Author: chucklevine

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

The Upper Montgomery Lightning junior varsity capped an undefeated regular season (9-0-1 record) with a 4-3 victory over the Blair Blazers on Thursday evening. The Lightning set a junior varsity program record with their ninth win of the season and the 2023 – 2024 squad will also have the program’s best winning percentage when the upcoming Montgomery Hockey Conference junior varsity playoff tournament concludes. The ten game points streak is another program record. The win over Blair on Thursday evening clinched the number two seed in the county playoff tournament, with only the tie against Churchill a few weeks back preventing the Lightning from winning the Montgomery Hockey Conference regular season championship.

The game itself was a microcosm of the season. Defend well enough, block lots and lots of shots, muck it up all over the ice, kill penalties, rely on 9th grade netminder Shterenberg to make timely saves, score just enough to prevail, and then spend the final minutes of the game in scramble mode defending all over the ice. If this sounds like a redundant encapsulation of the season, it is. But, the ugly hockey, puck support, playing for their teammates, and simply just finding a way to get it done led to this historic regular season. Come the playoffs, things change, and they change quickly, just like the opening to the Blair game.

On the second shift of the contest Upper Montgomery would jump to a quick lead. After a reset in the neutral zone, Lightning forward Jason Woodman shot the puck across the ice from the right wing boards to the left wing boards. Lightning defender Cole Howerton collected the puck between the red line and his own defensive blue line. Using his speed, he skated down the left wing side of the ice and into the offensive zone. He came deep through the left faceoff circle before cutting toward the net. With the puck slightly behind him, Howerton fired a wrist shot far side past Blazers goalie Lily Ben David’s glove. It was Howerton’s fifth goal of the season and came just 1:12 into the contest.

With four minutes left in the first period, Blair would tie the game. The Upper Montgomery defense got caught up ice and it led to a Blair counter rush down the left side of the ice. The offside defender closed on Blair center Mason Boucher. Shterenberg made a save on Boucher’s shot with his right leg pad. Both Boucher and the Lightning defender went past the rebound. Unfortunately for Upper Montgomery, the trailing forwards were still too far away on the backcheck to swat the puck from harm. Blazers forward Chloe Ciabotti shoveled the puck past Shterenberg before any of the Lightning could recover.

A minute after Ciabotti’s goal, Blair would go to what would be the game’s only powerplay when Lightning defender Patrick Sell was called for hooking. As the team has done all season long, the penalty kill thwarted the extra skater advantage. Both teams headed to intermission with the score tied at one. Blair fired twelve shots on goal while Upper Montgomery countered with seven.

The second period followed a similar pattern. The teams traded chances and both goalies kept the score even. Halfway through the second period, Sell charged up ice with the puck. He flipped the puck into the offensive zone down the left wing boards and followed in after his dump in. Blair’s defense got to the puck and attempted to clear their defensive zone to the far side. The clearing attempt hit Sell near the right goal post. The puck squirted to the front of the net where Ben David took things into her own hands. She attempted to fire the puck out of the zone herself. She did not get much on the clearing attempt and sent the puck directly up the slot to one of Upper Montgomery’s top offensive threats, TJ Gottesman. Gottesman had time to stop the puck and flick a wrist shot from the top of the circles into the wide open unguarded net.

Playing with the lead once again, Upper Montgomery seemed to relax a bit. Blair had several good scoring chances before Benjamin Giblin scored his second goal of the season on a wrap around play. Giblin collected the puck in the right corner. He trundled around the net from right to left. With the puck on his backhand he flung the puck toward the net from a bad angle. The puck went far side on Shterenberg and into the net to tie the score at two. Both teams were credited with ten shots on goal in the second period showing just how evenly the game had been through two periods of play.

Upper Montgomery began to play more aggressively in the third period and carried play. Early in the period Ben David made some nice saves with her leg pads to keep the score tied. Four minutes into the third period, the Lightning scored off yet another faceoff play. It is the sixth goal in recent games that has come directly off a faceoff win by senior co-captain Adam Levine. This time Levine shot the puck forward off the draw directly on net. The puck was in Ben David’s feet when Gottesman began poking and swatting at the puck. He connected and pushed the loose puck past Ben David into the net to give Upper Montgomery a 3-2 lead.

