Category: Game Previews

The Upper Montgomery Lightning junior varsity will bring its undefeated record into Wednesday afternoon’s tilt with Rockville. Game time is 4:15 pm at Cabin John Ice Rink. Although the Rams are part of the Montgomery Hockey Conference, the game between the teams will be recorded as a non-conference matchup. Even so, the Lightning will need to use the same effort and teamwork that has led to their fast start to help propel Upper Montgomery to victory once again. After its most recent win over the BCC Barons, the Lightning will need to demonstrate that they can handle success. The team must continue to pile up victories throughout the middle portion of the regular season schedule.

The Lightning will be looking to once again play a complete game. Ninth grade netminder Ilan Shterenberg has authored two shutouts over his first three career games, all victories, and he will be looking to continue his strong play. Shterenberg’s statistics over the first three games of the season are an eye popping 0.67 goals against average and a .960 save percentage. Shterenberg was tested against BCC and another strong goaltending effort will bolster Upper Montgomery’s chances on Wednesday afternoon. In net for the Rams will be Alexander Crotzer-Scartascini. He has played in each game for the Rams posting a 5.40 goals against average and an .832 save percentage.

If Upper Montgomery brings the effort and hustle displayed against Whitman and BCC, the team should be in good shape. Offensively for the Lightning, Josh Nadler has led the way scoring in each of the first three games of the season. TJ Gottesman leads the team in points with four on two goals and two assists. Sean Levine has three points, and the depth scoring came through against the Barons with AJ Marks netting his first goal of the season and Aiden Zheng scoring his first career high school goal. Old Upper Montgomery friend Rowen Pierson leads the Rams in goals with two. Rockville has had difficulty scoring this season with only one goal in four games before their six goal explosion against Churchill in their last game.

On defense the Lightning’s experienced defenders are beginning to jell. Seniors Sean Levine and Jake Roth will see extensive action. Junior offensive minded defender Cole Howerton who has created many scoring chances will log heavy minutes once again. He will likely pair with hulking defensive defender Patrick Sell. Ninth grade defenders Miles Wendland and Avery Evans have bright futures with the program. Evans playing in her first game against BCC played very well. Wendland will play in all situations, and he has already been a frequent call up to play in varsity games this season.

Upper Montgomery will need to maintain focus throughout the entire game to put away the pesky Rams. This is something the team did not do very well against Northwest/Quince Orchard earlier this season when the Lightning played another opponent that did not match up with Upper Montgomery’s talent. Every game is an opportunity to shine and impress the coaching staff. Junior varsity student athletes need to demonstrate that they deserve additional ice time and call ups to participate in varsity game competition. Thus, each game, each shift, the student athletes need to play within the system and gain the coaching staff’s trust that they can contribute at the next level.

Upper Montgomery junior varsity will be looking to extend their unbeaten record with a victory over the Rams. The Lightning will need to take charge early and grasp the momentum. Then, the team will need to continue playing a complete game to finish off what looks to be an inferior opponent. Shterenberg will need to remain sharp and not develop bad habits. If the Lightning wait around and play a loose style of hockey, the game will be closer than it needs to be.

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

The Upper Montgomery Lightning will face its toughest test to date on Monday afternoon versus the BCC Barons. After beginning the season 3-0 without giving up a goal, the Barons will pose a much bigger test than Upper Montgomery’s three prior opponents. Game time is 4:10 pm at Rockville Ice Arena.

The Lightning will be looking to play a more complete game than the team did in last Sunday evening’s contest against Northwest/Quince Orchard, a game in which the Lightning won in spite of a lackluster effort. Ninth grade netminder Ilan Shterenberg has authored shutouts in his first two career high school starts stopping twenty shots against Whitman and only needing to make nine saves against Northwest/Quince Orchard. Shterenberg will be tested on Monday and will need to play a strong game to keep Upper Montgomery competitive. If Upper Montgomery brings the effort and hustle displayed against Whitman, the team should be in the game. In net for the Barons is expected to be Tycho Narrod-Malcolm. When the Barons replaced him in their first game of the season, they gave up four goals in the third period using backup netminder Lucy Barron. Tycho Narrod-Malcolm has also yet to allow a goal this season.

