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Lightning Strike Blog–January 2024

January 25, 2024January 25, 2024 chucklevine Leave a comment

The Upper Montgomery Lightning varsity squad enters the last few games of the regular season with all of its pre-season goals still within reach. Although the first portion of the regular season did not go as anticipated, the Lightning have played much better of late. The team has a 3-2-1 record over its last six games with the only losses to perennial powerhouse Churchill and the top public high school team in the state of Maryland, Oakdale. The Lightning had a one to zero lead on Oakdale with five minutes remaining in the game before conceding two late powerplay goals, including a five on three advantage. The team comes into the final regular season conference games on a roll having beaten fourth ranked Whitman and also top ranked Walter Johnson. The team enters the final stretch of regular season games with an overall record of 3-8-1 while being 3-5-1 in conference play.

Upper Montgomery’s goalies have struggled in net all season long. Senior Landon Bernard has played much better of late. His goals against average for the season is shrinking. He has posted a 2.16 goals against average over his last six appearances. His save percentage is climbing. Over his past six games Bernard has a stalwart .916 save percentage. Upper Montgomery will only go as far in the upcoming conference playoffs as Bernard’s play takes the team. Ninth grade goalie Ilan Shterenberg has a bright future in the program. He has played in four varsity games this season after dominating at the junior varsity level. He has two wins, including his first career victory over the Walter Johnson Wildcats.

Upper Montgomery had hoped this season for balanced goal scoring throughout its lineup. Last season’s top line of Chris Hassett, Nathan Cassel, and Philip Shkeda has continued to produce again this season. Unfortunately, it has been a continual search for other student athletes to step up and match last year’s offensive production. Hassett (13GP, 10G, 14A) and Cassell (12GP, 8G, 15A) have alternated the team lead in assists and points throughout the season. Shkeda (14GP, 10G, 3A) is tied for the team lead in goals. The season ending injury to Ryan Jacobson (6GP, 4G, 1A) has drastically impacted the Lightning’s secondary offense. Hunter Cameron has chipped in nicely with (11GP, 5G, 3A). He has scored two goals in two different games, and Cameron scored the tying goal late in the third period against the DC Stars. Each of the team’s other forwards, Brandon Bernard (14G, 5G, 3A) with goals in his past two games, Bradley Cupples (11GP, 2G, 5A), Olivia Robbins (7GP, 2G, 1A), and Henry Honacki (14GP, 5G, 3A) have each played well in a few games where they have accumulated the majority of their points on the season. The top depth forwards called upon to play in varsity game action have all stepped up and played well lately. Junior Josh Nadler, senior Adam Levine, and ninth grade forward Aiden Zheng have all contributed important assists lately in limited game action. Their hustle and adherence to the coaches’ game plan has infused some energy into the lineup.

On defense the Lightning have played better lately after struggling through the early portion of the season. With top defender Andrew Botti out for the first eight games of the season, Upper Montgomery had difficulty keeping teams out of the high danger areas. With Botti back, the team has given up far fewer goals, and only two goals while he has been on the ice at even strength. Senior co-captain Cameron has played several games on defense to help anchor and provide stability on the back end. Sophomores Brady Berkhammer and Owen Robbins have been playing together as a regular pairing all season seeing substantial playing time in all phases. Ninth grade defender Miles Wendland and junior Cole Howerton have also seen game action with their time on ice increasing as the season has gone on. Outside of Cameron’s production in October’s season opener against Whitman where he scored both Upper Montgomery goals, all other Upper Montgomery defensive skaters have contributed no goals and fourteen assists in 59 combined games played. Getting shots through from the points and contributions offensively from the defense will definitely help the team.

The main achilles heel for the Lightning has been a dreadfully awful powerplay. The Lightning have not scored at all this season when on a traditional powerplay with the extra skater, currently sitting at 0-37 on the season. The team’s only ‘powerplay’ goal was scored on a penalty shot converted by Nathan Cassell against Good Counsel. Anticipate personnel changes as well as a change to the powerplay structure in the games ahead.

The Lightning have a few games left in the regular season before the program defining Montgomery Hockey Conference playoffs begin at the start of February. The Upper Montgomery program had very high expectations for this season after the conclusion to last year and with so many highly talented student athletes returning. Fortunately, the team’s primary goal remains attainable. The Lightning still have a great opportunity to make the state playoffs, but it will take complete team dedication, playing hockey the right way, dogged puck support all over the ice, a 1000% commitment to team defense, and making good decisions that will put the team on the precipice of history.

Going into the season, the junior varsity was expected to be better than last year with the team needing talented 9th grade goaltender Ilan Shterenberg to be a difference maker in net. The junior varsity games were expected to be lower scoring as the team used its defensive strength to focus on preventing the opposition from scoring. This is exactly how the season played out. Shterenberg played excellent in net for the junior varsity this season. His finished the regular season with an 8-0-1 record and three shutouts. He gave up more than two goals in a game only twice, one time when playing against Churchill 2’s varsity squad. Shterenberg finished the season with a .927 save percentage and a tidy 1.80 goals against average. His played admirably in net during the junior varsity quarterfinal playoff game against BCC.

The other core reasons for the junior varsity’s 8-0-1 undefeated regular season were the team’s leadership and team defensive play. The junior varsity was not worried about who scored the goals and how the game looked visually. Some of the games were downright awful from an artistic sense, but played right into the Lightning’s strategy of getting the other teams frustrated. Once frustrated, the other teams took risks opening up for Upper Montgomery to counter attack. The junior varsity worked hard each game and focused on defense only giving up 22 goals in its eleven game season. The penalty kill was a perfect 27-27 on the season (when not using a position skater in net) including a couple of long five on three kills and a five minute major powerplay against.

The Lightning junior varsity finished the regular season second in the conference standings, a half game behind Wootton. Unfortunately, finishing second matched the junior varsity against the one team that was not truly a bottom team in the conference. Having to face BCC in the quarterfinal round of the junior varsity playoffs, was just an awful draw. BCC uses a strategy in the regular season of not playing all of their top available junior varsity students. Then, when playoff time comes, all of their top skaters are dressed, and the top talent receives an over abundance of ice time in the playoff games. Thus, playing against the only ‘bottom’ team with a chance at advancing, the Lightning junior varsity lost in the quarterfinal round to BCC, four to one. The 2023 – 2024 junior varsity squad did set an Upper Montgomery program record for most wins in a season with nine. The team’s overall record of 9-1-1 was the team highest winning percentage, .863.

The junior varsity’s offense scored just enough with the team averaging 3.91 goals per game, aided by the ten goals scored against Oakdale. Junior TJ Gottesman (9GP, 11G, 5A) and junior co-captain Josh Nadler (10GP, 11G, 1A) led the team in goals with eleven. Gottesman was the team’s top point getter with sixteen. Senior co-captain Adam Levine (11GP, 3G, 8A) lead the team in assists. He finished one assist off the program record for assists in a season while he did set the program record with points in consecutive games at seven straight games. Levine also proved to be awesome in the faceoff circle winning over 70% of his faceoffs with seven Lightning goals scored directly off of faceoff wins. The team’s depth scoring picked up as the season went on with junior Cole Howerton (10GP, 5G, 4A), senior Sean Levine (11GP, 3G, 5A), junior AJ Marks (9GP, 3G, 4A), and ninth grade forward Aiden Zheng (11GP, 4G, 2A) chipping in and contributing. Jason Woodman had a three assist game against Oakdale to increase his scoring to (10GP, 1G, 4A). Sean Levine scored a pretty breakaway goal against the DC Stars deking to his backhand before lifting the puck. He also scored the Lightning’s only goal in the playoff game against BCC. Adam Levine’s dazzling push through, walk around, far side, top shelf marker also in the DC Stars game was the goal of the season for the program.

