Author: chucklevine

The Upper Montgomery Lightning played poorly against an inferior opponent yet found a way to claw back to tie Rockville/Magruder Thursday afternoon at Rockville Ice Arena. The team now awaits the outcome of the final junior varsity conference games in early January to determine if they will earn the fifth, sixth, or seventh seed in the upcoming Montgomery Hockey Conference junior varsity playoff tournament. The Lightning lost the opportunity to host a first round playoff game by failing to secure the additional standings point a win would have provided.

From the opening faceoff, it looked like Upper Montgomery would run away with this contest. On the opening shift, just 33 seconds into the game, the Lightning would jump out in front. In the offensive zone, off of a faceoff in the right circle, Henry Honacki intentionally won the puck forward. He lost control of the puck in among the Rockville/Magruder defense. Adam Levine was standing in front of the goal to set a screen. Seeing the puck, Levine reached for it and while turning his body back toward the net, fired a wrist shot that went five hole on unsuspecting Rockville/Magruder netminder Lily Bendavid.

Although controlling play throughout the period and outshooting Rockville/Magruder ten to five overall, Upper Montgomery had one breakdown and it led directly to the Rams’ game tying goal. Off of a missed Upper Montgomery shot, Rafael Shore collected the puck behind the Rams’ net. He backhanded the puck up the left wing boards where it was collected by Rams’ forward Chance Hostetler. Hostetler skated up ice during a late and poorly executed Upper Montgomery defensive line change. He beat the Lightning defense into the offensive zone and went in alone on Lightning backup netminder Chris Hassett. Hostetler beat Hassett with a low wrist shot from the bottom of the right circle. The puck whizzed by Hassett’s leg pads into the left hand side of the net. It would be the only goal given up by Hassett, in what was his best performance in goal of the season. Going into the contest the coaching staff was going to split the game in net between Hassett and starting goalie Landon Bernard.

The Lightning jumped in front again at the beginning of the second period. With Upper Montgomery on the powerplay after a bad retaliatory penalty taken by Rams’ defender Connor Casp, Josh Nadler would score in his third consecutive game. Behr Schickler was in a board battle along the right wing boards just inside the Upper Montgomery offensive zone. A Rockville/Magruder forward pried the puck loose. Nadler was there to quickly grab the puck away a few feet inside the blue line. He skated around and through three Rams defenders and stopped just outside the crease. Nadler fired a wrist shot blocker side. The puck hit Bendavid’s blocker, popped up, and tumbled over her blocker into the net to give Upper Montgomery a brief lead.

At the mid-point of the game, Bernard took over in net and the team immediately relaxed. The result was two quick goals against, both scored by Hostetler in similar fashion. The Lightning went from a one goal lead to trailing by a goal on the same shift. First, Hostetler was missed in the neutral zone by the Lightning defense. He skated in wide around the other Lightning defender and was in alone on Bernard. He shot forehand between Bernard’s stick side arm and body with the puck squirting through for the tying goal. Twenty-one seconds later, Charles Sickel had the puck along the right wing boards in the neutral zone. He moved the puck off the boards a few feet. Hostetler picked it up and skated into the Lightning offensive zone one on one against the Upper Montgomery defender. He quickly faked around the defender and was again in alone on Bernard. This time he faked and went backhand putting the puck past Bernard stick side.

After Hostetler’s outburst, Upper Montgomery tightened up the defense considerably. The Lightning held the Rams to only three additional shots on goal in the second period and just five shots on goal in the third period. Upper Montgomery kept pushing throughout the balance of the second period and the entire third period. Looking to score the game tying goal, the coaches shortened the bench. Further complicating the comeback was a boarding penalty that comes with an automatic ten minute misconduct penalty that was issued to Nadler with just under eight minutes remaining in the game. Upper Montgomery once again killed off the Rams’ powerplay, their third successful kill of the game, but the Lightning would be without Nadler for the rest of the contest.

