Author: chucklevine

Brothers James and Andrew Botti helped lead the Upper Montgomery Lightning to a 13-0 blowout win Friday night against the clearly overmatched Wilson Stars. James scored four goals and added an assist and Andrew scored a goal and had three assists in the game which served as a tune up before the Lightning finish the regular season with four games against higher quality opponents. The win, coupled with the DC Stars loss to Sherwood, means that Upper Montgomery has just about clinched its first ever division one playoff appearance.

The Lightning would score routinely throughout the game against Stars junior netminder Jack Kobil. Although he gave up 13 goals, Kobil played outstanding throughout the game making 44 saves, many of them of the incredibly difficult variety. The Lightning also hit the post 6 times. Without Kobil’s play, the score would have been even more lopsided.

Upper Montgomery pressured right from the beginning of the game. On the third shift of the contest, the Lightning would strike for what would turn out to be the game winning goal. Andrew Botti passed the puck up ice from his own blue line to Joshua Miller on the left wing at the Stars blue line. Miller bumped the puck to the middle of the ice and hit Josh Nadler in stride as he was entering the offensive zone. Nadler took the puck wide toward the right faceoff circle and shot the puck back against the grain far side and past Kobil’s blocker for his first career varsity goal. A minute and a half later, Andrew Botti would make the score 2-0 firing a wrist shot from the blue line through traffic in front of the net. James Botti had skated the puck in a circle from the left wing boards back to the point, and then to the right side of the ice and around the net. His pass found Bradley Cupples in front. Cupples turned with the puck in the left circle and fed Andrew Botti at the mid point of the blue line for the shot. Upper Montgomery had been craving depth scoring and the first two goals against the Stars came via the third and second lines, a theme that would continue throughout the game.

After Andrew Gean took a cross checking penalty behind the Lightning net, the Lightning would strike while on the penalty kill. The first of their three shorthanded goals in the game. Off of a faceoff in the offensive zone, a failed Wilson clearing attempt was kept in the zone by George Benedick at the right point. He stickhandled around the Stars forwards into the slot before unleashing a wrist shot that got by Kobil. Midway through the first period the Upper Montgomery defense would score for the third consecutive time. Nadler won an offensive zone faceoff in the left circle back to Gean at the blue line. Gean passed left to his defensive partner Ethan Hockey. Hockey stick handled into the slot and passed the puck to Miller near the left post. Miller’s backhand pass into the crease area found Hockey all alone for an easy score high glove side into an unguarded open net. Wilson would manage to keep the Lightning off the scoreboard for the rest of the period, largely due to the play of Kobil. Shots on goal in the first period were 26-1 in favor of the Lightning demonstrating how lopsided the play was in the first period.

The second period started with the Lightning again on the penalty kill after a roughing minor to Benedick. Starting the period down a skater contributed to a slow start in the period by Upper Montgomery. It would take 5:30 seconds for the team to turn up the heat. From the neutral zone Chris Hasset dropped a nifty backhand drop pass on the left to Hunter Cameron cutting into the Stars defensive zone. Cameron got behind the defense and cut toward the net. His patience with the puck allowed Nathan Cassel to drive the zone and cut to the far post. Cameron found an unguarded Cassel for an easy snapshot into the wide open far side of the net. Kobil had absolutely no chance on the play. A minute later the score would grow to 6-0 on James Botti’s first goal of the game and his first goal of the season. Cupples won another offensive zone faceoff in the right faceoff circle back to Gean at the right point. Gean passed to the middle of the ice where Andrew Botti’s wrist shot trickled wide of the net. The puck bounced off the end boards directly to James Botti alone at the right post for an easy tap in goal. Forty seconds later the score would become 7-0 and the rest of the game was played with a running clock. Ethan Hockey carried the puck down the left wing into the Wilson offensive zone and fired a shot on Kobil. Kobil made the initial glove save but could not control the rebound. The rebound landed at the feet of Nadler who from the bottom of the right circle immediately fired a wrist shot on the rebound attempt. Kobil again made a glove save but could not squeeze the puck. The puck landed in the crease and Adam Levine swatted a backhand whack connecting with the puck and putting it past Kobil for his first goal of the season in limited playing time.