On defense the Lightning’s experienced defenders are still looking to jell. Seniors Sean Levine and Jake Roth will see extensive action. Junior offensive minded defender Cole Howerton who created many scoring chances against Northwest/Quince Orchard will log heavy minutes once again. He will likely pair with hulking defensive defender Patrick Sell or Behr Schicker who has been a nice surprise over the first two games of the season. Schickler looks more comfortable in his sophomore season. Ninth grade defenders Miles Wendland and Avery Evans will each play a significant role against BCC. Wendland will return to the lineup after being out of town with his external travel team last weekend. Evans will be making her Lightning debut. BCC has a very experienced roster on their backend. Senior Alex Elias will provide mentorship to sophomore standout Ben Lyons and 9th grade defenders, Nick Sexton and Ava Summerfield. A rotation of forwards may also pick up some defensive shifts for the Barons.

Up front the Lightning have received two goals each from junior co-captain Josh Nadler and junior TJ Gottesman. Senior co-captain Adam Levine has stood out for his stellar play over the first two games of the season. The team’s leaders have played very well against Whitman and Northwest/Quince Orchard leading by example with outstanding effort, hustle, and determination. With the team unlikely to burst out offensively, every single forward will need to contribute. Expect that AJ Marks and Aiden Zheng may chip in offensively on Monday. Jackson Schickler will continue to see lots of ice time, and he is improving with each game.

BCC will be led up front by Kiran Maltby and Peter Lanpher. Maltby has four goals on the season including a hat-trick scored against the Blair Blazers. Lanpher is a slick skater with nifty moves. He is more of a set up skater dishing off passes for easy goals for his teammates. He had one goal and four assists in the Baron’s first two games of the season before he exploded for five goals against Northwest/Quince Orchard in the Barons last game.

Upper Montgomery will need to maintain focus throughout the entire game, something they did not do particularly well against Northwest/Quince Orchard. Every game is an opportunity to shine and impress the coaching staff. Junior varsity student athletes need to demonstrate that they deserve additional ice time and call ups to participate in varsity game competition.

Upper Montgomery junior varsity will be looking to push their record to 4-0 on the young season. However, the Lightning will need to take charge and grasp the momentum playing a complete game to remain competitive. Shterenberg will need to shine and keep the game a low scoring affair. If the Lightning wait around and play a loose style of hockey, the effort will not be enough to beat one of the better teams in the conference.

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

The Upper Montgomery Lightning junior varsity has started the 2023 – 2024 season with two consecutive shutout victories. The team will look to make it three victories to start the season with a win over the Blair Blazers on Friday afternoon. Game time is 4:10 pm at Rockville Ice Arena. The Lightning will be looking to play a more complete game than the team did in Sunday evening’s contest against Northwest/ Quince Orchard, a game in which the Lightning won in spite of a lackluster effort. Depending upon how the game progresses, some roster management may occur as the program has a varsity game later Friday evening in which several of the junior varsity student athletes will participate.

Ninth grade netminder Ilan Shterenberg has authored shutouts in his first two career high school starts stopping twenty shots against Whitman and only needing to make nine saves against Northwest/Quince Orchard. Another strong defensive effort on Friday afternoon will help as he tries for a third consecutive shutout victory. If Upper Montgomery brings the effort and hustle displayed against Whitman, the team should be in control of the game. The junior varsity team should continue to play much better this season, but that will all depend on how well the team defends. Not just the defense, but the forwards backchecking hard and coming back to help in coverage. The team has a significant amount of experience on defense. In net for the Blazers is expected to be a split game between Gavin Masaya and Alexander Azcarate. Masaya faced a potent BCC squad in his only career game while Azcarate was better against an inferior opponent in the DC Stars.

On defense the Lightning’s experienced defenders are still looking to jell. Seniors Sean Levine and Jake Roth will see extensive action. Offensive minded defender Cole Howerton who created many scoring chances against Northwest/Quince Orchard will log heavy minutes once again. He will likely pair with hulking defensive defender Patrick Sell or Behr Schicker who has been a nice surprise over the first two games of the season. Schickler looks more comfortable in his sophomore season. Ninth grade defenders Miles Wendland and Avery Evans will each play a significant role against Blair. Wendland will return to the lineup after being out of town with his external travel team this past weekend. Evans will be making her Lightning debut. Blair has a relatively young roster with no experienced defensive skaters. Upper Montgomery must take advantage of this shortcoming. A rotation of forwards may need to drop back and play defense for the Blazers.