Defensively, the Lightning’s experience and team defense stood out. Jake Roth, Cole Howerton, Patrick Sell, Miles Wendland, Avery Evans (8GP, 1G, 4A), and Behr Schickler limited the opposition’s quality scoring chances. When breakdowns occurred, the forwards were routinely in position defensively to block shots and clear the high danger areas getting pucks out of the defensive zone. The combination allowed the Lightning to play with the lead or tied for most of the entire season. The team competed with maximum effort, commitment to each other, and with the stellar defensive play. It was this attitude that allowed the junior varsity to thrive all season long culminating with an undefeated regular season.

#Playoff Wins, #Our Time, #UML, #Bleed Green, #Go Bolts!

Varsity Rockville Game Preview

January 25, 2024January 25, 2024 chucklevine Leave a comment

The Upper Montgomery Lightning face off against the Rockville / Magruder Rams in a very important matchup Friday evening at Rockville Ice Arena. Game time is 9:00 pm. The winner of Friday’s matchup will have an easier road in the upcoming Montgomery Hockey Conference playoffs. It is the final regular season conference game for both teams, and on paper they appear to be evenly matched. The Lightning have been playing much better of late. Upper Montgomery is 4-1-1 in its last six conference games advancing up the conference standings and rankings to the middle of the pack.

In net for Upper Montgomery will be senior Landon Bernard. Bernard has played very well of late culminating with Monday’s senior night shutout of Blair. His goals against average for the season is shrinking. He has posted a 2.16 goals against average over his last six appearances. His save percentage is climbing. Over his past six games Bernard has a stalwart .916 save percentage. Upper Montgomery will only go as far in the upcoming conference playoffs as Bernard’s play takes the team. The Rams will play Sean Connelly in net. He has a 3.59 goals against average and an .848 save percentage. His record is 7-3, however, that is skewed by the weak conference opponents Rockville has faced playing against mainly lower level division two competition.

The Rams are led offensively by 18U AAA star defender senior Drew Pfeufer (7GP, 15G, 6A). Pfeufer plays on the same external travel team (The Washington Little Capitals) as the Lightning’s Cameron. The top scoring forward for the Rams is senior Brendan Iliff (11GP, 7G, 12A). His linemate Lukas Gold has (8GP, 10G, 6A). Rounding out the Rams scoring threats is another defender, Aiden Ward (7GP, 8G, 6A). There is then a drop off to the Rams depth scorers, Toyin Okunseinde (10GP, 4G, 2A), Cole Cohen (7GP, 5G), and Brendan Kalinock (10GP, 2G, 3A).

On defense the Lightning have played better lately after struggling through the early portion of the season. With top defender Andrew Botti out for the first eight games of the season, Upper Montgomery had difficulty keeping teams out of the high danger areas. With Botti back, the team has given up far fewer goals, and only two while he has been on the ice at even strength. Senior co-captain Cameron has played several games on defense to help anchor and provide stability on the back end. With a full compliment of defenders available on Friday evening, anticipate that Cameron will play forward. Sophomores Brady Berkhammer and Owen Robbins will see substantial playing time against the Rams. Ninth grade defender Miles Wendland and junior Cole Howerton will also see game action. Outside of Cameron’s production in October’s season opener against Whitman where he scored both Upper Montgomery goals, all other Upper Montgomery defensive skaters have contributed no goals and fourteen assists in 59 combined games played. Getting shots through from the points and contributions offensively from the defense will definitely help Upper Montgomery.

With all but one student athlete expected to be in attendance on Friday night, the Upper Montgomery coaching staff can use their full bench including its depth skaters against Rockville. This will provide sufficient rest for the team’s top student athletes. If the team’s second and third lines do not produce early against the Rams or if a student tries to do too much individually, expect the coaching staff to sit skaters and use students who will follow the system and play hockey the Lightning way.

This past Tuesday’s game against top non-conference foe Urbana helped identify the areas that Upper Montgomery needs to shore up heading into the final regular season games and the upcoming playoffs. The Lightning have begun to show much more fight and desire as the season has progressed. These traits have led to better results. The team’s play needs to be cohesive, with the students playing for one another. The Lightning have played more focused and with more belief in each other, but will need to ramp up their play to another level if they want to have playoff success. While not an elimination game, Friday night’s matchup will go a long way towards putting the remainder of the season into focus.

#Extend the Streak, #UML, #Bleed Green, #Go Bolts!

Varsity Urbana Game Preview

January 21, 2024January 21, 2024 chucklevine Leave a comment

With the recent inclement weather in the Washington DC area, the Upper Montgomery Lightning will play on back-to-back days when taking on the Urbana Hawks on Tuesday afternoon at Skate Frederick. Game time is early, a 3:40 pm puck drop. Fresh off the annual senior night celebration against Blair on Monday evening, the Lightning have a quick turnaround. It is an important non-league contest for the Lightning who are looking to keep building on their recent better play of late. The team is 3-1-1 in its last three conference games and is coming off of a terrific effort last Monday against the top high school team in the state, Oakdale. The Lightning held a 1-0 lead with five minutes remaining in the game before succumbing. Upper Montgomery has also beaten two highly regarded teams in Walter Johnson and Whitman during the stretch. Urbana is the second highest ranked team in the Monocacy Valley Conference. The Hawks lost to Oakdale in overtime on Friday after staging a third period rally to force the overtime session. It was an emotionally draining game which saw Oakdale prevail on a shorthanded goal in the extra frame.

In net for Upper Montgomery will be senior Landon Bernard. Bernard has played very well of late. His goals against average is shrinking and is under three over his last four appearances. His save percentage over his past four games is a stalwart .915. Upper Montgomery will only go as far in the upcoming conference playoffs as Bernard’s play takes the team. The Hawks will play Abby Tanner in net. She has a miniscule 1.91 goals against average and a .928 save percentage. She has given up only 19 goals in the ten games she has played in. If unavailable, Chloe Hanson will step in and backstop the Hawks.

Upper Montgomery had hoped this season for balanced goal scoring throughout the lineup. Last season’s top line of Chris Hassett, Nathan Cassel, and Philip Shkeda has continued to produce again this season. Unfortunately, it has been a continual search for other student athletes to step up and match last year’s offensive production. Hassett (11GP, 9G, 13A) and Cassell (11GP, 7G, 15A) have alternated the team lead in assists and points throughout the season. Shkeda (12GP, 9G, 2A) is tied for the team lead in goals. From there the season ending injury to Ryan Jacobson (6GP, 4G, 1A) has drastically impacted the Lightning’s secondary offense. Hunter Cameron has chipped in nicely with (9GP, 5G, 3A). He has two different games where he scored two goals, and Cameron scored the tying goal late in the third period against the DC Stars. Each of the team’s other forwards, Brandon Bernard, Bradley Cupples, Olivia Robbins, and Henry Honacki have each played well in one or two games where they have accumulated the majority of their points on the season.

