Northwest / Quince Orchard senior 18U AA center Ethan Custodio has long been a thorn in the side of the Upper Montgomery Lightning. Although it had been five years since the Jaguars were last victorious over the Lightning, he had peppered the score sheet for years in losing efforts. Last season, he had three points in each of the team’s three matchups, all Upper Montgomery wins. On Friday night at the Rockville Ice Arena, Custodio exploded for six goals while adding an assist as he singlehandedly carried the Jaguars to a convincing 9-3 victory over a shell shocked Lightning squad. The second straight loss for Upper Montgomery dropped the team’s record to 1-2 on the young season.
The game saw a brief return to the net of Upper Montgomery starting goalie junior 16U AAA Ilan Shterenberg. He was able to play the first period before heading out of town with his external travel team. The chaos of arriving from his external travel team’s practice, then knowing he was going to have to leave the crease early seemed to unsettle Shterenberg. His play was not as sharp as his first game this season, a 25 save opening night shutout of the DC Stars.
The Lightning students appeared sluggish out of the gate. The first half of the opening period saw no scoring. While the Jaguars were able to put shots on net and make it difficult for Upper Montgomery to cleanly break out of the defensive zone, when in the offensive zone the Lightning consistently misfired shots wide of the net or high over the net. There were also long sequences of offensive zone time for the Lightning with no shots being fired at Northwest / Quince Orchard sophomore goalie Sean Wyatt.
Custodio started the scoring with his ninth goal of the season to put the Jaguars up 1-0. Upper Montgomery had possession of the puck behind the Northwest / Quince Orchard net. A centering pass to the slot was intercepted by Custodio. He shot straight up ice on a two on one rush with Jaguars ninth grade forward Nicholas Berl. Custodio went straight into the Lightning’s defensive zone shaded by Upper Montgomery sophomore defender Matt Rivera. Custodio used leverage to go around the outside of the left faceoff circle before cutting in alone on Shterenberg. The netminder made the initial save on Custodio’s backhanded stuff attempt putting the puck into the right corner. The Lightning tried to skate the puck out of the defensive zone rather than just flop the puck up in the air back down the ice. Jaguars forward Amir Karimov caused a turnover by getting in the way of the stickhandling. The puck squirted over to Custodio who fired a wrist shot from the right faceoff circle low past Shterenberg’s stick and blocker into the far side of the net.
If Upper Montgomery was angry about being down by a goal, the students sure did not play like it. Under two minutes later, the deficit increased as Karimov scored his first goal of the season. The Lightning failed to clear the puck from their defensive zone. The puck was kept in at the right point by Jaguars defender, senior 18U AA Roman Martin. Martin dropped the puck down the right wing boards behind the net to Berl. Berl shoveled the puck further to Custodio standing in the left corner. Custodio reversed course and took the puck back around the net from left to right. Clearing the right goal post, he fed the puck back to the right point to Martin. Martin’s long range wrist shot was deflected by Upper Montgomery senior 18U AAA center, team captain Owen Robbins with the puck landing at the right side of the crease near Berl. Berl’s close in shot was a chest save made by a lunging Shterenberg. The puck bounced to the goalie’s left into the goal crease. With very little defensive pressure, Karimov tapped the puck forward a foot or so into the empty net.
As the period wound down to a minute remaining, Upper Montgomery clawed back to within one goal. Robbins stole the puck in the neutral zone before sending it wide to ninth grade 16U AA forward Miles Gleason, the county’s top goal scorer entering the contest. Gleason dragged the puck into the Northwest / Quince Orchard defensive zone down the right wing boards. At the outside of the right faceoff circle the puck was stolen by a Jaguars defender. Almost immediately, Robbins stole the puck back to regain possession for Upper Montgomery. Robbins dumped the puck into the empty right corner looking for Gleason. Gleason and Lightning senior forward Philip Shkeda interchanged with Shkeda taking the puck on the sideboards. Shkeda passed the puck to the middle slot looking for Gleason who was tied up and thus unable to get off a shot. Robbins grabbed the loose puck and sent it back to the left point for Lightning 18U AA defender Brady Berkhammer, the county’s leading defensive scorer. Berkhammer’s long range wrist shot went high to Wyatt’s glove hand. With Shkeda in front causing a distraction, the Jaguars goalie did not appear to track the shot before it landed in the top right corner of the net. It was Berkhammer’s first goal of the season to go along with his nine assists. Both Upper Montgomery and Northwest / Quince Orchard were credited with twelve shots on goal in the first period although Upper Montgomery had many more shot attempts that were not on net.
