The Upper Montgomery Lightning were less than five minutes away from the biggest win in program history. Playing against the top ranked public high school team in the state, Upper Montgomery led the Oakdale Bears 1-0 late in the game. Then, an unfortunate set of circumstances opened the door. Oakdale capitalized by scoring two late powerplay goals to survive the Lightning’s upset bid and scape by with a narrow 3-1 win.
The first period was dominated by penalties. Oakdale appeared to be more focused on attempting huge checks rather than playing hockey. Maybe it was an attempt to intimidate the Lightning, but all the antics did was place Oakdale on the penalty kill for much of the period. Oakdale did have the opening powerplay when Lightning forward Brandon Bernard was called for boarding five minutes into the game. The penalty was a double whammy as Bernard was forced to sit for his minor penalty and also wait through the automatic ten minute misconduct that accompanies boarding minors. Upper Montgomery did a nice job of keeping the high powered Bears powerplay to the outside. The shots the Bears were able to generate were long range shots and well off the mark.
As Bernard’s boarding penalty was coming to an end, Oakdale defender Timothy Farley was called for holding. Then, sixteen seconds later, Oakdale forward Cameron Horan was called for hooking. Horan chirped at the officials and drew an additional two minute minor for unsportsmanlike conduct. The Lightning had the full two minutes of five on three powerplay action. Unfortunately, the abysmal Upper Montgomery powerplay was unable to cash in. And, a minute after the five on three advantage ended, Oakdale forward Charles Villa took an interference penalty. More powerplay time for Upper Montgomery yielded the same result. As the first period was coming to a close, Oakdale forward Mason Macera also took an interference penalty. The five powerplays granted to the Lightning in the opening period helped keep Oakdale hemmed in their own end as the Bears were more focused on keeping Upper Montgomery at bay rather than attacking offensively. Upper Montgomery outshot the Bears ten to two in the opening fifteen minutes of action.
The second period seemed tame compared with the first period. After killing off Macera’s penalty, Oakdale began controlling more of the play. Conversely, coming into the game Upper Montgomery’s game plan was to focus on defense and neutralizing Oakdale’s talented offensive superstars Horan and Kyle Metzler. The Lightning’s game plan was executed beautifully. Although Oakdale registered eight shots on Lightning senior netminder Landon Bernard during the period, the layers of Lightning defenders made it very tough on Oakdale. On one sequence in their defensive zone, Upper Montgomery blocked five consecutive shot attempts and then either cleared the defensive zone or the puck deflected out of play. The volume of blocked shots continued to soar as the period played out. Oakdale became so frustrated that three Bears skaters broke their sticks on the ice in frustration.
Then, Upper Montgomery jumped to an unexpected lead. An awful decision by the Bears defense set up the Lightning. From their left defensive corner, the Bears sent the puck across the ice through their own slot area. The pass went directly to Upper Montgomery forward Olivia Robbins as if she was the intended target. Robbins took the puck forward two strides and shot from the inside edge of the left circle. Her wrist shot was directed top shelf high blocker side. The puck sailed past Oakdale’s all world goaltender Devin Brown and landed into the top of the net just under the cross bar. With nine minutes remaining in the second period, Upper Montgomery had a lead that nobody anticipated.
Oakdale went to another powerplay opportunity with six minutes left in the middle period when depth defender Cole Howerton was called for interference on a nice defensive play. Howerton rode the Oakdale puck carrier wide and the Oakdale forward lost an edge and went down. Thankfully, the poor officiating decision did not affect the outcome of the game as the Lightning were able to once again kill off the top flight Bears powerplay. The second period came to a close with Upper Montgomery holding on to its 1-0 lead.
The first half of the third period brought more Oakdale pressure. Upper Montgomery kept up the defensive effort with multiple skaters challenging the puck carrier. Many of the Bears shot attempts continued to be blocked or they sailed wide of the net. Bernard was much busier. He made fifteen saves in the period, many early when Oakdale’s shots did penetrate the Upper Montgomery defense. Halfway through the third period the Lightning had a glorious chance to separate from the Bears and place the state’s top ranked team in peril.