The Hawks are led offensively by 18U AA star forward Cody Keegan. Keegan has (11GP, 18G, 11A). His linemates, 16U AA Zachary Thayer (11GP, 12G, 16A) and Max Dubruzzo (12GP, 9G, 16A) have really benefitted from Keegan’s presence on the ice. There is a sizeable drop off to the Hawks second line with ninth grade forward Alexander Cheves (10GP, 6G, 3A) leading the way. Be on the lookout for the Hawks defenders to join the rush with Seamus McGee (12GP, 6G, 4A), Thomas Alexander (12GP, 2G, 4A), and Brady Gardiner (12GP, 2G, 4A) contributing as well.

On defense the Lightning have struggled all season. With top defender Andrew Botti out for the first eight games of the season, Upper Montgomery had difficulty keeping teams out of the high danger areas. With Botti back, the team has given up only six goals in three games, none while he has been on the ice at even strength. Senior co-captain Cameron has played several games on defense to help anchor and provide stability on the back end. Sophomore Brady Berkhammer will again see substantial playing time against the Hawks after playing every other shift against the DC Stars and Oakdale. Outside of Cameron’s production in October’s season opener against Whitman where he scored both Upper Montgomery goals, all other Upper Montgomery defensive skaters have contributed no goals and twelve assists in 49 combined games played.

The game against Urbana will help identify where Upper Montgomery will need to focus heading into the final regular season conference game against Rockville. The Lightning have begun to show much more fight and desire as the season has progressed. These traits have led to better results. The team’s play is becoming more cohesive and the total team effort has been better. The Lightning have played more focused and with more belief in each other. If the Lightning continue to play this way, they may have an outside shot to beat Urbana.

#Extend the Streak, #UML, #Bleed Green, #Go Bolts!

Lightning Succumb in Third, Fall to Falcons

January 20, 2024January 20, 2024 chucklevine Leave a comment

With an experienced and deep roster, the Upper Montgomery Lightning scheduled several games against private school opposition this season. The growth of the program has elevated to a level where the mid-range private school teams are willing to play Upper Montgomery thinking that they would use the games against the Lightning as early season tune up games. On the other hand, the Lightning fully expect to compete with and beat the private school teams. Tuesday’s game was an evenly matched contest until late in the game. The Lightning’s short bench (Hunter Cameron missed the game) and the debilitating season opening injury to top defender Andrew Botti both contributed to a late game collapse allowing the Falcons to skate away with a hard fought 6-3 victory.

Upper Montgomery had jump right from the outset of the game, peppering Falcons netminder Zach Stone with eighteen shots on goal in the period. The attack zone pressure broke down the Falcons defense on several occasions with the first defensive breakdown leading to Upper Montgomery’s initial goal of the game just three and a half minutes in. A faceoff in the Lightning’s defensive zone to the right of Upper Montgomery netminder Landon Bernard was cleared out of the zone by Good Counsel all the way to their own defensive end of the ice. Dual pressure was applied by Lightning forwards Nathan Cassel and Adam Levine. The Falcons defender played the puck under duress and simply dumped the puck out of the defensive zone.

With Cassel and Levine both curling to exit the zone and get back onside, Lightning co-captain, senior center Chris Hassett took possession of the puck rushing up ice at full speed. He entered the zone onside skating down the center left hand side of the slot. Hassett made a move to his right pulling the puck back to his forehand. Now in the right faceoff circle he uncorked a wrist shot low to the glove hand of Stone and past the Falcons netminder giving Upper Montgomery the lead. The unassisted goal was the Lightning’s active career scoring leader’s first goal of the season.

At the eight minute mark of the first period, Lightning defender Owen Robbins was called for hooking. While on the powerplay, Good Counsel evened the score. Falcons defender Nick Krauze skated the puck down the right wing into the offensive zone. He stopped and passed the puck back to Good Counsel forward Billy Harrison covering at the right point. Harrison sent the puck to the half wall to Colby Bluestein as he interchanged with the other Falcons defender. With motion drawing the focus of the Lightning penalty killers, Bluestein sent the puck to the Falcons Parker Jones at center point. Jones wound up and unleashed a slap shot from the top of the zone just inside the blue line. The low shot went past Bernard to his glove side.

The tying goal seemed to energize Good Counsel. The Falcons effort increased with extended periods of play in the Lightning defensive zone over the next couple of shifts. With just under five minutes remaining in the period, a Lightning clear and slow line change led to Good Counsel’s second goal. Krauze retrieved the Upper Montgomery dump in and skated around the net to the right wing side wall. He layered the puck to Falcons forward Kiptoo Soi. Soi bumped the puck forward to Harrison. Harrison carried the puck up the right wing into the Lightning’s defensive zone. He continued into the lower portion of the right faceoff circle where he returned the puck to Soi cutting down the slot. Soi’s snap shot was saved by Bernard. The rebound went back to Soi and his follow up forehand attempt beat Bernard stick side.

Now down two to one, Upper Montgomery would respond two minutes later. Lightning forward Ryan Jacobson who was playing defense in this game because of Botti’s injury and Cameron’s unavailability stepped forward in the neutral zone to snatch the puck. He rocketed down the right wing avoiding one attempted check and then fought through two other Falcons skaters. He stepped around the Falcons left defender and shot to the far side past Stone’s blocker and stick. It was the Lightning’s second unassisted goal of the game and evened the score at two.

The Falcons would charge right back. Soi collected the Lightning’s attempted dump in inside the right faceoff circle in his defensive zone. He spilt the oncoming two Lightning forwards and skated all the way into the Upper Montgomery defensive zone. Soi jump cut inside to the inner edge of the right faceoff circle, and while doing so shot far side low past Bernard’s blocker and stick for his second goal of the period, an unassisted tally. The wildly entertaining first period came to a close with five total goals and thirty total shots on goal.

Upper Montgomery dominated the second period firing fourteen shots on net at Good Counsel’s second netminder Connor Buss. With play heavily concentrated in the Falcons zone for extended shifts, Bernard had a relatively easy fifteen minutes of action only needing to make three saves. Upper Montgomery’s pressure paid off with the tying tally with five and a half minutes left in the second period.

Bernard made a stick save on a routine Falcons shot from long range. Lightning center Bradley Cupples played the puck from the slot area out of danger to the right wing boards. Cassel was in position by the boards, and he sent a backhand pass to the middle of the ice to Brandon Bernard steaking out of the defensive zone. Cassel’s excellent pass sent Bernard in on a breakaway. Bernard made a move to his backhand and slid the puck around Buss. The puck hit the far post, caromed back into the goalie’s backside, and nestled over the goal line to tie the score at three. Upper Montgomery’s push extended until the horn ended play during the middle stanza. A break that was a welcome reset for the Falcons and brought with it a stern talking to by the Good Counsel coaching staff.

An unfortunate misplay four minutes into the third period led to Good Counsel reclaiming the lead. With an offensive zone faceoff in the right faceoff circle in the Falcons defensive zone, Hassett won the draw to the boards to Levine. Levine sent the puck back to the point to young Lightning defender Cole Howerton. Howerton’s attempted cross ice pass to his fellow defender was cut off by Harrison. With the Lightning offside defender backing up ready to shoot a one timer, and with the Lightning forwards headed toward the net to hunt down a rebound, Harrison was off on a breakaway from his own blue line. Harrison made a head fake as he neared Bernard and fired a shot past Bearnard’s glove at close range.

Two and a half minutes later Harrison would extend the Falcons lead. A bad pinch at the blue line by Upper Montgomery led to another odd skater rush up the ice for Good Counsel. Krauze came away from the boards with the puck. His pass to Harrison was knocked by the pinching Lightning blueliner to Soi. Harrison fired up ice and joined Soi on the rush. Soi carried the puck deep into the offensive zone where this time he returned the favor and fed Harrison in the slot. Harrison’s backhand shot was foiled by a nice stick save made by Bernard, who then could not recover to prevent Harrison’s second attempt from sneaking past him to widen the Good Counsel lead to five to three.

