In a pivotal game with home ice implications for the season ending Montgomery Hockey Conference post season playoff tournament, Lightning senior center Henry Honacki scored his second goal of the contest on a four on three powerplay with eleven seconds remaining in overtime to propel the Upper Montgomery Lightning past the DC Stars 3-2. It was an excellent bounce back win after the drubbing the Lightning endured in their prior game versus Wootton. With the victory over the DC Stars, Upper Montgomery has likely wrapped up a top eight seed in the Montgomery Hockey Conference post season tournament and along with that home ice advantage (last line change) in the opening round playoff matchup. The Lightning increased their overall record on the season to 4-3-1 and 4-2-1 in conference play.
A concerted team effort in all three zones allowed Upper Montgomery to emerge victorious while playing without the team’s top three offensive weapons, senior Nathan Cassel and juniors Owen Robbins and Philip Shkeda. With that much offensive firepower out of the lineup, the coaching staff anticipated a low scoring game. Although the DC Stars vastly outshot Upper Montgomery, most of the DC Stars shots on goal were from long range or were harmless shots where Lightning sophomore netminder Ilan Shterenberg had clear sight lines to make a routine save. On the other hand, DC Stars goalie Anton Tracy was largely responsible for keeping Upper Montgomery to only two goals in regulation by making several outstanding saves to redeem the spotty DC Stars defensive performance.
From the outset of the game, the DC Stars made a concerted effort to shoot pucks at the net. As previously mentioned, the Stars were not too concerned with how dangerous the shots were, just that they were pumping rubber at Shterenberg. They succeeded in firing fifteen shots on net during the opening period of play to just six shots for the Lightning. However, it was Upper Montgomery that jumped in front to an early lead.
From a faceoff in the right faceoff circle in the offensive zone, Lightning sophomore center Jake Hudson won the draw cleanly to Upper Montgomery junior defender Brady Berkhammer at the right point. Berkhammer faked past the DC Stars forward coming out to guard him at the point and carried the puck down the right wing boards into the right corner. He proceeded to spin around the DC Stars left defender and sent a goal mouth pass through the crease to the back left goal post. Berkhammer’s pass was right on the money for Lightning ninth grade forward Luke Hudson to bang home the puck past Tracy’s goalie stick and blocker for his first career high school varsity goal. The primary assist was Berkhammer’s sixth assist on the season. The faceoff win credited Jake Hudson with his sixth assist of the season as well.
With two minutes left in the first period, Upper Montgomery took at too many skaters on the ice penalty. The Lightning penalty killers stood tall and prevented the Stars from getting good looks at the net. There was plenty of traffic in front, but most of the Stars shots were blocked by Upper Montgomery’s defense or from bad angles with Shterenberg in good position to make the easy saves.
Entering the second period with a lead and knowing that they could play with a division one opponent, Upper Montgomery began to assert control of play. One offensive thrust a couple of minutes into the period bore fruit when DC Stars forward Reuven Magder was assessed a cross checking penalty wiping out an Upper Montgomery forward standing in the crease setting a screen. The resulting powerplay gave the Lightning an opportunity to extend their lead which was exactly what the Lightning would do.
While shorthanded, the DC Stars sent the puck the length of the ice to Shterenberg in front of the net. The Lightning netminder sent a long outlet pass up the ice to Upper Montgomery ninth grade forward Siddy Bhasin on the left wing at the offensive blue line. Bhasin curled around in center ice and headed into the DC Stars defensive zone down the middle of the ice. Bhasin avoided a big check by the DC Stars top defender, senior 18U AA Leo Nyberg, and dumped the puck into the left corner. Bhasin then attempted to bring the puck toward the net front where he was stick checked by Tracy. Upper Montgomery ninth grade defender Matt Rivera pinched in from his left point position to keep the play alive. The puck went down the left wing boards to Honacki on the side wall. Honacki curled off the boards to the center of the left faceoff circle and sent a rising wrist shot to the far side of the net. Tracy, with bodies screening him in front, picked up the puck too late as the shot zoomed past his catching glove into the top right corner of the net.
