The Upper Montgomery Lightning are known as a program that will play any high school hockey program anywhere and at anytime. Often, the team plays against the top ranked opponents throughout the state. On Tuesday afternoon Upper Montgomery was steamrolled by the Urbana Hawks for the second consecutive season falling by a score of 7-0. For the Lightning it was not a very good performance coming on the heels of Friday evening’s excellent showing against archrival and highly ranked Wootton. Upper Montgomery’s excellent defensive effort stymied the Patriots holding them to only three goals, nine goals below their average heading into the contest. Against Urbana, Upper Montgomery had no answers and did not match the Hawks physicality or intensity. Additionally, the young Lightning defenders were often exposed and taken advantage of by the more experienced Hawks.
Urbana jumped on Upper Montgomery right from the outset of the contest cruising to a 3-0 lead after the opening fifteen minutes of action while outshooting the Lightning by a very lopsided eighteen to five margin. Upper Montgomery sophomore goalie Ilan Shterenberg must have felt like he was on the wrong end of a machine constantly firing pucks his way as Urbana controlled territorial play for the entire period.
It took only three and a half minutes for the Hawks to get on the board. A poor clearing attempt by the Lightning along the left wing boards in the defensive zone was intercepted by Urbana forward Matthew Browning-Elam. He skated behind the net from right to left all the way out to the left faceoff circle where he dropped the puck back to the left point to his brother, Andrew Browning-Elam. Andrew Browning-Elam dumped the puck into the left corner where Urbana forward Kendall Hanson sent a centering pass to the slot area looking for Urbana center Zachary Thayer. Thayer mishandled the puck as he was about to shoot on net. He recovered the puck in the left faceoff circle drawing the defense with him as he fired a cross crease pass over to Matthew Browning-Elam. The Hawks forward had gotten behind the Upper Montgomery defense and had no difficulty tapping the puck into the wide open right side of the net past Shterenberg.
A minute later the lead became 2-0. From a faceoff in the left faceoff circle in the Upper Montgomery defensive zone, the two centers tied each other up. Hanson swept in and got the puck. She sent a bank pass off the right wing boards back to the point. Urbana defender Michael Dye settled the puck and fired a long range wrist shot from just inside the blue line. The puck sailed high to the blocker side of Shterenberg. Partially screened, Shterenberg picked up the puck late and could not prevent the shot from landing in the top left corner of the net. With a two goal cushion and firmly in control of play, Urbana did not let up and continued to threaten offensively.
It took almost nine minutes but the Hawks finally scored again to take a commanding 3-0 lead with a minute and a half remaining in the first period. Urbana’s scoring sequence began with a faceoff in the offensive zone in the left faceoff circle. Hawks center Buck Vongnaraj won the draw to the left wing boards to Urbana forward Alexander Cheves. Cheves cut inside an Upper Montgomery forward to the left faceoff circle. He proceeded into the slot unencumbered and fired a backhand shot at the net through traffic. The puck squeezed past Shterenberg seven hole between his blocker and body.
Mercifully, the first period ended and the Lightning were able to clear their heads and settle down after getting outclassed through the first fifteen minutes of play. Play over the first ten minutes of the second period saw Upper Montgomery more actively compete for loose pucks and focus on getting the puck out of their defensive zone, reach center ice, and dumping the puck behind the Urbana net. At the halfway point of the period, Urbana removed starting goalie Mason Sebold and replaced him with backup netminder Chloe Hanson.
With five minutes remaining in the second period, Hawks forward Patrick Terrebonne scored to increase the margin to 4-0 Urbana. From a faceoff originating outside of the Upper Montgomery defensive zone on the right wing in neutral ice, Urbana won the draw back to the red line. A defense to defense pass positioned the puck on the left side of the ice where the puck was sent to Cheves coming down the left wing boards into the Upper Montgomery defensive zone. Cheves skated through the left faceoff circle into the left corner and turned to go around the net from left to right. Without a shooting lane he sent the puck to the right point to Dye. Dye’s long range shot from the point was deflected by Terrebonne at the edge of the crease up and over Shterenberg’s glove hand.
Two minutes later Cheves scored his second goal of the game to make the score 5-0. Another faceoff play began from the left faceoff circle in front of Shterenberg. Upper Montgomery won the draw but Cheves outraced the Lightning to the puck before sending the puck behind the net to Terrebonne. Terrebonne returned the puck to Cheves who took the puck out the other side of the net, left to right. Finding some open space, Cheves fired short side past Shterenberg’s glove.
With the game out of hand and the third period left to play, the Upper Montgomery coaching staff asked the team to focus on winning the third period. Unfortunately, the team was unable to generate much offensively. Urbana again began teeing off against Shterenberg firing pucks almost at will with little resistance from the Lightning. With nine minutes left in the game, Upper Montgomery backup goalie Porter Stutsrim-Lyons was inserted into the game to receive some varsity level experience and save Shterenberg from the barrage of shots he was facing.
The first shot on net against Stutsrim-Lyons went in to put the game into running clock as Urbana had a six goal lead. Andrew Browning-Elam had the puck behind his own net. He sent the puck to Dye in the left corner. Dye fired the puck up ice to the blue line finding Urbana forward Dimitri Kolmakov. Kolmakov’s cross ice pass to Urbana depth forward Matthew Albertson missed connecting. Trailing the play, Browning-Elam picked up the puck on the left wing boards. He cut to the inside of the ice heading down the slot through the Lightning defense. As he got to the top of the crease, Browning-Elam sent a backhand shot far side past Stutsrim-Lyons’ glove hand.
The only positive about running clock when a team is loosing badly is that it gets the game over sooner. But, not soon enough for the Lightning. Urbana’s forwards began cherry picking and trying to make highlight reel plays. Most did not work except for one play by Andrew Browning-Elam with six minutes remaining in the game. After the referees let a tripping penalty go against Urbana without a call, Dye took possession of the puck in the left corner of his defensive zone. He sent a homerun stretch pass to Browning-Elam at the Upper Montgomery defensive blue line. Browning-Elam was in all alone on a breakaway. He faked a shot causing Stutsrim-Lyons to go down early before firing high over the prone goalie’s glove.
Upper Montgomery will look to quickly flush the non-conference defeat as the team gears up to face Richard Montgomery on Friday. A win over the talented by struggling Rockets would conclude the Lightning’s swing though the other teams in division two of the Montgomery Hockey Conference with a 3-1-1 conference record and looking to break into the top half of the overall conference standings.
Game Notes:
- Urbana badly outshot Upper Montgomery 41-16 for the game, including 18-5 in the first period.
- Upper Montgomery was shutout for the first time this season and for the first time since losing to Churchill 8-0 last year.
- Lightning senior center Henry Honacki’s three game goal scoring streak ended.
- There were no penalties called during the game so neither team received a powerplay opportunity.
- Upper Montgomery returns to action on Friday, November 8 when the Lightning take on the Richard Montgomery Rockets. Game time is 9:45 pm at Rockville Ice Arena.
Three Stars of the Game:
First Star—Alexander Cheves—Urbana Forward—2 Goals, 1 Assist
Second Star—Michael Dye—Urbana Defense—1 Goal, 2 Assists
Third Star—Andrew Browning-Elam–Urbana Defense—2 Goals