With just under five minutes remaining in the game, Robbins was called for a very soft hit from behind. In private school play, this is a five minute major penalty with no game misconduct or suspension. But, the major penalty meant that Upper Montgomery would play the remainder of regulation shorthanded, thwarting any realistic attempt at a comeback. Upper Montgomery did a decent job killing the first three minutes of the major penalty. Then, off a rewind in the neutral zone, Harrison kicked the puck up to Falcons forward Gavin Senko. Senko picked up the puck and skated down the right wing. He found Soi open in the slot. Soi’s first shot was blocked by Jacobson, but rebounded right back to him. Without striding, Soi fired for a second time into the empty side of the net, vacated when Bernard began tracking the first shot. It was a hat-trick for Soi and completed a third period in which Good Counsel outscored Upper Montgomery by three goals.

The game showed Upper Montgomery that it can compete with the private school teams. It also illustrated some of the flaws that the Lightning will need to shore up as the team progresses through the initial portion of the season. Defensively, there are too many odd skater chances created by the Lightning trying to do too much. There is no need to take unnecessary chances and give the opposition prime odd skater rushes. Without the full team in attendance at any game so far this year, the core skaters are not receiving enough rest to be effective late in games. The extra minutes played by the top skaters has led to tired and sloppy play late in games. The Lightning’s opponents are capitalizing on these plays. If these issues do not get fixed immediately, it will be a long season.

Game Notes:

Upper Montgomery gave up three goals in the third period. The team now has a minus ten goal differential in the third period over the first three games of the season.
Upper Montgomery outshot the Falcons 42-31 for the game with a lopsided advantage in the second period, 14-3.
Upper Montgomery had no powerplays in the game.
The Upper Montgomery penalty kill was pierced for goals on both Good Counsel powerplays.
Upper Montgomery defender Owen Robbins was assessed a major for hitting from behind in the third period. The penalty occurred against a private school team using the private league high school rules. Thus, Robbins will not face supplemental discipline for the penalty.
Good Counsel played each of their three goalies for one period in the game.
Upper Montgomery returns to action next Tuesday evening, Halloween night, taking on the Sherwood Warriors. Game time is 6:30 pm at Cabin John Ice Rink.

Three Stars of the Game:

First Star—Billy Harrison—Good Counsel Forward—2 Goals, 3 Assists
Second Star—Kiptoo Soi—Good Counsel Forward—3 Goals, 1 Assist
Third Star—Ryan Jacobson—Upper Montgomery Forward—1 Goal

Varsity Blair Game Preview

January 14, 2024January 31, 2024 chucklevine Leave a comment

The Upper Montgomery Lightning will celebrate a large senior class in style Friday evening before what should a triumphant victory over the Blair Blazers. It is an important league contest for the Lightning who are looking to keep building on their recent better play of late. The team is 3-1-1 in its last three conference games and is coming off of a terrific effort last Monday against the top high school team in the state, Oakdale. The Lightning held a 1-0 lead with five minutes remaining in the game before succumbing. Upper Montgomery has also beaten two highly regarded teams in Walter Johnson and Whitman during the stretch. Friday’s tilt is important for playoff seeding as the Montgomery Hockey Conference playoff tournament begins in two weeks. Blair is the second lowest ranked team in the conference having only beaten the lowest ranked team (Churchill 2) three times and edging past Northwest/Quince Orchard (third lowest ranked team) playing without its starting goalie.

In net for Upper Montgomery will be senior Landon Bernard. Bernard has played very well of late. His goals against average is shrinking and is under three over his last four appearances. His save percentage over his past four games is a stalwart .915. It should be a nice memory winning on senior night. Upper Montgomery will only go as far in the playoffs as Bernard’s play takes the team. The Blazers will play Lily Ben David in net. She has a 5.79 goals against average and a .724 save percentage. She plays behind a porous defense and does well just to provide her team a chance to win against the lower competition Blair has faced this season.

Upper Montgomery may be dangerous while shorthanded as Ben David has been beaten ten times while Blair has been on the powerplay. On the flip side, Blair has done a nice job on the penalty kill giving up just two powerplay goals on the season. This does not bode well for the Lightning who have a ghastly powerplay currently sitting at 0-33 on the season. Anticipate major changes to the Upper Montgomery powerplay including personnel changes to try and spark the dormant Lightning powerplay. To say Upper Montgomery has been challenged all season long while on the powerplay is certainly an understatement. The team’s only powerplay goal was scored on a penalty shot converted by Nathan Cassell against Good Counsel.

The Blazers are led offensively by Jackson Martindill (8GP, 7G, 4A). Chen Chen-Ye is next with (8GP, 4G, 5A). Long-time agitator Ari Garnder leads the team in goals (7GP, 8G, 1A). The Blazers defense has chipped in offensively. Joseph Killebrew (10GP, 4G, 4A), Wyatt Bakalis (8GP, 2G, 2A), and Danilo Azcarate (9GP, 3G, 1A) have provided some complementary scoring. BUT, it is hard to judge these offensive figures as most of the games Blair has played is against very weak competition. Against stronger competition Blair has been involved in one sided games, with the Blazers getting destroyed and scoring two or fewer goals.

On defense the Lightning have struggled all season. With top defender Andrew Botti out for the first eight games of the season, Upper Montgomery had difficulty keeping teams out of the high danger areas. With Botti back, the team has given up only six goals in three games, none while he has been on the ice at even strength. Senior co-captain Cameron has played several games on defense to help anchor and provide stability on the back end. Sophomore Brady Berkhammer will again see substantial playing time against the Blazers after playing every other shift against the DC Stars and Oakdale. Outside of Cameron’s production in October’s season opener against Whitman where he scored both Upper Montgomery goals, all other Upper Montgomery defensive skaters have contributed no goals and twelve assists in 49 combined games played.

The game against Blair will help identify where Upper Montgomery will be seeded in the upcoming county playoff tournament. The Lightning have begun to show much more fight and desire as the season has progressed. These traits have led to better results. The team’s play is becoming more cohesive. The total team effort has been better. The Lightning have played more focused and with more belief in each other. If they continue to play this way, and not down to Blair’s level, the Lightning should prevail easily.

#Extend the Streak, #UML, #Bleed Green, #Go Bolts!

Tracy Stonewalls Lightning, DC Stars Pull Upset

January 13, 2024January 13, 2024 chucklevine Leave a comment

DC Stars netminder Anton Tracy stole the show Friday evening backstopping the DC Stars to a 3-1 upset victory over the Upper Montgomery Lightning. Tracy stopped 36 Lightning shots and he was aided by friendly goal posts and the crossbar as six additional Upper Montgomery shots found iron and stayed out of the net. His play countered a dominating Upper Montgomery performance and left the Lightning with consecutive losses to begin the season.

Upper Montgomery was in a foul mood entering the contest having fallen to Whitman 7-2 in their season opener. The Whitman game was much closer than the final score would indicate. Playing with pace and aggression, Upper Montgomery attacked all over the ice off of the opening faceoff of the game. Lightning forward Nathan Cassel took it a bit too far and was called for an elbowing penalty forty seconds into the contest. The Lightning penalty kill bottled up the DC Stars and did not allow any quality scoring chances. Once the DC Stars powerplay was over, it was right back on the attack by Upper Montgomery.