With two minutes and thirty seconds left in the game Gottesman would give the Lightning a little breathing room. Howerton advanced the puck up the right wing boards from his defensive zone. Gottesman coming over from the center of the ice took control of the puck skating into the offensive zone. When he reached the middle point of the right faceoff circle, he fired far side past Ben David’s blocker. With a two goal lead, all Upper Montgomery needed to do was play stellar defense, knock pucks clear of the defensive zone, dump pucks in deep behind the Blair net, and escape with their undefeated season. If it were only that simple.

Once Blair got the puck in deep into the Upper Montgomery zone, Ben David went to the bench for an extra skater. Blair controlled the shift with multiple shots fired toward Shterenberg. Many of the shots were blocked by Levine and fellow Lightning forward AJ Marks. A few shots went wide of the net and a couple of others rolled in on Shterenberg which he swatted into the corner. Eventually, Upper Montgomery cleared the zone and managed to get a face off at center ice. Back into the net went Ben David. The next shift was a carbon copy of the last shift. Ben David made it back to the bench, enter the extra skater. Plenty of Blair pressure and lots of Upper Montgomery scrambling around in the defensive zone. Eventually, Boucher emerged from the right corner boards with the puck. As he got to the right of Shterenberg, he made a nice cross crease pass to Blair’s leading scorer William Campbell. Campbell had the entire back side of the net wide open and fired the puck past a lunging Shterenberg. With fifty five seconds remaining in the third period, it was back to a one goal game.

Upper Montgomery played the final shift of the game much better. Levine won yet another faceoff at center ice allowing the Lightning to control the puck and get organized in the neutral zone. Although Upper Montgomery failed to get the puck in deep, the puck did get to the top of the circles in the Blair defensive zone. Fore checking pressure by the forwards prevented the Blazers from getting the puck into the Lightning defensive zone with possession. It took until there was only seventeen seconds remaining in the game before Ben David was able to get back to the bench for the extra skater. Blair did finally get the puck into the Upper Montgomery defensive zone along the right wing boards. The puck made it just past the blue line, but Upper Montgomery muscled up and shoved the puck back to neutral ice. One final clear in by the Blazers was retrieved and immediately cleared back out to center ice by the Lightning defense finishing off an outstanding, undefeated regular season.

Next up for the Lightning junior varsity is a quarterfinal game in the Montgomery Hockey Conference junior varsity playoffs. The team’s opponent will be determined early next week after all of the opening round games have concluded.

Game Notes:

• TJ Gottesman has scored in the last five games he has played in.
• It was TJ Gottesman’s second career hat-trick.
• Adam Levine ran his consecutive games points streak to seven straight games.
• TJ Gottesman and Josh Nadler both have three game winning goals.
• Ilan Shterenberg tied the junior varsity program record for wins in a season with his eighth victory.
• Ilan Shterenberg finished the regular season with an 8-0-1 record, a 1.67 goals against average, and a .931 save percentage.
• Shots on goal for the game were even with each team firing 28 shots on goal.
• Upper Montgomery returns to game action on Friday evening, January 12th for their start to the Montgomery Hockey Conference junior varsity playoff tournament. Game time for the quarterfinal round is late night, a 10:00 pm start. The Lightning’s opponent will be determined after the opening round action concludes early in the upcoming week.

Three Stars of the Game:

First Star—TJ Gottesman—Upper Montgomery Forward—3 Goals
Second Star—Danilo Azcarate—Blair Defense
Third Star—Cole Howerton—Upper Montgomery Defense—1 Goal, 1 Assist

The Upper Montgomery Lightning entered Friday’s season opener well prepared for how the Whitman Vikings were going to play the game. The Vikings defend very well and play a structured team game with their forwards coming back hard on the backcheck. To beat Whitman a team needs to play dump and chase hockey and muck it up along the boards. The games against Whitman rarely are visually pleasing with a significant amount of fighting for every inch all over the ice and then converting on scoring chances when they present. For two periods the Lightning and Vikings battled in a game of evenly matched squads. Then, a backbreaking goal scored with one second remaining in the second period completely turned the game. Losing composure and playing with a condensed lineup, the Lightning collapsed in the third period turning an even game into a foul looking lopsided 7-2 Whitman decision. The game was much closer than the final score would indicate.