The next several minutes were played either with Upper Montgomery killing penalties to Benedick (roughing) or Cameron (interference) or skating four on four. Just before the penalty to Cameron ended, Stephen Shkeda fed James Botti cutting down the middle of the offensive zone. Botti faked around a Wilson defender and went in alone on Kobil from the middle of the slot on a quick developing breakaway. He easily beat Kobil top shelf glove side to score his second goal of the game as well as the Lightning’s second shorthanded goal of the night. Just as the second period was ending, with five seconds left, Hassett would cap the five goal second period burst. Cameron sprung Hassett into the offensive zone with a pass along the right wing boards. Hassett briefly lost control of the puck, recovered, and passed cross ice to Cassel in the left wing corner. Cassel acted as if he was going to skate around the net, but passed the puck out front prior to fully going behind the net. His pass found Hassett wide open in the slot for a quick wrist shot past Kobil’s glove. Shots on goal in the second period were 20-2 in favor of the Lightning.

Upper Montgomery scored with five seconds remaining in the second period would reach double digits in goals five seconds into the third period. Cupples won the neutral zone faceoff to start the third period directly left to Shkeda who had cut inside the Wilson winger. Shkeda skated the puck into the Wilson defensive zone and fired a wrist shot low glove side and past Kobil for his first goal of the season. A minute later the score would increase to 11-0. Benedick sent the puck up ice from the Lightning defensive zone to Shkeda on the left wing. Shkeda skated into the zone wide and around a Stars defender. He then cut toward the net from the bottom of the left faceoff circle. His shot low to the pads of Kobil was saved. With the rebound sitting in the slot for a brief moment, it was there long enough for James Botti to poke the puck into the net before Kobil could get on top of the puck to cover and force a whistle. For James Botti, it was his hat trick goal.

With 10:35 left in the game, the Lightning would score their final shorthanded goal of the game with Cassel in the box for slashing. Ethan Hockey back checked hard through the neutral zone forcing a turnover at the Upper Montgomery blue line. Hassett took control of the puck and skated the opposite direction on a two on one rush. Hassett floated wide on the right wing allowing Cameron to charge hard at the back post of the net where a perfectly placed pass led to an easy back door tap in for Cameron. The Lightning then would kill off a slashing penalty to Nadler before James Botti would net his fourth goal of the game. Andrew Botti passed the puck from the side of Will Mellen’s net up the center of the ice to Cupples who led a two on one rush with James Botti. Cupples carried the puck into the offensive zone toward the left faceoff circle and drew the defender toward him. With the defender committed, he passed the puck over to James Botti who had a clear lane to fire a wrist shot past Kobil. The goal capped a feel good win, but the Lightning fully understand that the level of competition will increase significantly over the rest of the season.

Game Notes:

• The victory was the second straight shutout victory by the Lightning over the Stars.
• The Lightning outshot the Stars 46-3 over the first two periods and 57-4 for the game.
• Will Mellen lowered his Montgomery Hockey Conference leading goals against average to 1.17 and increased his Montgomery Hockey Conference leading save percentage to .935.
• The Lightning penalty kill smothered all seven Wilson powerplays, while scoring three short-handed goals. the Upper Montgomery penalty kill is now 34 of 37 on the season, 91.9%.
• The Lightning picked up their fifth straight victory and are unbeaten in their last six games 5-0-1.
• The Lightning are next in action on Friday, January 14th at 9:00 pm at Rockville Ice Area for a game against the Richard Montgomery Rockets.