The Lightning pressure kept the DC Stars bottled up in their own end for long stretches of play. The hard work paid off when DC Stars forward Thomas Johnson was called for hooking at 9:30 of the period. Although Upper Montgomery had plenty of zone time and shots on goal, Tracy turned everything aside. The zone time domination continued after the penalty to Johnson expired forcing the DC Stars into another penalty, this time an interference penalty to DC Stars defender Rodrigo Mattioli. As with the first Upper Montgomery powerplay opportunity, the pressure continued, and Tracy kept the game tied at zero making a few nice pad saves. As the first period ended, Mattioli was again hauled to the penalty box, again for an interference infraction. The shots on goal totals in the period illustrated how dominant Upper Montgomery had been, outshooting the DC Stars by a thirteen to four margin.

The second period was more evenly played only because Upper Montgomery began to tire having played only two lines for almost all of the game. The Lightning would finish the period with seven shots on goal and multiple near misses. The DC Stars fired eight shots at Lightning goalie Landon Bernard, however, a couple of the DC Stars shots were harmless attempts toward the net. Beginning the period with a powerplay, Upper Montgomery never threatened and fell to zero for three on the night with the extra skater.

With eleven minutes remaining in the middle period, Upper Montgomery would take its first lead of the season. With the puck deep in the DC Stars defensive zone, it was cleared to Lightning center Ryan Jacobson at the left point. His shot was saved by Tracy’s leg pads. The DC Stars again cleared the puck to the point. Jacobson, normally a center and playing defense because of an injury to Upper Montgomery defender Andrew Botti, sent the puck down the left wing boards for Lightning center Brandon Bernard. The puck eluded Bernard and went into the left corner where it was played by Upper Montgomery forward Bradley Cupples. Cupples returned the puck to Jacobson at the point. Jacobson sent a wrist shot floating high toward the far corner of the net. Tracy seemed to pick the puck up late and it went past his glove hand into the top right corner of the net.

Upper Montgomery had a one to zero lead turning its focus to conserving energy and bottling up the DC Stars. The DC Stars kept their focus and battled back earning two penalties over the second half of the period. The first call was on Lightning defender Owen Robbins for interference. The second penalty was on Upper Montgomery forward Philip Shkeda for roughing. Upper Montgomery did not yield much while shorthanded and took their one to zero lead into the third period.

The first two minutes of the third period were disastrous for Upper Montgomery. Just out of the penalty box Shkeda was called for interference in the slot of the offensive zone. It was a horrendous call as the DC Stars skater fell down without contact and the referees error put Upper Montgomery back on consecutive penalty kills. The DC Stars powerplay seemed to be going nowhere at the onset of their extra skater advantage. Then, a misstep by the Lightning defense allowed the DC Stars easy zone entry down the left wing boards.

Tracy passed the puck to DC Stars top defender Leo Nyberg to the left of the DC Stars net. Nyberg skated the puck to the blue line and sent the puck further up ice to DC Stars forward Thomas Cooperman. Cooperman entered the Lightning defensive zone after the Lightning defender fell. Cooperman took the puck behind the net where it was misplayed by the Lightning defense. DC Stars forward Peppin Thomas swooped in and sent a pass out front to Cooperman stationed at the bottom of the left faceoff circle. Cooperman’s shot beat Bernard low past his leg pads to even the score at one.

On the next shift a bad decision to pinch at the offensive blue line led to a jail break coming the other way. Off of an offensive zone faceoff the puck found its way behind the DC Stars net. Eventually, the puck was at the left point where Upper Montgomery defender Brady Berkhammer’s shot was blocked by DC Stars forward Egan Jeffries. The puck clicked over to Johnson. He avoided the opposite side Upper Montgomery defender pinching in at the blue line in an attempt to keep the puck in the offensive zone. Johnson poked the puck forward to a streaking Walter Bernstein. The DC Stars forward caught the puck in his skates and was off on a breakaway coming in alone on Bernard from his own blue line down the ice.

Bernstein faked to his left and Bernard sprawled to make an impressive right pad save. The puck went across the slot to the outside of the right post. Jeffries outhustled the Lightning defense down the ice. With Bernard net yet set, he fired the puck back through the crease missing the mostly empty net. The puck hit Johnson in the shin pad by the left post and bounced into the middle of the lower slot. Johnson collected the puck and shot it into the empty net as Bernard had moved over to prepare to make a save on Johnson by the left post. The poor defensive hustle to get back into the play by the five Upper Montgomery skaters was inexcusable.

Now down two to one, Upper Montgomery dialed up the pressure and fired at Tracy from everywhere. The barrage was interrupted a few minutes later by an interference call against Cassel. The Lightning killed the penalty with ease and had several outstanding shorthanded chances themselves. Still pressing, Upper Montgomery was caught up ice when Cooperman went in alone on his own breakaway. Bernard stoned him with a left leg pad save when Cooperman went to a forehand deke move.

The intense pressure put on by Upper Montgomery earned the Lightning a powerplay with five minutes remaining in the game when Nyberg was called for cross checking. Unfortunately, forty second later Robbins took an unnecessary hooking penalty in the offensive zone to negate the advantage. Upper Montgomery threw everything at Tracy over the final minutes of the game including while up a skater after pulling Bernard with 1:08 left in the contest. The Lightning had seventeen total shots on goal in the third period, all of which were stopped by Tracy. Three additional Upper Montgomery shots found iron.

With thirty seconds left in the game, a loose puck in the DC Stars zone caromed directly to Cooperman. He calmly fired down the ice from a step inside his own blue line into the empty net ending the Lightning’s hopes of extending the game into overtime. It was a frustrating end to a game that Upper Montgomery dominated but Tracy stole for a DC Stars upset victory.

Game Notes:

It was the second consecutive year that Upper Montgomery has opened the season losing its first two games.
Upper Montgomery outshot the DC Stars 37-21 for the game with lopsided advantages in the first and third periods, 13-4 and 17-9 respectively.
Upper Montgomery has only scored three goals over the first two games of the season.
Upper Montgomery has yielded ten goals over the first two games of the season and has been outscored by an 8-1 margin in the third period.
Upper Montgomery went 0-4 on the powerplay and has not scored a powerplay goal in either game.
Upper Montgomery returns to action on Tuesday afternoon, October 24th taking on the Good Counsel Falcons in a non-conference game. Game time against the private school opponent is 4:00 pm at Laurel Ice Gardens.

Three Stars of the Game:

First Star—Anton Tracy—DC Stars Goalie—Win, 1 Goal Against, 36 Saves, .973 Save Percentage
Second Star—Ryan Jacobson—Upper Montgomery Defense—1 Goal
Third Star—Thomas Cooperman—DC Stars Center—2 Goals

Junior Varsity Quarterfinal Round Playoffs – BCC Game Preview

January 10, 2024January 10, 2024 chucklevine Leave a comment

The Upper Montgomery Lightning will face a stiff test in the quarterfinal round of the Montgomery Hockey Conference junior varsity playoffs. Don’t be deceived by the Barons 3-4-1 record. The BCC program has a history of playing its true junior varsity student athletes during the regular season and then supplementing those students with more high end talent once the playoffs begin. Although Upper Montgomery finished the regular season with a program record 9-01- record, many throughout the conference have the Barons favored in the game. Game time on Friday is late night, 10:00 pm puck drop at Cabin John Ice Rink.