The first period opened with both teams eager to show the other squad that they were serious contenders in the upper division of the Montgomery Hockey Conference. The opening shift saw big hits delivered on both sides. A minute into the contest Vikings forward Samuel Van Leeuwen was called for a two minute penalty for head contact and he was also given a ten minute misconduct for the foul. The penalty was a marginal call against Van Leeuwen, and maybe a signal to both teams to focus on playing hockey rather than running around throwing body checks. Whitman had no trouble on the penalty kill and prevented the Lightning from controlling play in the offensive zone even though Upper Montgomery had the extra skater on the ice.

With 3:30 left in the opening period, Whitman went on the powerplay after an elbowing penalty was assessed against Upper Montgomery forward Nathan Cassel. Although Whitman pressed play with the extra skater, Upper Montgomery was able to kill off the powerplay keeping the game scoreless. Thirty seconds after the powerplay ended, Whitman jumped out in front. Vikings defender Nicholas Huguely dumped the puck in deep behind the Lightning net. Whitman forward Andrew Fou outraced the Lightning defense to the puck. He centered out front to Vikings center Charles Ingis in the slot. Ingis wasting no time was ready to unleash a snap shot and he banged the puck past Upper Montgomery goalie Landon Bernard for the game’s opening tally. The first period ended with Whitman in front by one goal while shots on goal were relatively even, Upper Montgomery with seven and Whitman with six.

Three minutes into the second period, the Lightning would tie up the game. Upper Montgomery senior co-captain Hunter Cameron playing defense this season intercepted a bad Whitman clearing attempt. The puck had been sent up the center of the ice in the Whitman defensive zone. Cameron made a quick stick handle and ripped a wrist shot stick side past Vikings goaltender Ryan Graf for the unassisted goal. For Cameron it was a quick start to the 2023 – 2024 season after struggling offensively last year to find the back of the net. With the game tied at one, both teams dropped back and played strong defense. There were many dump ins to the offensive zone, pucks lobbed back out to center, rush attempts with shots taken from long range, blocked shots by each team’s defense, and harmless shots from the perimeter by the outside edges of the faceoff circles.

Then, with time running down in the second period, with just ten seconds remaining before the second period intermission, the entire complexion of the game instantly changed. Upper Montgomery cleared the defensive zone with six seconds left in the period. The puck was retrieved by Van Leeuwen in the neutral zone and carried into the offensive zone along the left wing boards. Van Leeuwen was ridden off the puck in the left corner where Vikings defender Mason Cohen slung the puck toward the net. Bernard made the save with the puck shooting into the air and into the slot area with time running out. The puck neared Whitman forward Benjamin Luo who smacked the puck out of mid air with his stick below shoulder height toward the net. The puck crossed the goal line just prior to the buzzer sounding to end the period. It was a jarring end to the period for the Lightning after the teams had played evenly through the first thirty minutes of game action.

With Upper Montgomery now trailing entering the third period, several of the team’s student athletes tried to do too much individually to help the team get back even. This was counterproductive and led to a loss of focus on the game plan resulting in a meltdown in the third period. First, two minutes into the third period, Cohen advanced the puck up the right wing boards in his defensive end. A poor decision by the Lightning defense to pinch at the offensive blue line led to a full ice breakaway for Ingis. He skated in on Bernard before lifting a wrist shot high over the netminder’s glove hand to extend the Whitman lead to 3-1. It was Ingis’ second goal of the game.

Whitman’s third goal started an onslaught. With 9:30 left in the game, a turnover just inside the Lightning defensive blue line led to a quick transition counter attack. Huguely poke checked and intercepted the puck. He quickly passed down low to an unguarded Luo who easily put the puck past Bernard for his second goal of the game. Twenty second later the score would balloon to 5-1 when Jacob Lerman let loose with a slap shot that went low past Bernard’s leg pads. Huguely picked up his third assist of the game on the play with Zack Krauss also assisting on the goal.

A few minutes later Lightning defender Owen Robbins was called for roughing. While shorthanded the Lightning would temporarily claw closer. At neutral ice, Cameron stole another errant Vikings pass exiting the Whitman defensive zone. He passed to the right wing to Cassel. Cassel skated into the offensive zone down the right hand side of the ice. He fed the front of the net where Cameron was charging down the slot and cutting in front of the net. Cameron buried the feed for the shorthanded goal, his second goal of the game.