With just under eight minutes remaining in the third period, Oakdale forward Micah Venezie was called for interference. Twenty seconds later, Horan was called for roughing, his third penalty of the game. Upper Montgomery had a minute and forty seconds of five on three powerplay time. Although the Lightning were able to put shots on Brown, he was up to the task as he turned aside the Upper Montgomery thrust to widen the lead.
Halfway through Horan’s penalty, an untimely and uncharacteristic poor line changed doomed Upper Montgomery. As his changing forward was coming off the ice at the end of the Lightning bench area, Lightning forward Philip Skheda stepped on the ice. He immediately played the puck early before the line change completed causing a too many skaters on the ice penalty against the Lightning. Upper Montgomery’s five on three powerplay became a four on three skater advantage and then the teams were at even strength when Venezie’s penalty expired. Once Horan returned to the ice, Oakdale had a minute’s worth of powerplay advantage of their own.
Off of a faceoff in the left faceoff circle in the defensive zone, Upper Montgomery forward Brandon Bernard got his stick entangled with a Bears forward. The result of the interaction was a hooking penalty called on Bernard leading to a 51 second five on three powerplay for Oakdale. While on the five on three powerplay, Oakdale would tie the game thirteen seconds before the Lightning’s too many skaters on the ice penalty expired.
With just less than five minutes to play in the game, the Upper Montgomery defense had possession of the puck behind their own net. A turnover led to Metzler gaining possession of the puck in the left corner and skating back toward the blue line. He passed the puck to Bears defender Farley along the left wing boards. Farley sent the puck across the ice to Horan who unleashed a sharp wrist shot from the inside edge of the right faceoff circle. The shot ramped up off of Lightning defender Andrew Botti’s stick and found daylight seven hole past Bernard on the stick side.
With the game now tied, Oakdale still had a minute and twenty seconds of traditional powerplay time remaining. Thirty five seconds later a second powerplay strike pushed Oakdale into the lead. Bears defender Gavin Timberlake entered the offensive zone down the left wing side. He then took the puck around the net. Timberlake centered the puck to Oakdale forward Eli Corridon-Crum in the slot. Corridon-Crum was immediately wiped out by a check. The puck skittered off into the right corner where Horan controlled the puck. Horan sent the puck back to Metzler covering at the right point. Metzler’s wrist shot was going several feet wide of the net when it accidently hit Horan’s stick while Horan was turned away from the net. The puck sharply deflected to the left. The awkward change of direction and pace sent the puck bouncing off of Corridon-Crum’s skate as it traveled toward the net ultimately moving past Bernard’s glove hand. Two late change of direction powerplay goals in under a minute of game action brought Oakdale to its first lead of the game.
Upper Montgomery was forced to change its strategy now down by a goal with four minutes left in the game. The Lightning upped the tempo offensively and were rewarded with yet another powerplay chance. With just under two minutes remaining in the game Metzler was whistled for a roughing penalty. With their faltering powerplay, Upper Montgomery began making high risk plays pushing everyone forward seeking to score the game tying goal. That maneuver backfired as a turnover entering the Oakdale defensive zone was swatted up ice by Corridon-Crum. The puck sailed over to Villa sending him in on a shorthanded breakaway. From in close, Villa lifted the puck over Bernard’s glove to put the finishing touch on a gallant Lightning effort
Game Notes:
- Shots on goal for the game were even with Oakdale firing 28 shots on goal and Upper Montgomery countering with 24. Upper Montgomery had a ten to two shots on goal advantage in the first period.
- Upper Montgomery’s epic futility on the powerplay was detrimental to the outcome of the game. Eight more failed powerplay opportunities with two separate very long five on three advantages hurt tremendously. The Lightning has now stared the season 0-33 on traditional powerplays, excluding Nathan Cassel’s penalty shot goal which technically counts as a powerplay marker.
- Upper Montgomery will try to keep building on their better play of late when the team plays Blair on Senior Night. The festivities honoring Upper Montgomery’s nine seniors begin at Wheaton Ice Rink at 5:15 pm on Monday, January 22nd with puck drop to follow at 5:30 pm.
Three Stars of the Game:
First Star—Landon Bernard—Upper Montgomery Goalie—25 Saves, .893 Save Percentage
Second Star—Devin Brown—Oakdale Goalie—Win, 23 saves, .958 Save Percentage
Third Star—Cameron Horan—Oakdale Forward—1 Goal, 1 Assist