The game will be a rematch of an October clash between the two squads won by Upper Montgomery by a score of 3-2. It was a tight checking defensive game that was impacted more by which students did not play in the game rather than those that participated. Both BCC and Upper Montgomery used some roster management decisions in the regular season matchup choosing to scratch certain student athletes.

Friday’s playoff game will be determined in large part by the following factor; which student athletes will be out-of-town with their external travel teams? The Lightning will be missing two primary defenders in Jake Roth and Avery Evans, both of whom will be up north playing with their external travel team in tournaments over the holiday weekend. The Lightning may also be missing leading scorer TJ Gottesman who could be out of town as well. It is unknown if any of the Barons’ student athletes will likewise miss the game.

Ninth grade netminder Ilan Shterenberg who had a superb regular season will need to steal this game. He had fabulous individual statistics in his first high school season. His record was 8-0-1 with three shutouts, a 1.67 goals against average, and a .931 save percentage. He will have to come up huge for Upper Montgomery to prevail over the Barons. With a shortened bench, the Lightning will begin to tire as the game progresses causing the game to tilt toward the Barons over the latter portion of the game. Shterenberg will need to slam the door shut and prevent BCC from scoring. In net for the Barons is expected to be Tycho Narrod-Malcolm. Narrod-Malcolm is a big goalie and tough to score against. Upper Montgomery was able to poke three past him in October and will be looking to do so once again. Narrod-Malcom posted a 1-2-1 record with a 2.25 goals against average and an .895 save percentage. If unavailable, BCC’s other goaltender option would be Lucy Barron who had a 2-1 record, a 3.78 goals against average, and a .750 save percentage.

Upper Montgomery came alive offensively as the season progressed in large part because of a coaching decision. Midway through the season the coaching staff began playing Adam Levine at center separating him off of a line with high scoring center Josh Nadler. The change brought more balance to the lineup and Levine’s faceoff prowess has led directly to seven goals over the past several games. Expect Nadler (9GP, 11G, 1A) to center Jason Woodman (three assists recently against Oakdale) and Sean Levine (10GP, 2G, 5A). If Gottesman (9GP, 11G, 5A) is available for the game, he would play as the other wing with Nadler centering the line. Sean Levine would then drop back and play defense. It is anticipated that the other forward line will have Adam Levine (10GP, 3G, 8A) centering ninth grade forward Aiden Zheng (10GP, 4G, 2A) and AJ Marks (8GP, 3G 4A).

BCC will counter with two very good student athletes who both play on BCC’s varsity squad as well. Peter Lanpher led the Barons in scoring with (4GP, 6G, 5A). He is a smooth skater with good playmaking ability. Kiran Maltby has produced as well and was tied for second on the Barons in goals (7GP, 5G, 1A). The Barons have five other forwards with either two or three goals and four to six points.

Junior offensive minded defender Cole Howerton will lead a defensive corps that will likely only have four skaters. Howerton has played very well of late. His offensive contributions (9GP, 5G, 3A) and skating ability are huge assets for a team that has trouble scoring. He will likely pair with hulking defensive defender Patrick Sell. Sell has begun to use his body more to his advantage. His long reach often gets to pucks breaking up plays. Behr Schicker has been a nice surprise this season. Schickler looked more comfortable in his sophomore season. He will be paired with ninth grade defender Miles Wendland. Wendland is a steady defender that uses very good positioning and stick work to derail the opponent’s offensive chances. BCC has a very talented group on their backend. Sophomore standout Ben Lyons (7GP, 5G, 2A) leads the crew with Jeronimo Castano Tellez (8GP, 3G, 3A) and ninth grade defenders, Nick Sexton (8GP, 2G, 2A) and Ava Summerfield (8GP, 2G). A rotation of forwards may pick up some defensive shifts for the Barons or BCC could go with four defenders similar to the Upper Montgomery game plan.

Upper Montgomery has by far the most difficult quarterfinal matchup of the top four seeds. Something that you would not expect for the number two seeded Lightning. If Upper Mongomery wins, the team will almost certainly play Richard Montgomery in the semifinal round. Richard Montgomery should have no trouble getting past Whitman. The other side of the bracket has top seeded Wootton playing the winner of Churchill and Blair while Walter Johnson will host the DC Stars.

The Lightning will need to maintain focus throughout the entire game, something that will be even more critical in the latter stages of the game as the team begins to tire. Upper Montgomery played in so many close tight games this season that pressure should not be an issue. The penalty kill was outstanding during the regular season, 23 killed penalties out of 25 chances, a success rate of 92%. The two powerplay goals given up were in the one game Shterenberg did not play in. Special teams and faceoffs may play a big role in the outcome as they have all season for the Lightning. It is a win to keep playing game. A loss would end the Upper Montgomery season. It would be a shame for the Lightning’s season to end so early in the playoffs after an undefeated regular season.

#Get it Done, #Advance to Semis, #Remain Undefeated, #UML, #Bleed Green, #Go Bolts!

Lightning Junior Varsity Caps Undefeated Regular Season

January 7, 2024January 7, 2024 chucklevine Leave a comment

The Upper Montgomery Lightning junior varsity capped an undefeated regular season (9-0-1 record) with a 4-3 victory over the Blair Blazers on Thursday evening. The Lightning set a junior varsity program record with their ninth win of the season and the 2023 – 2024 squad will also have the program’s best winning percentage when the upcoming Montgomery Hockey Conference junior varsity playoff tournament concludes. The ten game points streak is another program record. The win over Blair on Thursday evening clinched the number two seed in the county playoff tournament, with only the tie against Churchill a few weeks back preventing the Lightning from winning the Montgomery Hockey Conference regular season championship.

The game itself was a microcosm of the season. Defend well enough, block lots and lots of shots, muck it up all over the ice, kill penalties, rely on 9th grade netminder Shterenberg to make timely saves, score just enough to prevail, and then spend the final minutes of the game in scramble mode defending all over the ice. If this sounds like a redundant encapsulation of the season, it is. But, the ugly hockey, puck support, playing for their teammates, and simply just finding a way to get it done led to this historic regular season. Come the playoffs, things change, and they change quickly, just like the opening to the Blair game.

On the second shift of the contest Upper Montgomery would jump to a quick lead. After a reset in the neutral zone, Lightning forward Jason Woodman shot the puck across the ice from the right wing boards to the left wing boards. Lightning defender Cole Howerton collected the puck between the red line and his own defensive blue line. Using his speed, he skated down the left wing side of the ice and into the offensive zone. He came deep through the left faceoff circle before cutting toward the net. With the puck slightly behind him, Howerton fired a wrist shot far side past Blazers goalie Lily Ben David’s glove. It was Howerton’s fifth goal of the season and came just 1:12 into the contest.

With four minutes left in the first period, Blair would tie the game. The Upper Montgomery defense got caught up ice and it led to a Blair counter rush down the left side of the ice. The offside defender closed on Blair center Mason Boucher. Shterenberg made a save on Boucher’s shot with his right leg pad. Both Boucher and the Lightning defender went past the rebound. Unfortunately for Upper Montgomery, the trailing forwards were still too far away on the backcheck to swat the puck from harm. Blazers forward Chloe Ciabotti shoveled the puck past Shterenberg before any of the Lightning could recover.

A minute after Ciabotti’s goal, Blair would go to what would be the game’s only powerplay when Lightning defender Patrick Sell was called for hooking. As the team has done all season long, the penalty kill thwarted the extra skater advantage. Both teams headed to intermission with the score tied at one. Blair fired twelve shots on goal while Upper Montgomery countered with seven.