Upper Montgomery could not take advantage of the momentum. Down three goals with 6:45 to play the Lightning were able to finish off the successful penalty kill. Then, back to back quick in succession Whitman goals with 4:30 left in the game ended the scoring. First, Fou passed from the left circle to the center point area of the blue line. Kraus received the pass and shot from long distance past several skater’s legs into the far side of the goal past Bernard’s leg pads. Off the ensuing center ice faceoff, Whitman advanced the puck to the right faceoff circle where Fou scored off of a feed from Kraus.

Upper Montgomery will need to quickly put the disappointment of this game in the rear view mirror. Up next is a critically important contest against the much improved DC Stars. Upper Montgomery will need a victory before a highly anticipated non-conference matchup against private school foe Good Counsel. Losing the season opener is not a severe blow as the Lightning learned last year when the team rebounded from a dreadful start to the season to come oh so close to qualifying for the state playoffs. The same is true this year. While the final score may have looked lopsided, the Lightning were certainly in the game and played Whitman even for two periods. A full three periods will be needed to fight past the DC Stars next week.

Game Notes:

• Whitman outshot the Lightning by a 31-16 margin.
• Cameron’s two goals equaled his total goals scored for the entire season last year.
• Upper Montgomery’s penalty kill shut down both Whitman powerplay opportunities with Cameron scoring while Upper Montgomery was shorthanded.
• Upper Montgomery returns to action next Friday, October 20th versus the DC Stars. Game time is 10:00 pm at Cabin John Ice Rink.

Three Stars of the Game:

First Star—Charles Ingis—Whitman Forward—2 Goals
Second Star—Benjamin Luo—Whitman Forward—2 Goals
Third Star—Hunter Cameron—Upper Montgomery Defense—2 Goals, Including Shorthanded Goal

The Upper Montgomery Lightning junior varsity faced off on Thursday afternoon against the Churchill Bulldogs. Instead of facing the Bulldogs regular junior varsity squad, the Lightning played against three quarters of the Bulldogs varsity two team. All of the Churchill student athletes were eligible to compete at the junior varsity level, and many would say that the Churchill two varsity team is really a junior varsity team competing against varsity competition. Maybe it was the fear of facing off against one of the best junior varsity teams in the county in the Lightning. Maybe it was respect for Upper Montgomery and wanting to put forth a more challenging game, but the Lightning played a vastly different Churchill junior varsity team than the rest of the teams in the Montgomery Hockey Conference had faced. AND, Upper Montgomery should have easily won the game. The Lightning played one of their most frustrating games of the season before settling for a 4-4 tie.

If nothing else, the game was entertaining with rushes up and down the ice. Unfortunately for the Lightning, that is not a style of play that is most effective for the team. Upper Montgomery needs to defend well, clog up the neutral zone and the defensive side of the ice, and make it hard for the opposition to score goals. The game against Churchill turned out to be just the opposite with free flow skating up and down the ice and too many offensive chances.

The first period was up and down the ice. Both teams had chances. Most of Upper Montgomery’s shots were directed right into the pads of Bulldog netminder Lucas Petrosyan who played a stand up style of goaltending. He was credited with twelve saves in the first period, with many of the Lightning shots simply hitting off of him rather than Petrosyan making good saves. At the other end of the ice, Lightning netminder Ilan Shterenberg made eight saves of his own. Each team had a powerplay opportunity in the scoreless period with Upper Montgomery failing to score when Ahmed Elkousy was called for unsportsmanlike conduct at the 9:30 mark of the period. Churchill failed to score when Upper Montgomery forward AJ Marks was called for slashing with 2:30 remaining in the period. For the Lightning it was the team’s 21 straight successful penalty kill to begin the season.

It was during the second period when the fireworks began. Just one minute and eight seconds into the middle period the Bulldogs would jump in front. Churchill defender Samuel Lifsey cleared the puck in his defensive zone up the right wing boards. A missed pinch by the Lightning defense at the offensive blue line allowed Churchill center Joseph Ahn to head up ice unimpeded along the right wing boards. Elkousy joined the rush and made it a two on one chance with Lightning defender Jake Roth the only defender back. When Ahn reached the right faceoff circle in the offensive zone, Roth pressured and closed on him. Ahn was able to slide the puck past Roth to Elkousy charging down the slot with no other Lightning defender able to get back into the play. Elkousy deked and went to his forehand to tuck the puck around the right leg pad of Shterenberg for the breakaway goal.

