Author: chucklevine

The Upper Montgomery Lightning came up just short once again as a furious rally over the final three minutes of Friday night’s game at Rockville Ice Arena fell one goal short. The highly talented Blair Blazers prevailed in a high scoring, back and forth affair, 7-6. The Lightning have now lost three consecutive one goal games to start the season playing against the top three teams in the division standings. Lightning Coach Todd Hassett was proud of the team’s effort and the spirit with which the team fought and competed to the final horn.

The game started out with the Lightning immediately on the penalty kill as James Botti was sent to the penalty box for tripping 12 seconds into the contest. The Lightning managed to kill off the penalty and began to turn up the offensive pressure. Nathan Cassel gathered in a loose puck in the defensive zone and pushed the puck forward to Chris Hassett. Hassett sent the puck wide toward the boards and directly onto the stick of Ryan Jacobson. Jacobson tore down the left wing into the offensive zone and riffled a wrist shot far side and past Blazers goalie Lily Bendavid for his first career high school goal.

The Blazers would tie the game five minutes later on a power play marker from Zander Frey. Just seven seconds after Lightning defender Andrew Botti went to the box for hooking, Blair would tie the game off of a faceoff win in the Lightning defensive zone. Landon Bernard made the initial save on Ryan Frank’s slap shot from the point, but the rebound careened into the slot and a touch pass from Ben Russell over to Frey provided the space for him to shove the puck past Bernard. Bernard would settle in to the period nicely and made some acrobatic and difficult saves to keep the Blazers at bay the rest of the period. With a couple of minutes left in the first period, Lightning forward Stephen Shkeda received a big check from Blazers forward Alex Birchard on what should have likely been a major penalty if called properly by the officiating crew. Birchard was lucky to escape with no penalty called on the play.

After a hooking penalty to Blazers forward Michael Humphreys, the Lightning would strike for their first power play goal of the season. After a slick zone entry, the Lightning worked the puck around the rim of the boards. James Botti’s shot from the left point was wide of the net. Jacobson collected the puck in the far corner and dished to the slot where Cassel buried a one-time slap shot past Bendavid to put Upper Montgomery up 2-1.

The Blazers would come out flying in the second period. Using a strategy of pushing forwards up the ice, there were several rushes where Blazers forwards were skating in alone behind the Lightning defense. Michael Humphreys would tie the game two minutes into the second period on a breakaway. A minute later Alex Birchard would score on a two on one break. Off the ensuing faceoff, the Blazers would score again with Chris Birchard poking a loose puck in the slot past Bernard. Just like that in a minute and a half a 2-1 Lightning lead had become a 4-2 deficit.

At the ten minute mark of the second period, the Blazers began taking unforced penalties. First, Ryan Frank was called for elbowing Stephen Shkeda. On the power play, the Lightning thought they had closed the gap. A delayed penalty was being called on Blazers star center Remy Chartol for roughing Lightning defender George Benedick, when James Botti sent a wrist shot toward the goal. The puck deflected in front and into the net. The referees waived off the goal due to a high stick touching the puck. However, the sticks of both Jacobson and Hassett were nowhere near above the top of the crossbar. The Lightning did not let the second bad call of the evening affect their play. On the 5 on 3 power play, the Lightning struck. Hunter Cameron pushed the puck down the right side boards to Jacobson in the corner. Jacobson swept a back hand pass out into the front of the net finding a wide open Hassett who finished easily and the Blazers lead was cut to one.

Back and forth the teams went. Blair would again jump out to a two goal lead on a short handed goal by Ben Russell. A bad clearing attempt by the Lightning was kept in the zone by Chris Birchard. Birchard fed the puck in deep along the left boards to Humphreys who cut toward the net. Bernard was able to make the initial save, but Russell beat the Lightning defense to the puck in the crease area and jammed the puck into the net. Blair would extend their lead to 6-3 on another outnumber rush up the ice. This time it was Chartol finishing off a two on one rush off of a nice pass from Frank. Just 13 seconds later Hassett would score his second goal of the game. Jacobson pressured the Blazers defense down the left side in the offensive zone and forced a turnover. Collecting the puck, he cut to the net and had the puck poke checked off his stick by Bendavid. Fortunately for the Lightning, the puck bounced directly out to Hassett who was charging hard toward the front of the net. Hassett poked the puck past the left leg of Bendavid and into the far side of the net. At the end of two periods of play, Blair led 6-4.