The second period followed a similar pattern. The teams traded chances and both goalies kept the score even. Halfway through the second period, Sell charged up ice with the puck. He flipped the puck into the offensive zone down the left wing boards and followed in after his dump in. Blair’s defense got to the puck and attempted to clear their defensive zone to the far side. The clearing attempt hit Sell near the right goal post. The puck squirted to the front of the net where Ben David took things into her own hands. She attempted to fire the puck out of the zone herself. She did not get much on the clearing attempt and sent the puck directly up the slot to one of Upper Montgomery’s top offensive threats, TJ Gottesman. Gottesman had time to stop the puck and flick a wrist shot from the top of the circles into the wide open unguarded net.

Playing with the lead once again, Upper Montgomery seemed to relax a bit. Blair had several good scoring chances before Benjamin Giblin scored his second goal of the season on a wrap around play. Giblin collected the puck in the right corner. He trundled around the net from right to left. With the puck on his backhand he flung the puck toward the net from a bad angle. The puck went far side on Shterenberg and into the net to tie the score at two. Both teams were credited with ten shots on goal in the second period showing just how evenly the game had been through two periods of play.

Upper Montgomery began to play more aggressively in the third period and carried play. Early in the period Ben David made some nice saves with her leg pads to keep the score tied. Four minutes into the third period, the Lightning scored off yet another faceoff play. It is the sixth goal in recent games that has come directly off a faceoff win by senior co-captain Adam Levine. This time Levine shot the puck forward off the draw directly on net. The puck was in Ben David’s feet when Gottesman began poking and swatting at the puck. He connected and pushed the loose puck past Ben David into the net to give Upper Montgomery a 3-2 lead.

With two minutes and thirty seconds left in the game Gottesman would give the Lightning a little breathing room. Howerton advanced the puck up the right wing boards from his defensive zone. Gottesman coming over from the center of the ice took control of the puck skating into the offensive zone. When he reached the middle point of the right faceoff circle, he fired far side past Ben David’s blocker. With a two goal lead, all Upper Montgomery needed to do was play stellar defense, knock pucks clear of the defensive zone, dump pucks in deep behind the Blair net, and escape with their undefeated season. If it were only that simple.

Once Blair got the puck in deep into the Upper Montgomery zone, Ben David went to the bench for an extra skater. Blair controlled the shift with multiple shots fired toward Shterenberg. Many of the shots were blocked by Levine and fellow Lightning forward AJ Marks. A few shots went wide of the net and a couple of others rolled in on Shterenberg which he swatted into the corner. Eventually, Upper Montgomery cleared the zone and managed to get a face off at center ice. Back into the net went Ben David. The next shift was a carbon copy of the last shift. Ben David made it back to the bench, enter the extra skater. Plenty of Blair pressure and lots of Upper Montgomery scrambling around in the defensive zone. Eventually, Boucher emerged from the right corner boards with the puck. As he got to the right of Shterenberg, he made a nice cross crease pass to Blair’s leading scorer William Campbell. Campbell had the entire back side of the net wide open and fired the puck past a lunging Shterenberg. With fifty five seconds remaining in the third period, it was back to a one goal game.

Upper Montgomery played the final shift of the game much better. Levine won yet another faceoff at center ice allowing the Lightning to control the puck and get organized in the neutral zone. Although Upper Montgomery failed to get the puck in deep, the puck did get to the top of the circles in the Blair defensive zone. Fore checking pressure by the forwards prevented the Blazers from getting the puck into the Lightning defensive zone with possession. It took until there was only seventeen seconds remaining in the game before Ben David was able to get back to the bench for the extra skater. Blair did finally get the puck into the Upper Montgomery defensive zone along the right wing boards. The puck made it just past the blue line, but Upper Montgomery muscled up and shoved the puck back to neutral ice. One final clear in by the Blazers was retrieved and immediately cleared back out to center ice by the Lightning defense finishing off an outstanding, undefeated regular season.

Next up for the Lightning junior varsity is a quarterfinal game in the Montgomery Hockey Conference junior varsity playoffs. The team’s opponent will be determined early next week after all of the opening round games have concluded.

Game Notes:

TJ Gottesman has scored in the last five games he has played in.
It was TJ Gottesman’s second career hat-trick.
Adam Levine ran his consecutive games points streak to seven straight games.
TJ Gottesman and Josh Nadler both have three game winning goals.
Ilan Shterenberg tied the junior varsity program record for wins in a season with his eighth victory.
Ilan Shterenberg finished the regular season with an 8-0-1 record, a 1.67 goals against average, and a .931 save percentage.
Shots on goal for the game were even with each team firing 28 shots on goal.
Upper Montgomery returns to game action on Friday evening, January 12th for their start to the Montgomery Hockey Conference junior varsity playoff tournament. Game time for the quarterfinal round is late night, a 10:00 pm start. The Lightning’s opponent will be determined after the opening round action concludes early in the upcoming week.

Three Stars of the Game:

First Star—TJ Gottesman—Upper Montgomery Forward—3 Goals
Second Star—Danilo Azcarate—Blair Defense
Third Star—Cole Howerton—Upper Montgomery Defense—1 Goal, 1 Assist

Varsity Oakdale Game Preview

January 7, 2024January 7, 2024 chucklevine Leave a comment

The Upper Montgomery Lightning enter Monday’s non-conference matchup against the Oakdale Bears a little salty after Friday night’s 3-3 tie against the DC Stars. It was a game that the Lightning came back from a goal down on two separate occasions in the third period to reach overtime, then dominated the five minute extra session. Although the first portion of the regular season did not go as anticipated, the Lightning have earned points in four of their past five games with a 3-1-1 record. Upper Montgomery has beaten two highly regarded teams in Walter Johnson and Whitman during the stretch.

Upper Montgomery will be looking to continue its stronger play of late on Monday evening in Frederick. Game time is 8:20 pm. In net for Upper Montgomery will be senior Landon Bernard. Bernard played very well in the team’s last game before winter break. He was one of the primary reasons for Upper Montgomery’s upset win against Whitman stopping 30 of 32 shots on goal (.938 save %) and looking as comfortable in net as he has all season. Bernard was solid against the DC Stars playing behind a lineup that had only one defender dressed for game action. It was a carousel of forwards playing defense in front of Bernard. While his individual statistics have taken a step back this year, if the Whitman performance is any indication, he may be back in the groove. He is aiming for redemption over the final regular season games and in the playoffs. Upper Montgomery will only go as far in the playoffs as Bernard’s play takes the team.

The Bears will play all state nominee Devin Brown in net. Brown sports sparkling numbers this season coming into the game with a 6-1 record, the loss to private school foe Landon. He has a 1.69 goals against average and a .916 save percentage. Brown has cat quick reflexes and uses his agility and athletic ability to prevent goals. It will be very difficult for Upper Montgomery to score. Of note, the Bears have given up ZERO powerplay goals this season. This does not bode well for the Lightning who have failed to score a power play goal all season, now sitting at 0-24 with the extra skater. To say Upper Montgomery has been challenged all season long while on the powerplay is certainly an understatement. The team’s only powerplay goal was scored on a penalty shot converted by Nathan Cassell against Good Counsel. Which team wins on special teams may determine who wins the game.