Upper Montgomery took a timeout with two and a half minutes left in the game. The purpose of the timeout was to give the student athletes a breather as the coaches were preparing to put the same five skaters back on the ice for a second consecutive shift. It was this group’s third shift over the last four shifts. Upper Montgomery placed heavy pressure on the Rams but could not get the tying goal past Bendavid. Upon the conclusion of that shift, with 1:25 remaining in the game, the Rockville/Magruder coaching staff made a major blunder in calling their own timeout. This allowed Upper Montgomery’s five skaters to catch their breath and head right back onto the ice with Bernard pulled for the extra skater.

Upper Montgomery controlled the faceoff in the neutral zone and worked the puck into the offensive zone. Eventually, the puck was shot wide of the net and retrieved along the boards by Adam Levine. Levine reversed the puck around the net to the left wing boards to Honakci. Honacki shot the puck from deep alongside the left wing boards. Bendavid made a pad save with the rebound skidding into the right wing corner. Levine fought along the corner boards with the Rams’ defender winning possession of the puck. He skated as if he was going to go back around the net once again from right to left. Before he was too far behind the net, he centered the puck to AJ Marks in the slot. Marks’ backhand shot from point blank range was stopped by Bendavid. The rebound bounced past Marks to Honacki who was a few feet further away from the net. Honacki’s lofted backhand shot found the back of the net short side before Bendavid could recover and reposition herself.

The pulled goalie goal evened the score with 45 seconds remaining in the game and allowed Upper Montgomery to salvage a point out of a game the team should have won. The Lightning now awaits the concluding weekend of junior varsity games to determine what seed they have earned for the season ending junior varsity playoff tournament. Depending upon other teams’ game outcomes, Upper Montgomery will either finish with the fifth, sixth, or seventh seed in the ten team tournament which is likely to begin on Monday, January 16th.

Game Notes:

• The Lightning’s leading scorer TJ Gottesman missed his second consecutive game.
• The Lightning outshot Rockville/Magruder 28-20 for the game.
• Henry Honacki scored his team leading seventh goal of the season and for the third game in a row.
• Adam Levine set a career high for goals in a season with three and points in a season with seven. He has tallied points in three consecutive games.
• Josh Nadler scored for the third consecutive game.
• The Upper Montgomery powerplay scored for the second consecutive game.
• The Lightning penalty kill was a perfect 3-3 in the game and has now killed off 17 of the last 18 opponent’s powerplay opportunities.
• The Upper Montgomery junior varsity concludes the regular season over winter break with a non-conference game against Carroll County. Game time is 8:20 pm on Tuesday evening, December 27th at Skate Frederick.

Three Stars of the Game:

First Star—Chance Hostetler—Rockville/Magruder Forward—3 Goals
Second Star—Adam Levine—Upper Montgomery Forward–1 Goal, 1 Assist
Third Star—Lily Bendavid—Rockville/Magruder Goalie–25 Saves, .892 Save Percentage

The Upper Montgomery Lightning showed extreme resiliency fighting back on three separate occasions in the second and third periods to salvage a tie against Northwest/Quince Orchard on Saturday afternoon at Laurel Ice Gardens. A tie may have been a fitting outcome as both teams were very evenly matched. With Northwest/Quince Orchard, almost all of the student athletes participating in the game also play on those program’s varsity teams.

The first period was evenly played with both teams missing the net on most shot opportunities. The final shots on goal for the period were Northwest/Quince Orchard with five and Upper Montgomery with four. Both teams each scored goals in a similar fashion. The Lightning would open the scoring halfway through the period. A bad clearing pass was kept in just inside the blue line by Lightning defender Patrick Sell. He took one stride and fired a wrist shot from deep near the blue line. The puck was deflected right in front of Northwest netminder Joseph Dean by his defense, changing the direction of the shot which found its way five hole past Dean giving Upper Montgomery the lead.

Three minutes later Matthew Mills of Quince Orchard would tie the game at one. Davany Gonzalez of Quince Orchard possessed the puck in the neutral zone along the left wing boards. He passed the puck back to Mills who was standing at the middle of the defensive blue line. Mills gathered the puck and cut right up the boards. Entering the offensive zone along the right wing boards, Mills fired a wrist shot from the top of the right circle past a Lightning defender. The puck went high blocker, far side, past a screened Landon Bernard into the top corner of the net.

