The Upper Montgomery Lightning junior varsity entered Friday evening’s game against the DC Stars knowing that several of the student athletes would also be playing later that night in the varsity game. It was going to be a balance of effort and energy expenditure versus holding back and conserving that energy for later that night. The Lightning used a strong defensive effort to smother the DC Stars with Upper Montgomery controlling play for long stretches of action leading to a 4-1 victory and improving the junior varsity’s record to 2-1-2 on the season.
A quick start for the Lightning allowed the team to settle in and activate the defense first approach. Just over a minute into the game, Lightning senior defender and alternate captain Patrick Sell scored his first goal of the season. The strike came after a poor clear by the Stars defense. Upper Montgomery had rushed up ice pushing offensively. A missed pass left the puck deep in the right corner of the Stars defensive zone. The attempted defensive zone clear was a weak one and Sell stepped in from his right point position. He cut off the puck just beyond the tops of the faceoff circles, five feet inside the blue line. Sell changed his body position so he could fire off a long range wrist shot. Sell’s rising shot traveled through traffic and beat DC Stars netminder Liam Parkinson high over his glove hand to the right side of the net.
The early 1-0 deficit seemed to rattle the Stars. The Stars pushed forward offensively falling into the defensive shell established by the Lightning who were comfortable simply chipping the puck out of their defensive end of the ice. When the forwards reached center ice, the puck was dumped in and the Stars were forced to turn and chase after the puck. The Upper Montgomery coaches kept the shift times short trying to keep the skaters as fresh as possible. There was not very much action in the first period which suited the Lightning just fine as they were in the lead. Shots on goal for the first period were low, the DC Stars fired seven non-threatening shots at Upper Montgomery ninth grade goalie Porter Stutsrim-Lyons and the Lightning put only five pucks on Parkinson.
The second period also saw a quick Lightning goal which extended the lead. Stars forward Callum Cochran was called for roughing thirteen seconds into the period sending Upper Montgomery to the powerplay. The Lightning’s first powerplay unit struggled to gain possession of the puck in the offensive zone. After a DC Stars full length of the ice clear, Upper Montgomery finally entered the offensive zone with puck possession. Eventually, the puck was in the left corner where sophomore forward Jake Hudson had control of the puck. An aggressive move by the Stars defense knocked the puck loose up the left wing boards towards the left point. Lightning ninth grade defender Matt Rivera moved in and kept the puck in the zone. He fired a snap shot from the outside edge at the top of the left faceoff circle. Lightning senior forward AJ Marks deflected the shot from just in front of Parkinson who was still able to make a stick save on the play. The rebound eluded Parkinson’s control and went to the right side of the goal where Upper Montgomery ninth grade defender/forward Luke Hudson was standing all alone. Hudson slammed home the rebound for the powerplay marker and his first career high school goal.
Up 2-0, Upper Montgomery continued to hang back and protect the lead. The DC Stars pushed harder looking to get back in the game. Every time the Stars had a good opportunity, Stutsrim-Lyons was there to shut the door. With under three minutes left in the second period Upper Montgomery would extend the lead. From a faceoff outside the DC Stars blue line along the left wing side of the ice, Lightning ninth grade center Decklin Hughes won the faceoff left to Jake Hudson along the left wing boards. Hudson cut toward the middle of the ice and entered the offensive zone. He crossed to the right side of the ice clearing the Stars defender in the right faceoff circle. His wrist shot went wide of the goal short side. The puck circled around to the left point where it was kept in the zone at the left point by Lightning sophomore defender Avery Evans. Evans shoveled the puck forward with her backhand. The puck clanked off a skate and caromed into the slot where it was picked up by Hudson. Hudson took two strides and fired a wrist shot that went seven hole on Parkinson below his glove and into the net for his fourth goal of the season.