Upper Montgomery had hoped this season for balanced goal scoring throughout the lineup. Last season’s top line of Chris Hassett, Nathan Cassel, and Philip Shkeda has continued to produce again this season. Unfortunately, it has been a continual search for other student athletes to step up and match last year’s offensive production. Hassett (10GP, 9G, 13A) and Cassell (11GP, 7G, 14A) have alternated the team lead in assists and points throughout the season. Shkeda (11GP, 9G, 2A) is tied for the team lead in goals. From there the season ending injury to Ryan Jacobson (6GP, 4G, 1A) has drastically impacted the Lightning’s secondary offense. Hunter Cameron has chipped in nicely with (8GP, 5G, 3A). He has two different games with two goals scored and he scored the tying goal late in the third period Friday night against the DC Stars. Each of the team’s other forwards, Brandon Bernard, Bradley Cupples, Olivia Robbins, and Henry Honacki have each played well in one or two games where they have accumulated the majority of their points on the season.

Oakdale has dominated the Monocacy Valley Conference all season long with a 9-1 record with their only loss against Landon. The Bears have played many close one or two goal games all season. Oakdale has averaged six goals per game, but that total is skewed with a couple of lopsided games where Oakdale prevailed easily. Where the Bears have shined is defensively and Brown has really helped. Oakdale has given up only 18 goals in their ten games, an average of 1.8 goals per game. Churchill, one of the top teams in the state, played Oakdale tough in a 2-1 loss. The Bears are led offensively by 16U AA level travel forward Kyle Metzler. Metzler has (9GP, 13G, 7A) including three shorthanded goals. Cameron Horan, plays 18U AA, has complemented Metzler and has scored (9GP, 11G, 8A). Tyler Yuhas has (9GP, 6G, 10A).

On defense the Lightning have struggled all season. With top defender Andrew Botti out for the first eight games of the season, Upper Montgomery had difficulty keeping teams out of the high danger areas. Paired with subpar goaltending, the Lightning suffered a pile of losses. With Botti back, the team has given up only three goals in two games, none while he has been on the ice. Botti is expected to return to the lineup after he missed Friday’s game as he was out of town with his external travel team. Senior co-captain Cameron has played several games on defense to help anchor and provide stability on the back end. Sophomore Brady Berkhammer will again see substantial playing time against the Bears after playing every other shift against the DC Stars. Outside of Cameron’s production in October’s season opener against Whitman where he scored both Upper Montgomery goals, all other Upper Montgomery defensive skaters have contributed no goals and twelve assists in 46 combined games played.

Oakdale has received significant offensive production from their defense. Gavin Timberlake, another 16U AA skater has (10GP, 6G 8A). His travel team teammate Thomas Farley has (9GP, 4G, 8A). The rest of the Oakdale defenders play for the Frederick Freeze travel hockey program at the A level. The Bears have a talented and well coached team as evidenced by the very miniscule number of goals they have given up this season.

In almost every game this season, the Upper Montgomery coaching staff was going to be forced to supplement the usual varsity squad with several student athletes called up from the junior varsity. After Adam Levine and Aiden Zheng performed admirably against the DC Stars, expect that the Lightning will lean heavily on the core of their varsity roster against Oakdale. Getting contributions from up and down the lineup will take pressure off of the top line and allow them to receive sufficient rest on the bench between shifts. If Upper Montgomery’s scoring continues to be centralized amongst only the top four skaters, the coaching staff will be forced to constantly rely on just those few top end offensive skaters. This is not a recipe for success as their performance will deteriorate as the game progresses and they become fatigued. If the team’s second and third lines do not produce against the Bears over the first half of the game, expect the coaching staff to begin whittling down ice time and inserting additional student athletes into the game.

The game against Oakdale was intentionally scheduled to prime the club for the upcoming Montgomery Hockey Conference playoffs. Playing very good non-conference opponents late in the season gets the team prepared to play faster and compete harder heading into a top level playoff matchup against one of the top teams in Montgomery County. The Lightning have begun to show much more fight and desire as the season has progressed and these traits have led to better results. The team’s play is becoming more cohesive, and the total team effort has been better. The Lightning have played more focused and with more belief in each other. Let’s see how that continues to play out on Monday night against a very good opponent.

#Extend the Streak, #UML, #Bleed Green, #Go Bolts!

Junior Varsity Blair Game Preview

January 3, 2024January 3, 2024 chucklevine Leave a comment

The Upper Montgomery Lightning junior varsity concludes its regular season with a makeup game against the Blair Blazers. Earlier this season, Blair failed to show up for the team’s regularly scheduled game. Thursday’s contest begins at 5:45 pm at Wheaton Ice Rink. A victory over the Blazers will cap an undefeated regular season for the Lightning who enter the game with an 8-0-1 record after Tuesday’s thrashing of non-conference opponent Oakdale.

The path to success for Upper Montgomery every game is to rely on the team’s strengths, its trademark team defense, full out hustle, and playing ugly hockey. The Lightning will have to bring their compete level so that they do not play down to the Blair’s level. Hopefully, setting the junior varsity program record for wins in a season will be plenty of motivation for the squad.

The Blair game marks the return of super talented 9th grade netminder Ilan Shterenberg. Shterenberg missed the Oakdale game with pre-scheduled family travel plans. Junior defender Cole Howerton may also return after missing the game against the Bears dealing with a short-term medical issue. With the Oakdale individual statistical performance yet to be finalized by video review, going into the game against the Bears, Upper Montgomery had been led offensively by junior T.J. Gottesman (7GP, 6G, 3A), senior co-captain Adam Levine (8GP, 2G, 7A), and junior co-captain Josh Nadler (7GP, 7G). Junior AJ Marks (6GP, 2G, 3A) has continued to play well having his best game of the season recently against the Churchill Bulldogs with a goal and two assists. He will be looking to show consistency and that level of production once again. Sean Levine is coming off a pretty backhanded goal to finish off a breakaway in the team’s recent victory over the DC Stars. Ninth grade forward Aiden Zheng is coming on strong and now has (8GP, 3G, 1A). Jason Woodman threw his body around in the Oakdale game and several of his hits dislodged the puck. Avery Evans is the team’s top defender in points with (6GP, 4A) and scored her first career high school goal against Oakdale.

The Blazer may play any one of four students in net during the game. All four goalies have struggled this season with Blair having given up 35 goals in just five games, an average of seven goals against per contest. Conversely, Blair has tallied only twelve goals. Thursday’s game will be the second of back to back contests for the Blazers as Blair also plays late Wednesday night. Blair is led offensively by William Campbell who has five goals in three games. Mason Boucher with two goals is the only other Blazer with more than one goal.

On defense the Lightning will likely have a rotation of Avery Evans paired with Jake Roth and Patrick Sell paired with Miles Wendland. Anticipate that Behr Schickler will see time in the rotation as the fifth defender. Upper Montgomery will need to maintain its defensive focus throughout the entire game. Prior to the Oakdale game with Chris Hassett (a skater playing goalie), the Lightning had been perfect on the penalty kill this season sitting at 21 for 21 while playing a skater short. This unprecedented success has definitely helped in all of the close games Upper Montgomery has been a part of. If shorthanded on Thursday, the Lightning may very well score a shorthanded goal or two against the Blazers.

The Upper Montgomery junior varsity will be looking to extend their unbeaten run to a program record ten straight games to open the season with a victory over the Blazers. The final regular season game is on Thursday evening with a chance at an undefeated campaign. Many student athletes also have long scoring streaks that they would like to continue. Upper Montgomery has grown accustomed to playing in tight games, something that should be of benefit as the season winds down into the Montgomery Hockey Conference junior varsity playoffs which are just ten short days away.

#Finish Strong, #Extend the Streak, #Undefeated, #Our Time, #UML, #Bleed Green, #Go Bolts!