Three Stars of the Game:

First Star—James Botti—Upper Montgomery Defense—4 Goals, 1 Assist
Second Star—Andrew Botti—Upper Montgomery Defense–-1 Goal, 3 Assists
Third Star—Ethan Hockey—Upper Montgomery Defense—1 Goal, 2 Assists

The Upper Montgomery Lightning junior varsity traveled to Frederick this past Wednesday evening for a game against Frederick County’s junior varsity team. The very entertaining non-conference game had a little bit of everything before ending in a 5-5 tie. There were highlight real goals, end-to-end action, hard hits, great saves, lots of powerplays, and several firsts. The Lightning junior varsity’s record is now 2-4-2 with three conference games upcoming in January before the junior varsity playoffs commence in February.

The game started slowly with only one shot on goal by each team in the first seven minutes of action. Then, the game erupted. At 7:15 of the first period, Frederick County would open the scoring. Frederick County forward Nick Cangemi gathered the puck in the high slot and fired a wrist shot past Lightning netminder Landon Bernard near his body glove side. Off the ensuring faceoff Upper Montgomery iced the puck. The Lightning lost the defensive zone draw. Thomas O’Brien collected the puck and shot toward the net. The puck hit traffic in front and did not get through to Bernard. Instead, the puck bounced to Raymie Caiola alone in front. Another wrist shot, this time high glove side, put Frederick County in front 2-0. For Frederick County, it was goals on two of their first three shots of the game.

The lead would not last long, however. Right after scoring, Caiola took a tripping penalty putting the Lightning on the powerplay for what would be the first of their eight powerplay opportunities in the contest. From the defensive zone, Stephen Shkeda lofted the puck high in the air to clear the zone. The puck bounded up ice and Brandon Bernard outraced the Frederick County defense to the puck. He skated in alone on a breakaway, faking Frederick County netminder Conner Langston out of the play, and he slid a forehand shot into the vacant left side of the net. For the Lightning it was their first powerplay goal of the season. The Lightning would tie the score two and a half minutes later. Josh Nadler took control of the puck at center ice along the right wing boards. He skated the puck into the Frederick County defensive zone and around the net. As he rounded the goal, he centered the puck to Branson Hughes whose quick release beat Langston five hole for his first career high school goal. The Lightning kept up the pressure and had a flurry of chances as the first period drew to a close. At the first period buzzer, Greg Felder took a cross checking penalty in a scrum behind the Frederick County net.

The Frederick County powerplay at the beginning of the second period was short lived as Trent Wivell took a roughing penalty to even up the number of skaters on the ice. Just after Wivell’s penalty ended, Brandon Bernard would score again on an impressive individual effort. Two Frederick County skaters were in the far left wing corner beginning to retrieve the puck and start a breakout from their defensive zone. Bernard went in hard on the forecheck. He fought for puck possession and split the Frederick County defenders. Taking the puck directly toward the net, he beat Langston short side with a wrist shot for his second goal of the game and put Upper Montgomery up 3-2. Unfortunately, the Lightning would only have the lead for three minutes. Off of a faceoff to the left of Landon Bernard, Frederick County won the draw cleanly over to Cangemi who was curling to the top of the faceoff circle from his left wing position. Before getting into the slot, he fired a wrist shot high glove side past Bernard to even the game at three.

The next four minutes were played physically with both Adam Levine and Bradley Cupples on the receiving end of big hits. The physicality seemed to get Frederick County too energized as they began running around taking unnecessary and undisciplined penalties. First, Kobe Meitzler went to the penalty box for cross checking. Then, while nearing the end of the penalty kill, Wivell went back to the penalty box for roughing putting the Lightning on an eight second 5-3 advantage. In Lightning quick fashion, it would take only two seconds for Upper Montgomery to cash in and reclaim the lead. Off the faceoff, Brandon Bernard won the draw directly to Felder who was unguarded in the slot. Felder reacted quickly and fired a wrist shot five hole for his first career high school goal. Over the final minutes of the second period, the Lightning would remain on the powerplay as Jack McCoy was called for cross checking away from the play. The Lightning were unable to capitalize and could not expand on their 4-3 lead.

