The Upper Montgomery Lightning’s 2024 – 2025 regular season kicks off on Friday night when the junior varsity hosts the Richard Montgomery Rockets. Game time is 6:30 pm at Rockville Ice Arena. The team will be trying to duplicate last season’s fine showing culminating with an undefeated regular season record of 9-0-1. An unfortunate loss in the quarterfinal round of the Montgomery Hockey Conference junior varsity playoffs ended Upper Montgomery’s title hopes.
The junior varsity roster is a good mixture of older students pairing with many new incoming students to the program. With the graduation of last season’s three seniors, co-captain center Adam Levine (11GP, 3G, 8A) and defenders Sean Levine and Jake Roth, and with three additional students prevented from continuing to participate at the junior varsity level having a designation of impact participant; sophomore goalie Ilan Shterenberg (8 wins, 1.80 GAA, .927 Save %), junior co-captain center Josh Nadler (10GP, 11G, 1A), the junior varsity’s all-time leading goals scorer, and senior forward TJ Gottesman (9GP, 11G, 5A), the junior varsity’s all-time leader in points, there will be plenty of ice time for students to earn.
In net for the Lightning junior varsity all season long will be ninth grade netminder Porter Stutsrim-Lyons. Stutsrim-Lyons plays for the Caps Academy 14U lower A external travel team. He will have ginormous shoes to fill as Shterenberg set or tied junior varsity program records for wins in a season (8), lowest goals against average (1.80), and highest save percentage (.927). Richard Montgomery will counter in net with Thomas Richardson. Richardson will be making his first ever appearance as a goalie in a high school hockey game. It would appear on paper that the Lightning have an advantage in net.
On defense Friday night, look for the Lightning to be playing only two pairings as four Upper Montgomery junior varsity defenders will miss the opening game of the season. Senior Cole Howerton has played some at the varsity level over the past two seasons and will be looked upon to take on a bigger role this season. At the junior varsity level Howerton (10GP, 5G, 4A) will be looked upon to take a leadership role and assist the many new incoming ninth grade defenders. He will be out-of-town on travel this weekend. Senior defensive defender Patrick Sell will miss the game serving his one game suspension for a major game misconduct penalty he received in the third period of last season’s playoff game. Sophomore Avery Evans will miss the game out-of-town with her external travel team, and sophomore defender Max Curtusan will miss the game recovering from an illness.
Sophomore16U lower A defender Miles Wendland will be the only experienced defender the Lightning will dress on Friday. He will be joined by three promising ninth graders in 14U AA defender Lillian Robbins, 14U lower A defender Matthew Rivera, and former lower A defender Luke Hudson who has decided to play just high school hockey this season. Short shifts will be necessary for the defensive corps to remain fresh for the entirety of the game. The Upper Montgomery coaching staff may also drop back a forward or two at times to give the defense a bit of an extra breather. It is anticipated that Wendland will pair with Hudson and Robbins will pair with Rivera. Not much is known about the Richard Montgomery defense except they graduated many junior varsity eligible students this past spring. Ryan Jones and Samir Wang, a converted forward, are the only Rockets defenders with prior high school hockey experience.
Top returning forwards for the Lightning junior varsity are sophomore 16U lower A forward Aiden Zheng (9GP, 3G, 5A) last season on varsity and (11GP, 4G, 2A) with the junior varsity. His skating speed should allow him to generate a significant number of offensive chances at the junior varsity level. The coaching staff will be looking for Zheng to be more responsible defensively and to use the junior varsity games to elevate his game to the next level. He played better and better as his ninth grade season progressed last year. Senior AJ Marks is the top scoring junior varsity forward returning for Upper Montgomery with (9GP, 3G, 4A). If Marks uses his size to his advantage and attacks, he has an opportunity to force his way into the varsity lineup. The team will be looking for junior Jason Woodman to increase his offensive contributions now that he is in his third season of high school hockey. Woodman will be one of the leaders of the junior varsity team and his dedication to the program is unparalleled. Sophomore center Jackson Schickler will begin the season on injured reserve with his return likely at some point during November. Schickler also missed a large portion of last season with a season ending lower body injury.
The junior varsity will also have a significant number of new faces dressed at forward for game action. Sophomore former Upper A forward Jake Hudson has the size, strength, and speed to be dominant at the junior varsity level. He will play significant minutes at the varsity level as well. Incoming ninth grader Siddy Bhasin 14U lower A should be motivated to show he has the all around game to excel at the junior varsity level and compete for varsity playing time. Other incoming ninth grade forwards are scrappy Decklin Hughes and Max Israfilbek, along with sophomore Mason Jagoz. Jagoz played high school hockey in Frederick last season. All of the new forwards in the program will be relied upon to play regular shifts for the junior varsity as they grow and develop to the speed and intensity of high school game action. Richard Montgomery will field a lineup littered with incoming ninth grade forwards as well. Bennett Parisi saw game action last season for the Rockets as did Conor Rosier, but most of the Richard Montgomery forwards will be playing in their first ever high school hockey game.
The 2024 – 2025 season will be one of growth and development for the green and gold’s younger student athletes. It should be exciting and rewarding as the younger skaters grow and blossom. How quickly the team develops the defensive habits necessary to lead the program forward will determine if the Lightning can again challenge the upper echelon junior varsity teams in the county. Or, is the team simply too young to compete now. Friday night will give us some answers as the season finally gets underway. Come along for the ride, it should be a fun season!
#UML, #Bleed Green, #Go Bolts!