Blair would again take a three goal lead at the 8:34 mark of the third period on Chris Birchard’s second goal of the game off assists from JJ St. Aubin and Chartol. Just when it looked like the Lightning were running out of time, Blair inexplicitly began taking ill advised penalties. First it was Chartol with an unnecessary cross checking penalty in the neutral zone on Olivia Robbins. He proceeded to argue the call and drew an additional two minute penalty. On the first power play, the Lightning were unable to cash in. Then, with 30 seconds to go on the second minor penalty, Ryan Frank took a dangerous cross checking penalty in the corner burying Bradley Cupples. Frank’s penalty gave the Lightning another 5 on 3 power play advantage. Although they did not score, the Lightning kept pressuring the Blazers.

Upon departing the penalty box Chartol remained on the ice to kill off the penalty to Frank. He chased the puck down ice and checked James Botti behind the Lightning net drawing his fourth penalty of the game and an automatic game misconduct. Back again on yet another 5 on 3 power play the Lighting would cash in with 1:12 left in the game. Robbins passed the puck from the left circle into the middle looking for Cassel in the slot. The puck ticked off of his stick and bounced to Cupples. Cupples was not able to gain total control of the puck but nudged it back to Cassel who fired a wrist shot far side from the bottom of the right face off circle.

Chris Hassett won the ensuing face off at center ice back to Andrew Botti. Botti raced up the left side of the ice and all the way around the net. He curled a backhand shot around the post and stuffed the puck into the net before Bendavid could come across the crease. For Botti it was his first career high school goal and with 58 seconds left in the game the Lightning now only trailed by one. Upper Montgomery kept pressuring over the final minute of the game pulling Bernard with 30 seconds left to create a 6 on 5 advantage. Time expired before the Lightning could find the net one final time to cap what would have been an epic comeback.

Game Notes:

• Several student athletes had multi-point performances.
  • Blair
    • Chris Birchard, 2 Goals, 1 Assist, Game Winning Goal
    • Alex Birchard, 1 Goal, 1 Assist
    • Michael Humphreys, 1 Goal, 1 Assist
    • Remy Chartol, 1 Goal, 1 Assist
    • Ben Russel, 1 Goal, 1 Assist
    • Ryan Frank, 2 Assists
  • Upper Montgomery
    • Chris Hassett, 2 Goals, 2 Assists
    • Ryan Jacobson, 1 Goal, 3 Assists
    • Nathan Cassel, 2 Goals, 1 Assist
• Shots on goal were even; Upper Montgomery 29, Blair 28
• Power Plays—Upper Montgomery 4-7, Blair 1-3.
• Upper Montgomery scored two 5 on 3 PPGs.
• Nathan Cassel has scored a goal in each of his first three high school games.
• Ryan Jacobson and Andrew Botti each scored their first career high school goals for the Lightning.
• The Lightning have now given up a short handed goal in all three games of the season.
• The Lightning are next in action on Friday, November 12th at 8:50 pm facing the DC Stars at Rockville Ice Arena.

Three Stars of the Game:

First Star—Chris Birchard—Blair Forward—2 Goals, 1 Assist, Game Winning Goal
Second Star—Chris Hassett—Upper Montgomery Center–2 Goals, 2 Assists
Third Star—Ryan Jacobson—Upper Montgomery Forward—1 Goal, 3 Assists

The Upper Montgomery Lightning JV squad hung tough for most of Thursday afternoon’s against a more experienced and older Richard Montgomery squad. Two late Rockets goals helped secure a 5-2 victory over the Lightning at the Laurel Ice Gardens.