On the next shift after Hudson’s goal, Lightning senior defender and team captain Cole Howerton was assessed a checking from behind penalty. The two minute minor automatically comes with a ten minute misconduct penalty. Utilizing only four defenders to start the game, the Lightning coaches got creative on the back line with both Luke and Jake Hudson coming back to take shifts on defense to help the team out. The DC Stars failed to convert on the powerplay which expired just as the period was ending. Shots on goal in the second period were twelve for the DC Stars giving them nineteen through two periods of play and Upper Montgomery countering with five for a two period total of ten, three of which got past Parkinson.
Thirty seconds into the final period, the Lightning were back on the penalty kill when Rivera was called for a phantom high sticking minor penalty. As with the Stars earlier powerplay opportunity, this one went awry as well as the Stars missed the net on several quality scoring chances. Upper Montgomery was awarded a powerplay soon after Rivera’s penalty ended when the Stars were called for too many skaters on the ice. Upper Montgomery used good judgement while on the powerplay with one defender back in the neutral zone at all times to prevent the Stars from a shorthanded opportunity and any chance to get back into the game.
Five minutes into the final period, Lightning varsity netminder Ilan Shterenberg, skating out in the junior varsity game, scored his first career high school goal. The Stars cleared the puck the length of the ice to relieve pressure. Rivera was first back and he corralled the puck picking it up inside his defensive zone. He curled around the net from left to right and headed back up ice with a head of steam. Rivera skated the puck out of the defensive zone down the right wing through neutral ice. Entering the offensive zone he skated wide around the Stars defender and then cut to the net. As he entered the crease area he fired a shot that was stopped by Parkinson’s blocker. The puck fell to the ice where Shterenberg was standing by the left side of the net. Shterenberg chipped the puck into the air and over Parkinson who was coming over to the far post.
Halfway through the third period the Stars got on the board. An Upper Montgomery defensive clear up the left wing boards was intercepted by DC Stars forward Eli Schwartz. Schwartz fired on goal from the boards at a bad angle. Stutsrim-Lyons made the save and directed the rebound out to the wide side of the offensive zone. Unfortunately, the puck went directly to Cochran who had the entire net to shoot at. From the inside edge of the left circle he fired past Stutsrim-Lyons’ stick and into the net.
On the very next shift, Stutsrim-Lyons made a sprawling save with his right arm on a fantastic look by the Stars keeping the game at 4-1. Likely showing frustration at how the game had gone, Cochran took a roughing penalty behind the Lightning net. With the lead and the extra skater, Upper Montgomery used that two minutes to continue to eat clock and prevent the Stars from generating offensive chances. One more good pad save by the Lightning’s goalie late in the game kept the three goal bulge. It became just a matter of time until the Lightning skaters could rejoice around their goalie after getting back into the win column after a three game stretch of a loss and two ties.
Game Notes:
- The DC Stars outshot the Lightning 26 to 18 for the game, but many of their shots were from distance that just rolled in on Upper Montgomery goalie Porter Stutsrim-Lyons.
- The Lightning finally scored a powerplay goal ending a four game skid to open the season.
- Upper Montgomery’s varsity goalie, Ilan Shterenberg, skated out and scored his first career high school goal.
- Ninth grade defender Luke Hudson scored his first career high school goal on the powerplay.
- With his 25 save effort, Porter Stutsrim-Lyons increased his save percentage to .933. If his pace holds throughout the rest of the season, it would be a new Upper Montgomery junior varsity program record.
- In only giving up one goal to the Stars, Porter Stutsrim-Lyons lowed his goals against average to 1.96.
- Jake Hudson scored his team leading fourth goal of the season.
- Upper Montgomery’s junior varsity team returns to action next Friday against the worst team in the league. The Blair Blazers are having tough time of it this season. Anticipate that the Lightning will rest certain student athletes in preparation for the varsity game later that same evening. Game time is at 6:30 pm at Cabin John Ice Rink.
Three Stars of the Game:
First Star—Patrick Sell—Upper Montgomery Defense—Goal
Second Star—Matt Rivera—Upper Montgomery Defense—2 Assists
Third Star—Decklin Hughes—Upper Montgomery Center—Assist