A minute into the second period, Northwest/Quince Orchard would jump into the lead. Off of a faceoff win, Northwest defender Micah Chin kept the puck in at the left point. He passed the puck down the left wing boards to Clark Atkinson. Atkinson while covered, returned the puck back to Chin at the left point. Chin sent a wrist shot toward the net from deep. As the puck neared the net, the puck deflected off Lightning defender Jake Roth, changing direction enough to beat Bernard high glove side putting Northwest/Quince Orchard in front.

The next few minutes of the game settled into a chess match where neither team generated much offense. With seven and a half minutes left in the second period, the Lightning would go on the game’s first powerplay when Northwest forward Sohiab Younes was called for interference. On the powerplay, Upper Montgomery would draw even. A bad clearing opportunity by Chin was kept in at the blue line by Lightning defender Sean Levine. Levine quickly pivoted and fired a slap shot from just inside the blue line at the left point. The puck beat Dean cleanly five hole for an Upper Montgomery powerplay goal to tie the game at 2-2.

Three minutes later, Northwest/Quince Orchard would again jump to the lead. After an Upper Montgomery dump in, Chin retrieved the puck in the right defensive corner. He swung the puck up the boards and Rhett Swick swiped it into the neutral zone. Younes picked up the puck along the right wing boards and skated into the offensive zone moving left along the blue line. He cut toward the center of the slot and fired a wrist shot back across the grain to beat Bernard high glove side.

With a minute remaining in the second period, the Lightning would once again tie the game. Upper Montgomery center Henry Honacki coming back on defense laid a crushing body check on a Northwest/Quince Orchard forward who was carrying the puck. The result of the hit was that the intended shot went way off mark and over to the left wing boards. Adam Levine won the puck in the defensive zone. He hesitated a moment and found a wide open Branson Hughes in the neutral zone. Hughes brushed the puck as he fumbled it. Honacki, trailing the play, picked up the puck and skated up ice on the right wing. He entered the offensive zone and ripped a wrist shot through a defensive screen and Dean. The puck went high glove side to even the score at three. Upper Montgomery had scored on three of their ten shots on goal through two periods of play.

The third period started off poorly for Upper Montgomery. Similar to the start of the second period, Northwest/Quince Orchard would score one minute in. Off a bad Lightning turnover behind the net, Nikhil Mudunuri slapped the puck from behind the net back up the boards on the right wing to Younes. Younes centered the puck which was batted to Chin in the high slot. Chin’s wrist shot beat Bernard high blocker side to give Northwest/Quince Orchard yet another one goal lead.

Soon thereafter, Sean Levine was called for roughing, the only penalty assessed to Upper Montgomery during the game. The Lightning penalty kill stepped up and held Northwest/Quince Orchard to only low percentage perimeter chances. With under five minutes remaining in the game, Northwest/Quince Orchard sent the puck around the boards in their defensive zone. The puck was held in at the blue line by Sean Levine at the left point. He smacked the puck to keep it in the offensive zone. Josh Nadler collected the puck and swung around to the outside of the right circle. From a bad angle at the bottom outside of the right circle near the boards, Nadler shot the puck toward the net. Nadler’s shot deflected off the Northwest/Quince Orchard defense and past Dean five hole. The third Upper Montgomery goal of the game that went five hole on Dean.

With time winding down, Cole Howerton laid a massive body check into Mills on a step up just inside the defensive zone blue line. The puck flittered into the corner as the clock ran out giving each side a draw along with an important standings point. Upper Montgomery has one final chance to earn conference standings points versus lowly Rockville/Magruder when league play finishes later this week.

Game Notes:

• The Lightning’s leading scorer TJ Gottesman missed the game.
• The Lightning were outshot by a 23-14 margin, 18-10 over the final two periods of the game.
• The four goals given up with a goalie in net were the most surrendered by Upper Montgomery in a month.
• Henry Honacki scored his team leading sixth goal of the season.
• The Upper Montgomery junior varsity next returns to game action for their final Montgomery Hockey Conference game of the season on Thursday afternoon in a pivotal matchup versus Rockville/Magruder. Game time is 4:50 pm at Rockville Ice Arena.

