The Upper Montgomery Lightning destroyed the Wootton Patriots Tuesday afternoon at Laurel Ice Gardens. The 8-2 stomping ended a fifteen year drought where the Lightning had never before beaten or tied the Patriots. Wootton, long one of the top programs in the Montgomery Hockey Conference, had dominated the Lightning winning each previous game by a minimum of two goals. The long losing streak was not lost on this year’s Upper Montgomery squad. Right from the beginning of the game the Lightning were on the attack. Upper Montgomery was determined to change how the series between the programs had played out.
Upper Montgomery swarmed Wootton right from the opening faceoff. It was indicative of a period in which the Lightning outshot Wootton eighteen to eight and would take a commanding three goal lead into the second period. With Wootton missing several key student athletes due to injury or suspension, the Lightning had the more talented roster. Just two minutes into the game Upper Montgomery would grab a lead it would never relinquish. A Wootton defender attempted to keep the puck in at the offensive blue line. Bradley Cupples beat the defender to the puck and backhand whacked the puck into the neutral zone where it was picked up by Olivia Robbins. Robbins skated to just inside the offensive blue line and fired between the remaining Wootton defender’s legs into the net.
A minute and a half later, the lead would grow to 2-0. In the offensive zone, Nathan Cassel intercepted a Wootton defender to defender pass, deflecting the pass into the slot. Lightning leading scorer, Chris Hassett fired a backhand shot that was stopped by Patriots netminder, Will Mellen. The rebound squirted to the side of the net where Cassel tapped it into the wide open net. Upper Montgomery had been looking forward to facing Mellen who played goalie for the Lightning last season. Shortly after the Lightning went up 2-0, Hassett was called for an interference minor after laying a big hit on Wootton forward, Owen Goozh. The hit knocked Goozh out of the remainder of the game. Thankfully, Goozh would be alright, and the Lightning did not suffer the consequences of either a lengthier penalty to Hassett or a Wootton powerplay goal. The Upper Montgomery penalty kill easily killed off the Wootton powerplay opportunity.
With two minutes remaining in the first period, the Hassett to Cassel combination would strike again. After a Wootton clearing pass Hassett collected the puck in the neutral zone. He skated to the right wing boards entering the offensive zone. Hassett passed the puck over to Cassel at the top of the right face off circle. Cassel snapped a wrist shot glove side high to beat Mellen and put Upper Montgomery up by three. Cassel’s goal seemed to put a belief in the bench that the Lightning had the upper hand in the game. They just needed to continue playing and applying pressure on the Patriots.
The first five minutes of the second period were filled with constant Lightning pressure and nice saves made by Mellen. Then, Ryan Jacobson would score his first goal of the game. Jacobson intercepted a bad Wootton pass in the neutral zone and turned on the jets. Cassel who had been in the offensive zone skated hard to get back onside. It was close. Cassel exited the zone just as Jacobson entered the zone, barely an onside play. Jacobson skated around both Wootton defenders who were flat footed and shot high blocker side from the bottom of the right faceoff circle.
Three minutes later Wootton would get on the board. Star Wootton defender Sam Hosier took possession of the puck in the right corner of his defensive zone near the goal line. He skated slowly out of the defensive zone, eventually cruising to the left wing boards in the offensive zone. Hosier shot wide of the net. The puck was picked up by Patriots forward William Rusiecki behind the goal line to the right of the net. Rusiecki centered the puck out front to Justin Heller in the slot. Heller shot low glove side from ten feet in front of Upper Montgomery goalie Landon Bernard beating Bernard for his first career varsity goal.
The rest of the second period would belong to the Lightning. Less than a minute after Heller’s goal, Upper Montgomery would respond and reclaim their four goal lead. Bernard saved a Wootton shot with the puck winding up behind the net. Lightning senior defender, Ethan Hockey swept the puck around the boards and up the right wing side of the ice. Hassett collected the puck and stepped around a pinching Wootton defender at the Lightning defensive blue line. The maneuver sparked Hassett and Cassel on a two on one rush up ice. Hassett passed the puck wide to Cassel who took the puck hard to the net. Jacobson entered the zone late off a line change and filled the slot. As Cassel neared the goal, and with Mellen squared up to face him, Cassel passed the puck over to Hassett cutting for the net. It was an easy catch and shoot for Hassett into the wide open back side of the net.
