followed the play. Robbins was able to stuff the puck short side along the ice past Quince Orchard backup goalkeeper Jack Peyser. For Robbins, it was her fifth goal of the season. The first period would finish tied at one goal apiece. Each team managed ten shots on goal illustrating how evenly played the period was.
The first ten minutes of the second period were played with Upper Montgomery matching up against Eyester determined to prevent him from dominating and taking over the game. Benedick and 9th grade defender Brady Berkhammer drew the assignment and did an excellent job negating good scoring chances when Eyester was on the ice. Benedick played a pressure style of defense and Berkhammer played excellent positional defensive hockey. With a shortened bench, Quince Orchard’s skaters began to tire which limited the amount of their offensive thrusts. On the other hand, Upper Montgomery kept coming and looking to counter attack. With four and a half minutes remaining in the period, the Lightning would jump on top.
From his defensive zone to the left of the net, Benedick fired a long breakout pass up ice. While one of the Quince Orchard defenders was changing and the other was playing wide to the right side of the ice, Hassett sprung through the opening. He received Benedick’s pass between the red line and the offensive blue line and charged in on a breakaway. A simple deke to his left and Hassett lifted the puck forehand to the middle of the net on the right side to put the Lightning on top 2-1.
A minute after Hassett’s goal gave Upper Montgomery the lead, the Lightning would spend the next eight minutes of the game shorthanded. First, Brandon Bernard was called for tripping. While shorthanded, another penalty was called on Lightning defender Ethan Hockey. Hockey was whistled for roughing. A marginal call. Certainly not a penalty when it would be the fourth consecutive penalty called on the Lightning to open the game, and especially a bad call considering the Lightning were already shorthanded. The Lightning successfully killed the 38 seconds of Quince Orchard’s five on three powerplay to kill off Bernard’s penalty.
With half a minute remaining in the period, and the Quince Orchard forwards tired from being on the ice for an extended shift, the speed of Upper Montgomery forwards Ryan Jacobson and Bernard led to the Lightning’s second shorthanded goal of the game. With Upper Montgomery scrambling in the defensive zone, Jacobson hustled after a blocked shot, dove, and just barely swatted the puck out of the defensive zone. Bernard sped to the puck and collected it just outside the defensive blue line ahead of the onrushing Cougars defenders. Bernard outraced the backtracking defenders and went in alone on Peyser. He made a backhand to forehand deke and sent the puck along the ice into the wide open net. The second period would end with Quince Orchard zero for four on the powerplay while surrendering two shorthanded goals to Upper Montgomery, all contributing to the 3-1 Lightning lead after two periods of play.
The start of the third period was just like the end of the second period. More of the parade of Upper Montgomery skaters to the penalty box. First, Jacobson was called for tripping after only thirty seconds of five on five play. Upper Montgomery successfully killed off the fifth Quince Orchard powerplay. Many blocked shots and a timely Landon Bernard glove save kept Quince Orchard from scoring. Twenty seconds after Jacobson returned to the ice a terrible roughing penalty was called on Hockey. The penalty call was so bad that the Upper Montgomery coaching staff spent several minutes demonstratively showing their displeasure with the officiating crew.
Off the defensive zone faceoff from the right faceoff circle, Jacobson lost the draw and chased the puck to the point. While challenging at the point, he was able to partially block the point shot sending the shot off net and bouncing along the ice. Benedick whacked at the puck as it was passing by similar to a golfer hitting a long drive. Benedick connected squarely and drove the puck down the middle of the ice. His swatting of the puck splitting the Cougars defense and hit Jacobson in the side of the pants. The accidently on purpose pass was so on target that Jacobson was ten feet past the furthest Quince Orchard defender. He had possession of the puck and was easily in alone on a breakaway. He too went backhand deke and to his forehand (although to the opposite side of the net as he shoots left handed) and jammed the puck past Peyser for the Lightning’s third shorthanded goal of the game. It was Jacobson’s eighth goal of the season and one which deflated the Cougars. A couple of quality saves by Bernard over the remainder of the Quince Orchard powerplay made the Lightning’s heavily criticized PK unit six for six so far on the penalty kill.
Finally back to even strength, the Upper Montgomery bench continued to chirp at the officiating crew. The official who had not been calling the majority of the penalties in the game instantly called a hooking penalty on Cougars defender Matthew Mills. Mills’ penalty came just nine seconds after the Quince Orchard powerplay ended. A Bronx cheer chorused through the hockey rink as finally with ten minutes remaining in the game and after six straight Quince Orchard powerplays, Upper Montgomery was headed to the powerplay.