Three Stars of the Game:

First Star—Micah Chin—Northwest Defense—2 Goals, 1 Assist
Second Star—Matthew Mills—Quince Orchard Defense–1 Goal
Third Star—Sean Levine—Upper Montgomery Defense–1 Goal, 1 Assist

The Upper Montgomery Lightning showed extreme class in Sunday’s victory over winless and completely overmatched Churchill. In a game that was beneficial for neither program, Upper Montgomery handily defeated the Bulldogs by a score of 12-2. In reality, Upper Montgomery could have easily scored in excess of 20 goals. Many of the experienced Lightning student athletes were told not to shoot after the first couple of minutes of the second period and the coaching staff did a nice job of utilizing the entire bench throughout the game. Defenders were switched to playing forward and forwards were switched to playing defense. The Lightning also started backup goaltender Chris Hassett in net.

Going into the contest the coaching staff was expecting the game against Churchill to be non-competitive. Churchill is by far the weakest junior varsity program in the Montgomery Hockey Conference. As anticipated, the outcome was decided just about four minutes into the game. Upper Montgomery’s opening goal was scored by Stephen Shkeda. In the offensive zone, Lucas Eyman battled along the boards to win the puck. The puck squirted over to TJ Gottesman at the top of the right circle. Gottesman’s wrist shot went wide of the net on the short side. The puck rebounded off of the back end boards to the left of net. Shkeda was standing just off the left post outside of the crease area. He banged home the puck before Churchill netminder Lucas Petrosyan could get across the net into position to make a save.

Uncharacteristically, Upper Montgomery seemed to relax after the initially tally. On the very next shift, Churchill would momentarily tie the game. Joshua Gerstein knocked the puck from the Churchill defensive zone into the neutral zone where it was collected by Victor Levonenko. Levonenko skated the puck up ice into the Upper Montgomery defensive zone. He shot low along the ice from in between the top of the circles. The puck avoided Hassett’s glove hand low along the ice to tie the game at one.

Just ten seconds later the floodgates would open. Off the ensuing faceoff at center ice, Henry Honakci went forward to win the faceoff and skated into the offensive zone. He shot the puck from the high shot and Petrosyan made a pad save. Adam Levine was cutting to the net and jumped through both Bulldog defenders to reach the rebound in the lower portion of the left circle. Levine spun and shot the puck in the same motion. The puck went five hole on Petrosyan to open the floodgates and the rout was on.

Eight seconds after Levine’s goal, Jason Woodman would strike to make it 3-1. This time Lightning center Josh Nadler collected the puck off of the center ice faceoff. Nadler skated into the offensive zone and shot very similar to Honakci’s shot moments earlier. Petrosyan again made the pad save on the initial attempt. The rebound bounced to the right circle where Woodman was crashing the net. Woodman outraced a Churchill defender and shoveled the puck high into the top portion of the open net.

On the next shift, AJ Marks would score to push the game out of reach at 4-1. Marks goal would cap off a sequence where Upper Montgomery scored three goals in 31 seconds, and four goals in 1 minute and 5 seconds sandwiched around the Churchill tally. Gottesman battled along the side wall and caused an errant pass by Churchill. The puck was stolen by Marks in the neutral zone. Marks skated into the offensive zone and fired a chip shot high blocker side past Petrosyan.

After stretching the lead to 4-1, Upper Montgomery began to take their foot off the gas. The next five minutes of the game settled into what felt like a pickup hockey game. Then, off of a sharp angle shot, Hassett paddled the puck into the left wing corner. Cole Howerton collected the puck and cleared the puck up the boards to Gottesman just inside the Lightning defensive blue line. Gottesman collected the puck and skated up ice weaving his way through several Bulldog defenders. Once in alone on a breakaway, Gottesman elevated the shot off the ice and above Petrosyan.

A minute and a half later, Gottesman would strike again. Patrick Sell collected the puck inside his defensive blue line and skated toward the left wing boards eventually all the way into the offensive zone. He shot the puck toward Petrosyan who made a pad save. As was the case throughout the entire period, Petrosyan did not control the rebound which shot into the crease. Gottesman won the race for the puck and backhanded it past Petrosyan’s skates.

Thirty seconds later the Lightning would tally their seventh and final goal of the first period. Sean Levine collected the puck along the left wing boards. Like Sell moments earlier, he skated from the defensive zone into the offensive zone. Upon entering the offensive zone, Levine nudged the puck forward to Nadler. Nadler skated laterally across the ice from left to right all the way to the side of the net. With Adam Levine setting a screen in front of the goal, Nadler shot high above Petrosyan’s glove hand.