Against one of the top teams in the conference, the young Lightning showed an ability to compete for long stretches of the game. The first period, however, was controlled by the Rockets. The teams traded chances early until Richard Montgomery opened the scoring at the 6:33 mark on a goal by Ian Hutchinson. Two minutes later the Rockets would extend the lead on a goal by Lucas Perkins. At that point the Lightning settled down and kept the Rockets in check.

The opening of the second period saw the Lightning strike quickly. Off the opening faceoff, Lightning forward Josh Miller took the puck wide and into the offensive zone. He battled in the corner with the Rockets defense, winning the puck battle and cutting in toward the net. The puck bounced around in front and a persistent Miller was able to jam the puck past Rockets senior netminder Thomas Sprague. The goal 19 seconds into the second period gave the Lightning life and the game was evenly played over the next ten minutes of action. With 48 seconds remaining in the second period, Jaxson Hartle knocked a loose puck into a wide open net and past Lightning netminder Landon Bernard (30 saves) to put the Rockets back on top by two goals heading into the third period.

At the start of the third period Upper Montgomery got off to a Lightning quick start. Under pressure from Bradley Cupples, the Richard Montgomery defense fumbled the puck at the attacking blue line. Cupples controlled the puck, skated the length of the ice and went in alone on a breakaway. A quick deke to the backhand, then shifting quickly to the forehand, Cupples whipped a wrist shot past Sprague into the open net and the Lighting were again within one goal. With all of the momentum, the Lightning kept up the pressure. A little over a minute later, the Lightning would go on the power play after a tripping penalty to Nicholas Saffell. However, off the ensuing faceoff Lightning center Josh Nadler took a roughing penalty which negated the Lightning power play after only four seconds.

During the 4 on 4 play, the Rockets would push the lead to 4-2 on an unassisted goal by Nathan Lynch. But, the game was far from over at that point. Bradley Cupples would take a cross checking penalty with six minutes remaining in the game. While shorthanded, the Lightning had the best opportunity. Josh Miller got possession of the puck in the neutral zone and sped down the left wing. As he got behind Rockets defender Noe Masurel he was tripped up on a clear break toward the net. A penalty shot was awarded by the referees as Miller’s scoring chance was taken away by the tripping penalty.

On the penalty shot, Miller broke in, deked backhand, switched to his forehand and was stopped by Sprague on the shot attempt. The Lightning pressured over the next several minutes until a late goal on an individual rush up ice by John Yang sealed the victory for the Rockets.

The Lightning junior varsity currently are scheduled to return to action next month on Saturday, December 11 versus Quince Orchard.

The Upper Montgomery Lightning junior varsity squad held off BCC and claimed a hard fought 3-2 victory in the season opener Monday evening at the Laurel Ice Gardens. Coming off a season in which the junior varsity was overmatched against the opposing teams in the county, grabbing a big two points in the season opener was a much needed confidence boost for the young team.

The Lightning controlled the puck for most of the first period. Many of the Lightning shots either misfired wide of the net or were blocked in front, never reaching Barons goalie Vivienne Boyle. At the very end of the first period the Lightning would beat the horn and score a late goal. George Benedick applied strong back pressure coming out of the offensive zone and forced a turnover at center ice along the far boards. A quick pass up the boards to Adam Levine turned into a two on one rush. Levine skated into the zone and slid a perfectly timed pass over to Benedick who had hustled up the ice to create the two on one advantage. The pass found Benedick in alone. He snapped a wrist shot back against the direction that Boyle had come from, and into the wide open portion of the net with two seconds remaining in the first period.

The second period saw play open up a bit with more flow to the game. Each team would have eight shots on net in the period and each would score a goal. The Barons would strike first less than two minutes into the period on a goal by Shisui Torii tying the game. The Lightning would reclaim the lead on Josh Nadler’s first career high school goal. After a BCC dump in to the right of the Lightning net, defender Ethan Hockey won the race to the puck firing the puck behind the net and outside the defensive zone along the far wing. The puck eluded all of the Barons’ skaters and was chased down by Nadler in the top of the right circle in the Barons defensive zone. He released a wrist shot from the bottom of the circle. Boyle was able to partially save the shot, but the puck trickled through and just over the goal line near the far post.