On the next shift the Lightning would answer right back. Off of a faceoff to the left of Petrosyan, Adam Levine pushed the puck forward attempting a step through play. The Bulldog defense got to the puck first but under pressure from Levine, did not get enough on the clearing attempt to clear the zone. Lightning defender Patrick Sell kept the puck in at the right point. His long range shot was blocked with the puck deflecting down into the right corner right onto the stick of Lightning forward TJ Gottesman. Gottesman’s pass to the slot was behind Levine, with Levine able to touch drag the puck further into the low slot to Marks. Marks’ shot was low along the ice and Petrosyan made a stick save. The puck bounded up in the air behind the net where Gottesman captured the puck exiting the corner. Gottesman continued around the net from right to left and sent a pass into the slot that was collected by Marks. Marks’ second shot of the sequence was a backhand shot that was also stopped by Petrosyan’s stick, but not covered. Gottesman continuing around the net was right there at the left post to shovel the puck over Petrosyan’s right leg pad and into the net to even the score. For Gottesman it was his career high fifth goal of the season. For Levine, it was his team leading seventh assist of the season.

Six minutes later, the Bulldogs would jump back in front. Off of a faceoff in the left faceoff circle in the Lightning defensive zone, Upper Montgomery got the puck to center ice. Bulldog defender Michael Dong banked the puck off the right wing boards at his defensive zone blue line. The puck was collected by Ahn coming over the offensive blue line. Ahn fired a wrist shot from the right faceoff circle. The harmless shot looked like it was going to be an easy save for Shterenberg, but the puck deflected off the stick of Lightning defender Avery Evans and quickly changed directions, fluttering higher and to the left of its original flight path. The puck settled over Sheterenberg’s blocker and into the top left corner of the net.

Three and a half minutes later, the score would be deadlocked at two. Churchill pressured in the Lightning defensive zone with Roth defending on the puck. The Bulldog forward attempted a pass toward the net from the left corner which clicked off Roth’s skate over to Marks deep along the red goal line extended. Marks flung a well timed clearing attempt / pass out of the defensive zone in the direction of Gottesman on the left wing. Gottesman raced after the puck crossing the offensive blue line just ahead of the Churchill defender trying to hustle back to slow him down. With no one between him and Petrosyan, from the mid-slot area, Gottesman fired low far side past Petroysan’s glove to again knot up the contest, this time at two. The pretty evenly played period ended with each team firing eight shots on goal and each team scoring twice.

The third period started exactly as the second period had, with an early Elkousy goal. Upper Montgomery cleared the puck to the Bulldog defensive line. Churchill defender Adam Klewans banked the puck up the left wing boards to Elkousy in the neutral zone. Elkousy skated into the Lightning defensive zone and approached the top of the left faceoff circle. His snap shot ramped up off of Evans stick and launched higher than Shterenberg expected finding its way into the top corner of the net short side over Shterenberg’s catching glove. Upper Montgomery was now down one goal with 12:42 left to go in the game.

Two minutes later the score would be tied for the third time in the game. Levine won a neutral zone faceoff to the right wing boards for Gottesman. Gottesman lost control of the puck, but it was recovered by Roth and shot into the offensive zone. The Churchill defense arrived at the puck first and rimmed the puck around the boards to their right wing inside the defensive zone. The puck took a strange bounce off the boards and caromed into the area of the ice between the top of the left faceoff circle and the blue line. Levine was first to the puck, and he gathered possession of the puck. He stickhandled through and around three Bullddog defenders into the high slot where he fired a low wrist shot back across the direction he had just skated in from. His shot went along the ice past Petrosyan’s right skate and into the far side of the net.

With six and a half minutes left in the third period, the Lightning would take their only lead of the game. Churchill had possession of the puck in their defensive zone. The Bulldog defender shot the puck off the boards into the neutral zone where it was picked up by Marks. Marks skated down the right wing and from the lower portion of the right faceoff circle fired a wrist shot short side high past Petrosyan’s left shoulder for the unassisted goal.