Upper Montgomery seemingly had control of the game until an unlucky penalty a minute later put the Stars on their second powerplay of the evening. Bhasin’s stick got stuck under the skates of a DC Stars defender and down he went sending Bhasin to the penalty box for tripping. Upper Montgomery did a fine job on the first minute of the Stars powerplay keeping everything to the outside. An Upper Montgomery clear down ice was stopped in the left faceoff circle by Tracy. Tracy sent a pass up ice to Stars forward Liam Saxon at center ice along the left wing boards. Saxon entered the Lightning defensive zone diagonally to the center of the ice. From just inside the blue line Saxon sent a long distance shot on goal. As with many of the Stars’ shot attempts on the evening, Shterenberg made an easy save. A poor clearing attempt by the Upper Montgomery defense was kept in the offensive zone by Nyberg. Nyberg skated to the top of the right faceoff circle where he unleashed a powerful wrist shot at the net. His shot rose high above Shterenberg’s collarbone and just under the crossbar. The top shelf unassisted powerplay marker brought the Stars to within one.
Right after Nyberg’s goal trimmed the Lightning’s lead, the Stars had an excellent opportunity to quickly tie up the game when Honacki was called for a roughing penalty. Upper Montgomery did an excellent job on the Stars third powerplay opportunity of the evening blocking several shots, getting to loose pucks, and repetitively getting the puck out of the defensive zone. However, after the powerplay concluded, with five minutes remaining in the second period the game was all tied up.
Upper Montgomery dumped the puck into the DC Stars defensive zone behind the goal. The DC Stars zone exit was messy, but the puck eventually came to Stars forward Patrick Kaufmann on the right side of the ice at his defensive blue line. Kaufmann carried the puck through neutral ice and dumped the puck into the Upper Montgomery defensive zone between the right corner and the goal. Two DC Stars skaters outnumbered Lightning senior defender Cole Howerton on the puck. Stars defender Sam Bensky came away with the puck and sent a pass from behind the goal to the slot area. Stars forward Frederick Bao outmuscled the Lightning defense to gain inside position at the top of the crease where he tapped home the puck five hole through Shterenberg’s legs to tie the game at two.
Thirty seconds later the Lightning were on the powerplay again when Stars forward Thomas Quinn was called for cross checking for running over Rivera in the neutral zone. Upper Montgomery controlled the puck in the offensive zone for the entire powerplay. At times, the Lightning skaters did not shoot the puck looking for the perfect shot. Other times, the Lightning had very good looks that Tracy shut down with fine saves to keep the game tied. Then, with a minute left in the period, Bhasin was called for his second penalty of the period, this time for cross checking. The Lightning penalty killers excelled on this shorthanded opportunity to reach the end of the period deadlocked at two even though the Stars outshot the Lightning eleven to four during the period and 26-10 through two periods of play.
The Lightning killed off the remainder of Bhasin’s penalty to begin the third period. Then, the period settled into a mirror image of the opening fifteen minutes of play. The DC Stars entered the Upper Montgomery defensive zone and shot from distance at Shterenberg who made eighteen more saves in the period. While Upper Montgomery was more conservative with their eight shots and generated the better offensive chances. Shterenberg was solid making each save and directing the rebounds out of harm’s way. Tracy was excellent keeping the score tied with several really good saves. As the clocked ticked under five minutes, it seemed as if every rush up ice had the potential to bring the game winning shot with it. Once the clock reached under a minute remaining in regulation time, each team seemed more inclined to just reach overtime to secure the important standings points.
Once overtime began, the DC Stars had possession for the first minute of the extra session with Nyberg testing Shterenberg early on and then Stars forward Kai Handy-Kanegis having a good look from the top of the circles that he fired wide of the net. After that first shift of overtime, Upper Montgomery dominated puck possession. The pressure paid off when Saxon was called for a tripping penalty with two minutes remaining in overtime. But, with running clock the faceoff in the Stars defensive zone did not occur until one minute and thirty one seconds remained in the game.
