DC Stars netminder Anton Tracy stole the show Friday evening backstopping the DC Stars to a 3-1 upset victory over the Upper Montgomery Lightning. Tracy stopped 36 Lightning shots and he was aided by friendly goal posts and the crossbar as six additional Upper Montgomery shots found iron and stayed out of the net. His play countered a dominating Upper Montgomery performance and left the Lightning with consecutive losses to begin the season.
Upper Montgomery was in a foul mood entering the contest having fallen to Whitman 7-2 in their season opener. The Whitman game was much closer than the final score would indicate. Playing with pace and aggression, Upper Montgomery attacked all over the ice off of the opening faceoff of the game. Lightning forward Nathan Cassel took it a bit too far and was called for an elbowing penalty forty seconds into the contest. The Lightning penalty kill bottled up the DC Stars and did not allow any quality scoring chances. Once the DC Stars powerplay was over, it was right back on the attack by Upper Montgomery.
The Lightning pressure kept the DC Stars bottled up in their own end for long stretches of play. The hard work paid off when DC Stars forward Thomas Johnson was called for hooking at 9:30 of the period. Although Upper Montgomery had plenty of zone time and shots on goal, Tracy turned everything aside. The zone time domination continued after the penalty to Johnson expired forcing the DC Stars into another penalty, this time an interference penalty to DC Stars defender Rodrigo Mattioli. As with the first Upper Montgomery powerplay opportunity, the pressure continued, and Tracy kept the game tied at zero making a few nice pad saves. As the first period ended, Mattioli was again hauled to the penalty box, again for an interference infraction. The shots on goal totals in the period illustrated how dominant Upper Montgomery had been, outshooting the DC Stars by a thirteen to four margin.
The second period was more evenly played only because Upper Montgomery began to tire having played only two lines for almost all of the game. The Lightning would finish the period with seven shots on goal and multiple near misses. The DC Stars fired eight shots at Lightning goalie Landon Bernard, however, a couple of the DC Stars shots were harmless attempts toward the net. Beginning the period with a powerplay, Upper Montgomery never threatened and fell to zero for three on the night with the extra skater.
With eleven minutes remaining in the middle period, Upper Montgomery would take its first lead of the season. With the puck deep in the DC Stars defensive zone, it was cleared to Lightning center Ryan Jacobson at the left point. His shot was saved by Tracy’s leg pads. The DC Stars again cleared the puck to the point. Jacobson, normally a center and playing defense because of an injury to Upper Montgomery defender Andrew Botti, sent the puck down the left wing boards for Lightning center Brandon Bernard. The puck eluded Bernard and went into the left corner where it was played by Upper Montgomery forward Bradley Cupples. Cupples returned the puck to Jacobson at the point. Jacobson sent a wrist shot floating high toward the far corner of the net. Tracy seemed to pick the puck up late and it went past his glove hand into the top right corner of the net.
Upper Montgomery had a one to zero lead turning its focus to conserving energy and bottling up the DC Stars. The DC Stars kept their focus and battled back earning two penalties over the second half of the period. The first call was on Lightning defender Owen Robbins for interference. The second penalty was on Upper Montgomery forward Philip Shkeda for roughing. Upper Montgomery did not yield much while shorthanded and took their one to zero lead into the third period.
The first two minutes of the third period were disastrous for Upper Montgomery. Just out of the penalty box Shkeda was called for interference in the slot of the offensive zone. It was a horrendous call as the DC Stars skater fell down without contact and the referees error put Upper Montgomery back on consecutive penalty kills. The DC Stars powerplay seemed to be going nowhere at the onset of their extra skater advantage. Then, a misstep by the Lightning defense allowed the DC Stars easy zone entry down the left wing boards.
Tracy passed the puck to DC Stars top defender Leo Nyberg to the left of the DC Stars net. Nyberg skated the puck to the blue line and sent the puck further up ice to DC Stars forward Thomas Cooperman. Cooperman entered the Lightning defensive zone after the Lightning defender fell. Cooperman took the puck behind the net where it was misplayed by the Lightning defense. DC Stars forward Peppin Thomas swooped in and sent a pass out front to Cooperman stationed at the bottom of the left faceoff circle. Cooperman’s shot beat Bernard low past his leg pads to even the score at one.
On the next shift a bad decision to pinch at the offensive blue line led to a jail break coming the other way. Off of an offensive zone faceoff the puck found its way behind the DC Stars net. Eventually, the puck was at the left point where Upper Montgomery defender Brady Berkhammer’s shot was blocked by DC Stars forward Egan Jeffries. The puck clicked over to Johnson. He avoided the opposite side Upper Montgomery defender pinching in at the blue line in an attempt to keep the puck in the offensive zone. Johnson poked the puck forward to a streaking Walter Bernstein. The DC Stars forward caught the puck in his skates and was off on a breakaway coming in alone on Bernard from his own blue line down the ice.
Bernstein faked to his left and Bernard sprawled to make an impressive right pad save. The puck went across the slot to the outside of the right post. Jeffries outhustled the Lightning defense down the ice. With Bernard net yet set, he fired the puck back through the crease missing the mostly empty net. The puck hit Johnson in the shin pad by the left post and bounced into the middle of the lower slot. Johnson collected the puck and shot it into the empty net as Bernard had moved over to prepare to make a save on Johnson by the left post. The poor defensive hustle to get back into the play by the five Upper Montgomery skaters was inexcusable.
Now down two to one, Upper Montgomery dialed up the pressure and fired at Tracy from everywhere. The barrage was interrupted a few minutes later by an interference call against Cassel. The Lightning killed the penalty with ease and had several outstanding shorthanded chances themselves. Still pressing, Upper Montgomery was caught up ice when Cooperman went in alone on his own breakaway. Bernard stoned him with a left leg pad save when Cooperman went to a forehand deke move.
The intense pressure put on by Upper Montgomery earned the Lightning a powerplay with five minutes remaining in the game when Nyberg was called for cross checking. Unfortunately, forty second later Robbins took an unnecessary hooking penalty in the offensive zone to negate the advantage. Upper Montgomery threw everything at Tracy over the final minutes of the game including while up a skater after pulling Bernard with 1:08 left in the contest. The Lightning had seventeen total shots on goal in the third period, all of which were stopped by Tracy. Three additional Upper Montgomery shots found iron.
With thirty seconds left in the game, a loose puck in the DC Stars zone caromed directly to Cooperman. He calmly fired down the ice from a step inside his own blue line into the empty net ending the Lightning’s hopes of extending the game into overtime. It was a frustrating end to a game that Upper Montgomery dominated but Tracy stole for a DC Stars upset victory.
Game Notes:
- It was the second consecutive year that Upper Montgomery has opened the season losing its first two games.
- Upper Montgomery outshot the DC Stars 37-21 for the game with lopsided advantages in the first and third periods, 13-4 and 17-9 respectively.
- Upper Montgomery has only scored three goals over the first two games of the season.
- Upper Montgomery has yielded ten goals over the first two games of the season and has been outscored by an 8-1 margin in the third period.
- Upper Montgomery went 0-4 on the powerplay and has not scored a powerplay goal in either game.
- Upper Montgomery returns to action on Tuesday afternoon, October 24th taking on the Good Counsel Falcons in a non-conference game. Game time against the private school opponent is 4:00 pm at Laurel Ice Gardens.
Three Stars of the Game:
First Star—Anton Tracy—DC Stars Goalie—Win, 1 Goal Against, 36 Saves, .973 Save Percentage
Second Star—Ryan Jacobson—Upper Montgomery Defense—1 Goal
Third Star—Thomas Cooperman—DC Stars Center—2 Goals