Just after McCoy’s penalty ended at the beginning of the third period, Cangemi was called for roughing continuing the parade of Frederick County student athletes to the penalty box. The Lightning powerplay was cut short when Cupples was called for cross checking thirty seconds later. Beginning with the four-on-four play, Frederick County turned up the pressure. Even though they failed to score, the momentum had clearly shifted. The volume of shots on Landon Bernard increased substantially (19 in the period) and he made several strong saves to keep the Lightning in front. With just under five minutes left in the game, a point shot by Aaron Eng was deflected. The puck popped up and into the crease area where Caiola was standing alone. The shot beat Landon Bernard high glove side once again to knot the game at 4-4.

The tie game would not last long. Thirty seconds after the Frederick County goal, Upper Montgomery would again re-take the lead. Brandon Bernard took control of the puck behind the Frederick County net. He passed the puck to Cupples at the left point. Cupples’ shot deflected wide of the net into the right corner besides Langston. The puck was retrieved by Adarsh Nair along the goal line. Nair turned and fired the puck toward the net. The puck hit Langston in the left shoulder and popped high in the air. As if in slow motion, the puck fell back toward the netminder hitting Langston along the backside and bounding into the net behind him. The Lightning again had the lead, this time at 5-4.

With 3:36 left in the game, the Lightning went on their seventh powerplay of the night when Meitzler was again called for cross checking. Unable to clear the puck from their defensive zone multiple times with the extra skater advantage, disaster stuck when Wivell collected the puck down low and fired at Landon Bernard. Bernard made the initial save, but the rebound went right back to Wivell who scored a shorthanded goal on the second chance between Bernard’s body and the right post. The Lightning still had 55 seconds remaining on the powerplay which they would fail to convert. With 1:10 left in the game, the Lightning would be given yet another powerplay when Wivell went back to the penalty box for the third time in the game, this time for cross checking. With a golden opportunity to win the game with a late powerplay goal, the Lightning never tested Langston as they were unable to get a shot on net and settled for the tie.

Game Notes:

• Brandon Bernard’s four point night was the most points ever scored by a Lightning student athlete in a junior varsity game.
• For the fourth time in eight games, the Lightning gave up a goal in the last three minutes of the game to either tie or make the game a one goal nailbiter.
• The Lightning were outshot by Frederick County 36-19.
• The Lightning penalty kill did not allow a powerplay goal and is now 21-23 on the season, 91.3%.
• The Lightning junior varsity powerplay finally broke through scoring both a powerplay goal as well as a 5-3 powerplay goal. The team was 2-8 on the powerplay in the game. The powerplay is now 2-26 on the season 7.7%.
• The Lightning will be looking to bounce back into the win column when they return to action on Monday, January 17th at 4:15pm against Rockville at Cabin John Ice Rink.

Three Stars of the Game:

First Star—Brandon Bernard—Upper Montgomery Center—2 goals, 2 assists
Second Star—Nick Cangemi—Frederick County Forward–-2 goals
Third Star—Raymie Caiola—Frederick County Forward—2 goals

In an unfortunate development, the Upper Montgomery Lightning had to play against a varsity AA level travel goalie in Tuesday afternoon’s game against Wootton. While the Lightning played an excellent game, they came away on the short end of a 1-0 loss to the Patriots, who have been one of the worst teams in the league this year.

Due to the recent uptick in COVID cases in Montgomery County, the Patriots’ expected junior varsity goalie was not available to participate in the game. Instead, senior netminder Julian Piche won the game for the Patriots with a 29 save shutout which included good stops on two different two on one rushes and two breakaways, one in the first period on Stephen Shkeda, and one late in the third period as the Lightning pushed to tie the game. Without Piche in net the Lightning would have easily won this game.