With a four to one lead and only ten minutes remaining in the game, and with Eyester on the ice to penalty kill, Upper Montgomery was very cautious. The Lightning were content to run the regular defensive pairings while on the powerplay paying special attention to Eyester when he was near the puck, often with Benedick and the nearside forward converging almost immediately.
Only a minute and fifteen seconds into the powerplay Hassett was called for roughing. Another questionable call by the same official calling all of the penalties. Once again infuriating the Lightning bench which erupted with its displeasure. The seventh time was the charm for the Cougars. A minute into the powerplay Cougars defender Daniel Abarjel exited the Quince Orchard defensive zone with control of the puck. He passed to the right side of the neutral zone to Eyester. Drawing a crowd of Lightning defenders, Eyester returned the puck to Abarjel coming down the left wing boards and into the offensive zone. Abarjel cut toward the high slot. Ten feet above the left faceoff circle he unleashed a wicked wrist shot that beat Bernard high glove side to make things a bit more interesting at 4-2.
Less than a minute later the wind would be sucked out of the Cougars sails. Off of an offensive zone faceoff in the right faceoff circle, a 50/50 puck went to the right wing boards. A Quince Orchard clearing attempt was knocked down by Lightning senior forward Stephen Shkeda. Shkeda shoveled the puck back to 9th grade defender Owen Robbins at the right point. Robbins wound up and sent a routine slap shot at the net. A screened Peyser never saw the shot which went by him untouched along the ice for a very necessary Lightning insurance goal making the score 5-2. For Robbins, it was his first career high school goal.
More chirping from the Lightning bench seemed to sway the other official into making another make up call against the Cougars. Once again, it was Mills back in the box. This time for interference with five minutes remaining in the game. Upper Montgomery took the same approach to this powerplay opportunity. Stay with Eyester, and make sure that there were always two defenders back to protect. Because of the defensive posture to the powerplay, the Lightning never really threatened to score. With a 5-2 deficit and time winding down, Eyester took advantage of the Lightning’s third line and depth defensive skaters. He took possession of the puck off of an offensive zone faceoff in the left faceoff circle. He stickhandled around the Lightning defense riffling a shot from the high slot past Bernard high glove side.
Curiously, with two and a half minutes remaining in the game and only down by two goals, Quince Orchard never pulled their goalie to play with an extra skater. Their forwards were clearly gassed, but it only played to Upper Montgomery’s advantage. Upper Montgomery kept its top skaters on the ice for the remainder of the game playing a shell defensive structure preventing Quince Orchard from getting any further quality scoring chances on Bernard.
The massive victory not only clinched a home playoff game for the Lightning, but at 6-4-1 the team is likely going to be ranked in the top 25 of the Maryland state high school ice hockey rankings. The state rankings include all teams in Maryland and DC, including all of the private school teams that recruit in student athletes. It is an outstanding achievement for the Lightning, but one that can quickly disappear if the team becomes overconfident. There are two regular season games remaining on the schedule. A win in either game and the team will clinch a winning regular season record. It is important for the team to garner the highest possible seed for the Montgomery Hockey Conference playoffs and be playing well heading into post season play. Finishing sixth or higher likely means avoiding likely top seed Walter Johnson or probable second seed Churchill in the playoffs.
Game Notes:
- Shots on goal for the game were pretty even, Quince Orchard with 34 and Upper Montgomery with 31.
- The much maligned Upper Montgomery penalty kill was the difference in the game, scoring three shorthanded goals and prevailing on six of the seven Quince Orchard powerplay opportunities.
- Olivia Robbins increased her career high goals in a single season to five. She scored four goals total over her first two seasons.
- With both Robbins siblings scoring goals in the same game, it was the first time in Lightning history that brother and sister siblings scored in the same game.
- Stephen Shkeda’s third point of the season tied a career high for points in a season.
- Upper Montgomery will bring their five game winning streak into next Friday’s key matchup against Richard Montgomery. Game time is 8:45 pm at Rockville Ice Arena. A victory against Richard Montgomery would mean that the Lightning would finish with no worse than the sixth seed in the upcoming Montgomery Hockey Conference post season playoff tournament. It would also keep alive the slight possibility of a top four seed and a first round bye.
Three Stars of the Game:
First Star—Dylan Eyester—Quince Orchard Forward—2 Goals, 1 Assist
Second Star—George Benedick—Upper Montgomery Defense—2 Assists
Third Star—Chris Hassett—Upper Montgomery Center–-1 Goal, 1 Assist