With the four on three powerplay chance, Honacki won the initial faceoff draw back to Berkhammer at the right point. Berkhammer skated into the slot and sent a low wrist shot to Tracy’s blocker side. The puck went over Tracy’s outstretched leg pad and banged hard off the left goal post. The ricochet bounced directly under Tracy and the puck was quickly frozen. Honacki won the next faceoff too cleanly as the puck went directly out of the offensive zone. Berkhammer brought the puck back into the offensive zone from center ice. He reset the play allowing the Lightning skaters to get into position and set up. He sent a pass from the right point over to the left point to Lightning sophomore defender Miles Wendland. Wendland’s long range wrist shot was saved by Tracy and cleared down ice by the Stars defense.
Upper Montgomery’s next zone entry saw Berkhammer send in Wendland down the left side of the ice. Wendland entered the offensive zone and shot high and wide of the net to the far side. The puck circled around the boards to Berkhammer along the right wing boards. Berkhammer sent the puck down into the right corner to Upper Montgomery sophomore forward Aiden Zheng. Zheng found Wendland in the mid slot. Wendland’s next wrist shot was an easy save for Tracy with the netminder using his blocker to send the puck to the left corner. Wendland followed up his shot and rushed over gain control of the puck in the left corner.
With twenty-three seconds left in overtime Wendland sent the puck to Honacki at the bottom of the left faceoff circle. Honacki’s weak wrist shot was intercepted by the Stars defense. Berkhammer pressured the tired DC Stars forward who sent the puck to the right wing boards but not out danger. The puck was still in the DC Stars defensive zone and Berkhammer was easily first to the puck. Eighteen seconds remained when Berkhammer curled high in the offensive zone near the blue line. He deked between the Stars penalty killing forwards to the left portion of the slot. With everyone expecting Berkhammer to shot because he had a clear lane to the net, Nyberg came over to try and prevent Berkhammer’s shot.
Instead, Berkhammer made a deft pass over to Honacki on the right side of the goal. With a yawning net with Tracy faced up to Berkhammer and no defender nearby, from two feet in front of the goal Honacki buried the puck into the near side of the net. The buzzer beating goal set off a huge celebratory scrum in the right corner as the entire Lightning team charged over the boards to join in. Honacki’s powerplay tally was his seventh goal of the season tying him for the team lead. The goal officially came with 10.6 seconds remaining in overtime. Berkhammer’s pretty pass was his team leading seventh assist of the season.
The Lightning will look to carry the momentum of this thrilling win into next week’s rematch against BCC. Upper Montgomery will be looking for the season sweep of the Barons and to go three games over .500 on the season in conference play. With Northwest / Quince Orchard the first game after the winter break, the Lightning have an opportunity to finish with their best mark in conference play since the 2018 – 2019 season when the team only played the other teams in the lower division of the Montgomery Hockey Conference. Until the season opening win over BCC, Upper Montgomery had gone winless against the Barons in their first fifteen years of existence.
Game Notes:
- The DC Stars badly outshot Upper Montgomery doubling up the Lightning by a 46-23 margin. Upper Montgomery had the better of play in the overtime session outshooting the DC Stars five to two.
- Honacki’s two goals ties him with junior center Owen Robbins for the team lead with seven goals on the season.
- Upper Montgomery scored on both powerplay chances and is now six for sixteen (37.5%) on the season with the extra skater. Last season, Upper Montgomery scored all of seven powerplay goals the entire year.
- It was Berkhammer’s second two assist game of the season.
- Upper Montgomery returns to action next week to face off against the BCC Barons. Upper Montgomery defeated BCC for the first time in program history in the season opener for both teams. Game time is 8:45 pm next Friday at Rockville Ice Arena.
Three Stars of the Game:
First Star—Henry Honacki—Upper Montgomery Center—2 Goals Including Game Winning Overtime PPG
Second Star—Ilan Shterenberg—Upper Montgomery Goalie—Win, 44 Saves, 2 Goals Against, .957 Save Percentage.
Third Star—Brady Berkhammer–Upper Montgomery Defense—2 Assists