The first period was played at a fast tempo. The Lightning were the far better team threatening on multiple occasions with high quality scoring chances and repetitive rebound opportunities among the 14 shots the Lightning threw at Piche. Wootton, on the other hand, had only five shots on goal and most were one and done chances from long range. Late in the first period, William Rusiecki fired a wrist shot from the left circle that Landon Bernard got most of but could not fully control. The puck landed at the feet of Matvei Shaposhnikov who easily tapped in the rebound to put the Patriots in front 1-0. That would be the only goal for the Patriots as Bernard recovered to play excellent hockey in the second and third periods to keep the Patriots off the board and give the Lightning a chance to even the score.

The second period was a tightly contested and defensive. Each team managed six shots on net that Piche and Bernard saved with little difficulty. The Patriots had the lone powerplay of the period after Bradley Cupples was called for interference for knocking a dropped stick into the corner and out of the way of the play.

In the third period, the Lightning pushed to get the equalizer. Brandon Bernard and Adam Levine had two separate two on one opportunities. Bernard elected to shoot coming down the left wing on both opportunities. His shots were saved by Piche with no rebound opportunity for Levine who was wide open in front having driven hard to the net both times. Any rebound would have surely been in the net to tie the game.

At the conclusion of the last of the two on one breaks, Greg Felder was called for slashing Piche coming through the crease late after the play looking for a rebound. The Lightning again did the job on the penalty kill and the game remained 1-0. With under three minutes to go in the game, Brandon Bernard got loose in the neutral zone, skated past the Patriots defense and went in alone on a breakaway. He faked and stick handled around Piche. With a wide open net, the puck trickled off his stick on the final fake and went behind the net. With 45 seconds to go in the game, Landon Bernard made an acrobatic, diving stick save on a Patriots breakaway by Rusiecki. His save gave the Lightning an opportunity at a tying goal in the final minute. With Bernard pulled for an extra attacker, several shots from the point hit traffic in front and bounced harmlessly away allowing the Patriots to prevail in a game that under normal circumstances would have had a much different outcome.

Game Notes:

• The Lightning outshot the Patriots 29-21.
• The Lightning penalty kill did not allow a powerplay goal and is now 19-21 on the season, 90.5%.
• The Lightning junior varsity powerplay did not have an extra attacker advantage against the Patriots and remains scoreless on the season in 18 opportunities.
• The Lightning will be looking to bounce back into the win column when they return to action over the winter break on Wednesday, December 29th at 7:45 pm at Skate Frederick for a non-conference game versus Frederick County.

Three Stars of the Game:

First Star—Julian Piche—Wootton Goalie—29 save shutout
Second Star—Landon Bernard—Upper Montgomery Goalie–-1 goal against, 20 saves, .952 save percentage
Third Star—Brandon Bernard—Upper Montgomery Center

The Upper Montgomery junior varsity fell to Walter Johnson 5-3 on Monday afternoon at Wheaton Ice Rink. The loss left the team with a 2-2 record in conference and a 2-3-1 record overall on the season. Up 3-2 with six minutes left in the game, the Lightning gave up three late goals to see the game slip away. The result was impacted by a subpar performance by the referees, which handed out ten powerplays to the Wildcats and only two to the Lightning. The amount of time Upper Montgomery spent on the penalty kill prevented the Lightning from getting into the flow of the game. Once behind late in the third period having to continue to kill penalties prevented the team from mounting a comeback.

The Lightning went to the penalty kill just one minute and sixteen seconds into the game when Brandon Bernard was called for tripping. The Lightning held strong and killed off penalty number one. With four and a half minutes to go in the first period, Lightning forward Greg Felder, who was making his season debut, was called for high sticking and then given an additional two minutes for arguing the call. Just thirty seconds later the Lightning would jump in front while shorthanded. Lightning Center Henry Honacki blocked a shot from the left point. The puck bounced forward and he skated down the right wing outracing the Wildcats defense. At the right faceoff circle, he fired a wrist shot far side and high past Wildcat netminder Becca Freda for his first career high school goal. Less than a minute later while still on the powerplay, Wildcat defender Coleman Santy skated up ice on an individual rush and fired a shot past Lightning netminder Landon Bernard to even the score at one. That would be the only powerplay goal surrendered by the Lightning as the team would go on to kill nine of the ten shorthanded situations.