With the start of the second period, Lightning ninth grade goalie Stephen Rickman entered the game. For the first several minutes of the second period it looked like the game was going to be a battle to see if either team was going to press the attack. Four and a half minutes into the middle period, Lightning senior forward Jason Woodman was called for a slashing minor penalty. Three seconds later, off the powerplay’s opening faceoff, Custodio was at it again scoring his county leading tenth goal of the season. In the left faceoff circle Custodio won the faceoff forward. He stepped around Robbins gaining possession of the puck in the lower left faceoff circle. He went straight to the net through the crease. Untouched by the other three Lightning skaters he faked to his backhand going around the outstretched left leg pad of Rickman. It was a breakaway generated from the left faceoff circle with no Upper Montgomery skater making Custodio’s charge to the net more difficult.
Just after Custodio put the Jaguars up 3-1, Northwest / Quince Orchard defender Andrew Isaacson was called for his own slashing minor penalty. Instead of it turning into a great opportunity for the Lightning to get back into the game, Custodio registered his hat-trick goal scoring an unassisted shorthanded goal for his eleventh goal of the year. With the Lightning on the powerplay, from a faceoff in the left faceoff in the offensive zone, Robbins won the draw to the left wing boards to Gleason. Custodio stole the puck with the Lightning skaters all headed toward the Northwest / Quince Orchard net. He was off on a breakaway from his own defensive blue line. He skated up the right side of the ice before cutting to the middle. Coming down the slot all alone on Rickman, Custodio again faked to his backhand and slid the puck just past the young goaltender who almost made the save at the right post.
Four minutes later Custodio scored yet again to push the Jaguars to a 5-1 lead with his fourth goal of the night and twelfth of the season. The puck was deep in the Northwest / Quince Orchard defensive zone in the left corner. The puck was chipped out to center ice by the Jaguars defense. Lightning 16U Upper A junior defender Miles Wendland got to the puck first to disrupt the initial danger. He move the puck forward toward the blue line where is was taken by Jaguars forward Brennan Dorman. Dorman sent a backhand pass to the slot for Berl. Berl’s spinning shot went wide of the net where it bounced off the back boards before shooting back to the bottom of the left faceoff circle. Guess who was there? With Rickman rotating to the opposite side of the net the goalie had no chance as Custodio had the entire left side of the net open to easily tuck the puck into the near side.
With a half a minute left in the second period, Custodio finished off his four goal period. With the puck in the left corner of the defensive zone, it was swiped by Martin. Martin sent the puck around the right wing boards for Berl. His outlet pass for Custodio split both Upper Montgomery defenders in the neutral zone. Custodio went down the slot with Berkhammer draped all over him, hooking him from behind. Yet again, Custodio went forehand, then backhand along the ice past Rickman. Custodio dominated the period in which Northwest / Quince Orchard outshot Upper Montgomery ten to three.
Down 6-1 entering the third period, Upper Montgomery only had to look back to last week for inspiration. Silver Spring was in a similar predicament before rallying to topple the Lightning. Right away, things began to look up. Two minutes into the third period, Lightning junior forward Mason Jagoz scored his first career high school varsity goal. After a Northwest / Quince Orchard defensive zone clear, Wendland retreated into his own defensive zone with the puck. He sent the puck up ice to Upper Montgomery 16U Upper A junior forward Aiden Zheng. Zheng cut across the ice in the neutral zone from the middle to the right wing where he entered the Jaguars defensive zone. Looking to create offense he brought the puck around the net from right to left. Clearing the back of the net he sent the puck back to Berkhammer at the left point. Berkhammer’s wrist shot went between Wyatt’s legs five hole stopping behind the goalie but not over the goal line. Jagoz was standing in the slot. He reached forward with his stick poking the puck hard enough to get it across the goal line for the Lightning’s second goal of the evening.