Nine seconds into the second period Upper Montgomery would extend their lead. Off the opening faceoff, Honacki again went forward with the puck. He stickhandled free and skated forward to the top of the right circle. Honacki then fired a wrist shot low past Petrosyan’s pads for a shorthanded goal with Sean Levine in the penalty box for roughing. After Levine’s penalty expired, Sell was called for tripping. On the ensuing powerplay, Upper Montgomery would again score shorthanded to extend the lead to 9-1. Howerton stood up the Churchill attack at the Lightning defensive blue line. He stripped the puck loose and skated down the right wing boards into the offensive zone. Howerton cut to the top of the slot and ripped a wrist shot high glove side to the top right corner of the net.

Two minutes later, Gottesman would score again for his hat-trick goal, the first ever hat-trick in Lightning junior varsity program history. It would also be his fifth point of the game, another Lightning junior varsity record. Behr Schicker passed the puck up ice to Adam Levine in the neutral zone. Levine skated into the offensive zone and executed a drop pass for Gottesman. Gottesman, not expecting the pass, fumbled the puck. Eyman was trailing the play and picked up the puck. Eyman’s backhand shot went on net. Petrosyan made the save with the puck squirting past the goal into the left wing corner. Levine collected the puck and skated around the net left to right. He backhanded the puck in the direction in which he had skated tying up two Bulldog defenders in the process who had converged on him. Eyman received the puck in the left corner and shot towards the slot after coming back over the goal line toward the left circle. Gottesman deflected the shot along the ice between Petrosyan’s right skate and the near post.

With the position shuffling in full force, the coaching staff was attempting to have members of the team who are not normally in a position to score, to light the lamp. With four minutes left in the second period, Sean Levine would tally his first career high school goal. Levonenko’s shot was blocked by Schickler. The puck shot out into the neutral zone where Honacki was first to the puck. He skated up the right wing boards into the offensive zone. Stopping, he intentionally looked for Levine in the high slot. Levine’s wrist shot low along the ice beat new Bulldog netminder Cameron Shure just inside the left post blocker side.

With 34 seconds remaining in the second period, the Lightning would score their twelfth and final goal of the game. Howerton again stood up in the defensive zone and pokechecked the puck free. He skated up the left wing boards this time. Similar to his first goal of the game, he broke wide around the Churchill defender and cut to the middle of the ice. In on net he fired a shot, short side just inside the left post past Shure’s blocker for an unassisted goal.

The third period was played with full running clock and Upper Montgomery doing everything possible to keep the clocking running. The period was spent with the Lightning trying to force feed Jake Roth for his first ever goal in organized hockey. Upper Montgomery took two penalties late in the third period with Levonenko scoring a meaningless goal with just over a minute left with the Bulldogs on the powerplay.

Now, it will be up to Upper Montgomery to flush this non-competitive game. The team needs to move on and get ready for their final two regular season conference games which will determine playoff seeding.

Game Notes:

• TJ Gottesman set a program record for goals in a junior varsity game with three and points in a junior varsity game with five.
• The Lightning outshot Churchill by a 22-8 margin. Several of the Lightning student athletes were told NOT to shoot the puck after the conclusion of the first period.
• Upper Montgomery scored on seven of its twelve shots on goal in the first period.
• TJ Gottesman extended his personal career high points streak to all six games he has played in this season (6GP, 4G, 8A). His twelve points on the season leads the Lightning junior varsity.
• Chris Hassett notched his first career victory in net in the win, stopping six of eight shots.
• The Upper Montgomery junior varsity next returns to game action in a pivotal matchup on Saturday against Northwest/Quince Orchard. Game time is 11:30 am at Laurel Ice Gardens.

Three Stars of the Game:

First Star—TJ Gottesman—Upper Montgomery Forward—3 Goals, 2 Assists
Second Star—Cole Howerton—Upper Montgomery Defense–2 Goals, 1 Assist
Third Star—Henry Honakci—Upper Montgomery Center–1 Goal, 2 Assists