The second period would be similar to the first period. Early in the period, the Lightning would regain the lead. Off of a faceoff in the Wildcats defensive zone, the puck went to the boards. James Hyman competed in the corner and won the puck. He turned and passed the puck across the ice to the right point where Andrew Gean fired a slap shot past Freda who was dealing with screen in front from Jordan Lynch. A minute later the score would be even at two. Off of a faceoff to the left of Bernard, Wildcat Center Adam Rozsalyi stepped forward and put a wrist shot high past Bernard’s catching glove from the bottom of the faceoff circle. Then, the penalty parade started again. First it was Bradley Cupples for cross checking. Then it was George Benedick for roughing. The Lightning interrupted the penalty parade to re-take the lead. Cupples cleared the zone with a pass to Brandon Bernard who skated down the right wing into the Wildcats zone. He stopped hard, faked, and then slid a beautiful pass over to Hyman who had a wide open net to knock the puck into. The Lightning were back in front with 2:44 left in the second period, a period in which they had three shots on goal and scored twice. Meanwhile, the referees were not done. With 1:37 left in the period, Honacki was called for an apparent hooking penalty. Finally, after six consecutive penalties on the Lightning, a penalty was called on Walter Johnson for roughing.

The Lightning could not capitalize on an early third period powerplay. Then, the game became a test of the Lightning’s defense. For the next three minutes the Wildcats pushed to tie the game and the Lightning defended well. With just less than six minutes left in the game Rozsalyi would score again to even the game. He took a pass along his own blue line from Santy and skated up ice by himself. He entered the Lightning defensive zone and fired a wrist shot past Bernard. On the next shift Rozsalyi would net a hat trick finishing off a nice three on two rush up the ice by the Wildcats. Rozsalyi started the play skating up ice and passing the puck over to Wildcat defender Max Abbott who had joined the rush. Abbott found Leyton Seo in front. Rather than shoot, Seo passed the puck across the crease to Rozsalyi for an easy tap in goal.

Two minutes later Rozsalyi would tally again for his fourth goal of the game, beating Bernard from a sharp angle high glove side to give the Wildcats a 5-3 lead. Then, the game disintegrated. Twelve seconds after the Wildcats goal, Brandon Bernard skated up ice into the Wildcats defensive zone. A penalty was called, and a Wildcats defender skated into the penalty box. Somehow, while carrying the puck into the offensive zone the referees had called a holding penalty on Bernard confusing the Wildcats who were certain they were going shorthanded. On the penalty kill, Cupples was again called for cross checking putting the Lightning down on a 5-3 penalty kill. After the 5-3 was killed off, Benedick was called for a final penalty late in the game.

Game Notes:

• The Lightning were outshot by the Wildcats by a wide margin, 33-9.
• The Lightning penalty kill was excellent in the game killing off nine of ten Wildcats powerplay opportunities while scoring shorthanded. The Upper Montgomery junior varsity penalty kill is 17-19 on the season, 89.5%.
• The Lightning junior varsity powerplay remains scoreless on the season in 18 opportunities.
• James Hyman had his first multi-point game with one goal and one assist.
• The Lightning will be looking to bounce back tomorrow, Tuesday, December 21st at 4:50 pm at the Laurel Ice Gardens for an important divisional game versus Wootton.

Three Stars of the Game:

First Star—Adam Rozsalyi—Walter Johnson Center—4 Goals
Second Star—Coleman Santy—Walter Johnson Defense–-1 Goal, 1 Assist
Third Star—James Hyman—Upper Montgomery Forward—1 Goal, 1 Assist