Upper Montgomery would score again with two minutes left in the period to grow the lead to 6-1 at the second intermission. Off a scramble in front, Lightning 9th grade defenders Owen Robbins and Brady Berkhammer teamed up to swipe the puck free behind Landon Bernard’s net. Landon’s brother Brandon swooped in and picked up the puck. He initially skated left, then reversed to his right all still behind the Lightning goal. He then skated up the center of the ice weaving around all of the Wootton forwards and defenders and went in alone against Mellen. Bernard faked and slid a backhander five hole for his fifth goal on the season. Shots on goal in the second period were again heavily slanted in Upper Montgomery’s favor, sixteen to only eight for Wootton.
The first ten minutes of the third period were played in the Wootton end with Upper Montgomery generating chances and Mellen making more saves. With five minutes left in the game, Wootton would score to cut into the Lightning’s lead. The Lightning dumped the puck to the Wootton blue line. Patriots defender Cole Webber passed the puck to his defensive partner, Connor Jackson. Jackson skated straight up ice into the Lightning defensive zone. He fired a simple wrist shot from the top of the slot high blocker side past Landon Bernard to make the score 6-2.
Cassel, Hassett, and Jacobson then dominated the final four minutes of the game, with Jacobson scoring on both of their shifts. First, from the neutral zone, Berkhammer sent an indirect pass up to Hassett. Hassett dumped the puck into the right corner and hustled in after it. He outraced the Patriots defense and won possession of the puck, deep in the corner. Hassett skated around the net, passing to Cassel just outside the crease area as he cleared coming around the net from right to left. The Wootton defense closed out on Cassel causing him to slide a pass across to Jacobson. Jacobson scored with a low shot to the wide open back side of the net.
Jacobson’s hat trick goal started at the Lightning defensive blue line when depth defender Cole Howerton stood up at blue line and was run over by the oncoming bigger Wootton forward. The puck separated from both skaters and went deep into the right corner of the Upper Montgomery defensive zone. The puck was collected by Lightning senior defender, George Benedick. Benedick ringed the puck around the net and up the boards to Cassel on the left wing. Cassel slinged the puck diagonal out of the defensive zone across the ice and over to the Wootton defensive zone. The puck was collected by Hassett on the right wing boards. Hassett skated into the offensive zone and cut to the net, passing across the crease to Jacobson for a tap in.
The historic victory evened the Lighting’s record at 4-4-1 to close out the first half of the season. With the victory the Lightning will climb to seventh place in the conference rankings, tied for the highest ever ranking achieved by the program. The 8-2 margin of victory over Wootton will turn heads as now two of the Montgomery Hockey Conference heavyweights will have failed to beat Upper Montgomery. Churchill and Walter Johnson remain the only programs to beat Upper Montgomery every time the teams have played. Wootton will be looking for revenge as the Lightning and Patriots face off once again in each team’s next game post winter break. Upper Montgomery will be looking to continue their hot play of late having won four of their previous five games.
Game Notes:
- Illustrating how lopsided the game was, shots on goal for the game were Upper Montgomery with 44 and Wootton with 21.
- There was only one penalty called during the game.
- With his hat-trick, Jacobson now has three multiple goal games this season.
- Cassel had his second five point game this season.
- Hassett also had his second five point game this season.
- Upper Montgomery will bring a three game winning streak into the post winter break rematch against Wootton. Game time is 9:00 pm on Friday, January 6th at Rockville Ice Arena.
Three Stars of the Game:
First Star—Nathan Cassel—Upper Montgomery Forward—2 Goals, 3 Assists
Second Star—Chris Hassett—Upper Montgomery Center—1 Goal, 4 Assists
Third Star—Ryan Jacobson—Upper Montgomery Forward–-3 Goals