Upper Montgomery could not build off of the momentum that Jagoz’s goal provided. Four minutes later Northwest / Quince Orchard went back on the powerplay when Rivera was called for a tripping penalty with eight and a half minutes remaining. This time, it took the Jaguars all of ten seconds to score on the powerplay. Custodio won the faceoff from the left faceoff circle back to Martin at the left point. Martin paused for a second allowing traffic to move to the front of the net. He then sent a rising wrister that went high over Rickman’s glove hand to the top right corner of the net for his third goal of the season. It was 7-2 in favor of Northwest / Quince Orchard. Five seconds later Custodio put the cherry on top. From the faceoff at center ice, he won the draw forward. Once again he split the Upper Montgomery defense. Coming in alone on Rickman for the umpteenth time, he used his patented forehand to backhand fake to pot his sixth goal of the game and fourteenth of the season.
Down 8-2 with eight minutes remaining, the game was into running clock. The Lightning coaching staff began to play students who don’t regularly receive much varsity playing time. With just over two and a half minutes left in the game, Berkhammer scored his second goal of the game and season to increase his season points total to twelve in just three games. Zheng grabbed the puck deep in the Upper Montgomery defensive zone. He took the puck behind the net beginning to skate up the right wing boards out of the Lightning’s defensive zone. He layered a pass forward for Woodman in the neutral zone. Woodman advanced the puck to the Jaguars defensive zone on the right wing. He fought through a check along the boards. From the right wing circle he fired a weak wrist shot on net that was saved by Wyatt. The puck was sent by Martin up to the left point where Berkhammer stepped in to keep the puck in the offensive zone. Berkhammer’s slapshot was blocked right back to him in the left faceoff circle. He took the puck around the net from left to right coming out in front with a wrap around chance. Wyatt just barely got over to the right goal post to make the save with the puck following Berkhammer to the bottom of the right faceoff circle. From a bad angle, he wasted no time firing a wrist shot high to the far side of the net to provide Upper Montgomery’s third tally.
With a minute remaining, Jaguars ninth grade forward Kuba Okrasa finished off the scoring with his first career high school varsity goal. Upper Montgomery had the puck in their defensive zone. The puck was played from the left corner behind the net to the right corner. Berl stopped the puck putting it deeper into the corner. He fought with Robbins for control of the puck coming away from the corner battle with possession. Berl centered the puck to Okrasa at the inside right edge of the left faceoff circle. Okrasa fired a wrist shot short side high over Rickman’s stick and blocker.
The 9-3 blowout loss was disheartening. Somehow, over the past four periods of hockey, Upper Montgomery completely deviated from the necessary defensive style of play that the Lightning used very effectively to create a blowout victory over the DC Stars, and what should have been a second straight blowout victory over Silver Spring. Now, the Lightning have reverted to giving up far too much time and space to the opponents. This lack of team defense has led to far too many breakaways against the Lightning’s goalies. The loss to Northwest / Quince Orchard was all due to lack of playing within the Lightning’s defensive structure of play. While Custodio had much to do with the outcome of the game, it was the Lightning who allowed Custodio to be the dominant offensive force.
Game Notes:
- Upper Montgomery was outshot by Northwest / Quince Orchard 33-27 for the game.
- Upper Montgomery gave up six goals to Ethan Custodio in the game. It is the first time in over six seasons that one student scored that many goals against Upper Montgomery.
- Upper Montgomery senior defender Brady Berkhammer scored two goals and added an assist. It is his third straight game with three or more points.
- Berkhammer leads the Montgomery Hockey Conference in assists with ten over three games and in defensive scoring with twelve points.
- Lightning junior forward Mason Jagoz scored his first career varsity goal.
- Upper Montgomery ninth grade goalie Stephen Rickman saw his first career varsity action in net.
- Lightning ninth grade defender Dylan Kim and ninth grade forward Nolan Veillette saw their first career varsity game action.
- Upper Montgomery returns to the ice next Friday evening for a late night tilt against Rockville / Magruder. Game time is 10:00 pm at the Cabin John Ice Rink.
Three Stars of the Game:
First Star—Ethan Custodio—Northwest / Quince Orchard Center—6 Goals, 1 Assist
Second Star—Nicholas Berl—Northwest / Quince Orchard Forward—3 Assists
Third Star—Brady Berkhammer—Upper Montgomery Defense—2 Goals, 1 Assist