All that remained was for the Lightning to play lock down defense over the remainder of the third period to walk away with their eighth straight victory to begin the season. It was not to be. On the very next shift Churchill would tie the score on a goal that Shterenberg felt he should have saved. Churchill defender Jacob Wiederhorn skated the puck out of his defensive zone into neutral ice. Along the right wing at the benches, Wiederhorn skated into Marks and the puck was left behind. Churchill forward Tye Glazer snagged the puck. Glazer continued the rush up ice and crossed over the offensive blue line before launching a long range slap shot on net. The puck hit a crouching Shterenberg low and continued over his stick and body into the air behind him before settling into the net to once again tie the game with just under six minutes remaining.

The action did not stop. Instead of each team playing solid defense to earn points for a tie, the game opened up with Upper Montgomery having half a dozen incredibly high quality chances to win the game. With just over four minutes left in regulation, Churchill forward Victor Levonenko was called for tripping. The Lightning had several grade A chances on the powerplay around the net with two Levine deflections hitting an unsuspecting Petrosyan and somehow staying out of the net. Just after Levonenko’s penalty expired and the Bulldogs returned to equal strength, Levine sprung Marks with a nifty pass. From the inside edge of the lower left faceoff circle, Marks’ hard wrist shot hit Petrosyan who did not move. The puck just rebounded off the netminder and into the slot.

Upper Montgomery caught another break when they ended regulation and began overtime on the powerplay after Ahn was called for interference with 22 seconds remaining in regulation time. Levine won the faceoff too strongly and the puck leaked out of the offensive zone concluding regulation play knotted at four apiece. Starting overtime with a four on three powerplay, there was lots of open ice. Upper Montgomery controlled play while on the powerplay with Levine having two more good looks at the doorstep. The first was a deflection in front that hit Petrosyan’s leg pads. The second was a shovel shot with Petrosyan trying to cover the puck that also would not go over the goal line. After the powerplay ended, each team had possessions with the puck to suddenly end the game. As time ticked out in overtime, the Lightning’s unbeaten streak remained intact, 7-0-1. The chance to win the Montgomery Hockey Conference regular season junior varsity championship took a hit, but other more lofty goals remain.

Next up for the Lightning junior varsity is a game against the highly touted Oakdale Bears. The coaching staff intentionally scheduled this game to allow the junior varsity students to get a sense of what the upcoming Montgomery Hockey Conference playoff tournament will be like. The Lightning will be an underdog in the Oakdale game and will likely play without two key components, Shterenberg and junior defender Cole Howerton. With a first round bye secured for the Montgomery Hockey Conference junior varsity playoffs, Upper Montgomery awaits the results of the opening round of action before their quarterfinal opponent will be determined. Expect that most teams who have varsity student athletes eligible for junior varsity action to drop those student down to participate in the junior varsity playoffs. This tactic is allowed if a student athlete has played in four of the seven junior varsity league games. To prepare for the more talented skaters that the team will face in the playoffs, Upper Montgomery intentionally scheduled the Bears as a means of preparation. The Frederick County junior varsity teams have different rules regarding who may play in junior varsity games. The Lightning expect the non-league contest will feature some very talented Bears upper level skaters.

Game Notes:

• Adam Levine scored a goal and added an assist for the second straight game. He now has points in five straight games.
• Adam Levine leads the team in assists with seven.
• AJ Marks set a career high in points in one game with three against the Bulldogs.
• TJ Gottesman took over the team lead in points with nine on six goals and three assists. His six goals are a career high.
• The four goals given up by the Lightning were the most allowed in a game this season. Prior to the Churchill game, the Lightning had given up only eight goals on the season in seven games, with only two of those goals allowed during the third period of games.
• Shots on goal for the game were basically even, Upper Montgomery with 34 and Churchill with 29.
• Upper Montgomery killed off their only shorthanded situation in the game and remain a perfect 21-21 on the season.
• Upper Montgomery failed on two key powerplay opportunities late in the game and during overtime.
• The Lightning need to win their final conference game of the season to secure a top two seed in the Montgomery Hockey Conference junior varsity playoffs.
• The Upper Montgomery junior varsity returns to game action on Tuesday evening, January 2nd for a non-conference game against top junior varsity program Oakdale. Game time is 8:35 pm at Skate Frederick.

Three Stars of the Game:

First Star—AJ Marks—Upper Montgomery Forward—1 Goal, 2 Assists
Second Star—Ahmed Elkousy—Churchill Forward—2 Goals
Third Star—TJ Gottesman—Upper Montgomery Forward—2 Goals