In the third period the Lightning were focused on defense and protecting their 2-1 lead, registering only two shots in the period. Off of a face off in the neutral zone, the puck was batted back to Ethan Hockey. He skated up ice and into the Barons defensive zone where in the middle of the slot area he lost the puck. The puck deflected directly to Josh Nadler who was able to elude Boyle and deposit the puck in a wide open net. Nadler’s second goal of the game gave the Lightning a 3-1 lead with seven minutes left in the third period. Over the last seven minutes of the game, the Barons pushed forward in an effort to claw back into the game. Lightning sophomore netminder Landon Bernard (16 saves) turned away some quality chances before surrendering a late goal to Sam Levy with 28 seconds remaining in the game. However, off the ensuing faceoff at center ice, the Lightning controlled the puck and were able to kill off the remaining time with no further threat from the Barons.

The Lightning JV will look to make it back to back victories to begin the season this Thursday afternoon versus Richard Montgomery at the Laurel Ice Gardens.

The Quince Orchard Cougars escaped last Friday night with a hard fought 2-1 victory over the Upper Montgomery Lightning. The defending regular season conference champion Cougars received all they could handle from the young, pesky Lightning squad before eventually prevailing and securing two important points in the division standings.

It was a physical contest throughout. The first period saw heavy hitting and five different roughing penalties handed out. The majority of the period was spent with either the Lightning or the Cougars on the power play. Both teams excelled on the penalty kill and stymied chance after chance. Both teams had three power play opportunities falter with the Lightning having a 5 on 3 power play for over a minute. The first period ended scoreless due to the excellent play of the Lightning defense stifling the high powered Cougars. When Cougars offensively gifted forwards Joshua Weitzman and Dylan Eyester were able to find some space, Will Mellen, playing in his first game for the Lightning, shut the door and made many difficult saves look easy.

Early in the second period the Lightning jumped out to the lead. Defender James Botti fought along the boards and won a puck battle sending the puck deep into the Cougars defensive zone. The puck was corralled by Chris Hassett toward the left side of the net. Hassett’s centering feed into the slot was gathered in by Nathan Cassel who fired a quick wrist shot by Cougars goalie Jeremy Eager. It was Cassel’s team leading second goal of the season and gave him goals in back-to-back games for the 9th grade sniper. Soon after the Lightning took the lead, the parade to the penalty box began again. Mirroring the first period, both teams had multiple power play opportunities in the second period. The last Quince Orchard penalty to Joshua Weitzman turned out to be the turning point in the game. Just ten seconds after Weitzman went to the penalty box for roughing, gifted Cougars forward Dylan Eyester went end to end with the puck before finally tucking a shot past Mellen to tie the game at one.

With just 33 seconds left in the second period the Cougars would strike again. After an icing brought the faceoff back into the Lightning defensive zone, the Cougars controlled the puck before Dakota Delcamp eventually found Weitzman at the far post. It was an easy tap in goal for Weitzman off the cross ice feed as he had snuck in behind the Lightning defense. Weitzman’s league leading 8th goal of the season giving the Cougars a lead they would look to protect in the third period.

In the third period Upper Montgomery generated more shots on goal, ten, then they had in the previous two periods combined, eight. However, every Lightning chance was turned away by Eager and the Cougars experienced defense. As disappointing as the outcome of the game was for the young Lightning squad, the difference between last year’s game with Quince Orchard, a 7-0 shutout victory for the Cougars (the final score was not indicative of how lopsided the game really was) the Lighting were very competitive against what will likely turn out to be the top team in the division.

Coming off of two one goal losses, the Lightning will look to earn their first win and standings points of the season versus Blair.

Game Notes:

• The start of the game was delayed by 20 minutes, the result of a full-team bench clearing brawl at the end of the BCC vs St. John’s game.
• Joshua Weitzman scored his league leading 8th goal of the season.
• Quince Orchard outshot the Lightning 29-18.
• Power Plays—Lightning 0-6, Cougars 0-6.
• Andrew Botti had a game high 14 penalty minutes.
• The Lightning have given up short handed goals in back-to-back games.
• Will Mellen stopped 27 of 29 shots on goal.
• The Lightning are next in action on Friday, November 5th at 8:50 pm facing the Blair Blazers at Rockville Ice Arena.

Three Stars of the Game:

First Star—Joshua Weitzman #36—Quince Orchard Forward—Game Winning Goal
Second Star—Will Mellen #31—Upper Montgomery Goalie–27 saves, .931 save %
Third Star—Dylan Eyester #71—Quince Orchard Forward—Short Handed Goal

The Upper Montgomery Lightning lost its season opener 3-2 against the Rockville/Magruder Rams Monday evening at the Laurel Ice Gardens.  The Lightning had hoped to begin the season strong and carry momentum from their 4-1-1 finish to the 2020-2021 campaign.  But it was not to be.  Senior defender Ryan Iliff scored a short-handed goal from long range with 57 seconds left in the third period to win it for the Rams.

It was a tight contest throughout with the Lightning carrying play for long stretches of the game.  Rams’ goalie Freddie Horowitz was the first star of the game stopping 32 of 34 shots.  He held strong in the third period as the Lightning pressed to take the lead, having three straight power plays in the final ten minutes of the game.  At the conclusion of the final power play, Ryan Iliff controlled the puck in the neutral zone, skated toward the bench for a line change and ripped the puck toward the net from just outside the blue line.  The shot eluded Lightning goalie Landon Bernard far side to the top corner of the net for the eventual game winner.

The Lightning opened the game strong with stout defense limiting the Rams to only three shots in the first ten minutes of the game.  A turnover deep in the Rams defensive zone led to the first goal of the game.  Lightning right winger Hunter Cameron pounced on a loose puck at the top of the right circle.  He quickly turned and fired a wrist shot to the top left corner of the net beating Horowitz.  The unassisted goal giving the Lightning the lead at the 8:30 mark of the first period.  The Rams would respond about six minutes later when Lukas Gold scored a power play goal off a feed from Trey Zeren with 42 seconds remaining in the first period.  

The second period saw the Lightning dominate for long stretches outshooting the Rams 18 to 6.  In the last minute of the period, the Lightning broke the tie as Nathan Cassel buried a nifty pass from Chris Hasset for his first career high school goal.  The tally at 14:17 of the second period appeared to give the Lightning momentum and a lead they would look to protect in the third period.

Early in the third period the Rams were staked to their fourth consecutive power play opportunity after a checking from behind minor to Nathan Cassel.  It did not take the Rams long to capitalize with Shea Walsh finding the net at 2:36 of the period to knot the game at 2-2.  Over the next four minutes the teams settled in and buckled down.  Both teams played a tight checking defensive structure preventing any quality chances.  From the six-minute mark to the end of the game, the Lightning enjoyed three straight power play opportunities.  Although applying pressure to the Rams in the offensive zone, the Lighting were not able to break through and take the lead.  Horowitz made timely saves.  Other shots from the point or the half wall hit players in front and deflected away.  It was at the tail end of the third power play, with a little over a minute left in the game, that an innocent Rams clearing pass into the neutral zone ultimately led to the deciding moment of the game, Ryan Iliff’s shorthanded game winner. 

Game Notes:

• Playing in their first high school varsity game for the Lightning were Andrew Botti, Ryan Jacobson, Nathan Cassel, Henry Honacki, and Josh Nadler.
• The Lightning outshot the Rams 34-20.
• Power Plays—Lightning 0-3, Rams 2-4.
• Nathan Cassel had a game high 14 penalty minutes.
• The Lightning are next in action on Friday, October 29th at 10:00 pm facing the Quince Orchard Cougars at Cabin John Ice Rink

Three Stars of the Game:

First Star—Freddie Horowitz #70—Rockville Goalie—Win, 32 saves, .941 save %
Second Star—Ryan Iliff #44—Rockville Defense–Game Winning Short-Handed Goal
Third Star—Hunter Cameron #17—Upper Montgomery Forward—Season Opening Goal