Up front the Lightning have received two goals each from junior co-captain Josh Nadler and junior TJ Gottesman. Senior co-captain Adam Levine has stood out for his stellar play over the first two games of the season. The team’s leaders have played very well against Whitman and Northwest/Quince Orchard leading by example with outstanding effort, hustle, and determination. With the team unlikely to burst out offensively, every single forward will need to contribute. Expect that AJ Marks and Aiden Zheng will chip in offensively on Friday. Jackson Schickler will continue to see lots of ice time, and he is improving with each game.

Blair will be led up front by Eva Caron. She is the team’s best forward playing on a team that is starved for goals. The Blazes have scored only one goal over their first two games. Unfortunately for Blair, there is just not enough talent to compete with the middle and top junior varsity teams in the Montgomery Hockey Conference.

Upper Montgomery will need to maintain focus throughout the entire game, something they did not do particularly well against Northwest/Quince Orchard. If the game is competitive, the Lightning will need to be laser sharp with their defensive assignments and structure. If Upper Montgomery is able to open up a bit of a lead during the game, the team will need to be very focused on attention to details to prevent bad habits from creeping into their game moving forward. Every game is an opportunity to shine and impress the coaching staff and demonstrate that the student athlete deserves additional ice time.

Upper Montgomery junior varsity will be looking to push their record to 3-0 on the young season with a very winnable game. However, the Lightning will need to take charge and grab hold of the game. Waiting around and playing a loose style will not beat the better teams in the conference.

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

The Upper Montgomery Lightning junior varsity has a quick turnaround after its season opening shutout victory Friday night against Whitman. Less than 48 hours later, the team will host Northwest/Quince Orchard on Sunday evening, October 8th at Skate Frederick. Game time is 7:05 pm. Upper Montgomery will be looking to build off of Friday evening’s effort and show the maturity an experienced team has to not have a letdown. The junior varsity has only fourteen skaters, so conditioning is important especially with the team expected to be without 9th grade defenders Avery Evans and Miles Wendland both of whom are out of town with their external travel teams. As the team found out Friday evening, the additional length of the periods, now fifteen minutes up from twelve minutes, can affect conditioning and performance later on in the game.

Ninth grade netminder Ilan Shterenberg authored a shutout in his first career high school start stopping twenty shots against Whitman. If he plays well again on Sunday, Upper Montgomery should be able to muster enough offense to repel the Jaguars. If Upper Montgomery brings the effort and hustle displayed against Whitman, they should be able to control the game. The junior varsity team should continue to play much better this season, but that will all depend on how well the team defends. Not just the defense, but the forwards backchecking hard and coming back to help in coverage. The team has a significant amount of experience on defense. Playing to its strengths, the junior varsity games may be lower scoring than last season as the team focuses on protecting Shterenberg.

Shterenberg will handle the netminding duties for the entire season. His play in net will ultimately determine how successful the team is and how far the Lightning junior varsity advances in the junior varsity county playoffs. Friday evening was a great start, zero goals allowed. He has the talent and ability to be a difference maker. In net for the Jaguars will be junior Joseph Dean. Dean has experience playing his third season of junior varsity hockey. He was excellent in the team’s playoff matchup two seasons ago and then uneven last year during the team’s regular season 4-4 tie.

On defense the Lightning will dress several experienced defenders. Seniors Sean Levine and Jake Roth will both see extensive action. Offensive minded defender Cole Howerton will likely pair with hulking defensive defender Patrick Sell. Sell will be making his season debut versus Northwest/Quince Orchard. Behr Schickler played a nice game on Friday and will be counted on to play significant minutes once again on Sunday. Northwest/Quince Orchard has a relatively young roster with senior Matthew Mills anchoring their backend. A rotation of forwards may need to drop back and play defense for the Jaguars.

Up front the Lightning received goals from junior co-captain Josh Nadler and sophomore Jason Woodman. Senior co-captain Adam Levine had an excellent game. The team’s leaders showed out against Whitman leading by example with outstanding effort, hustle, and determination. With the team unlikely to burst out offensively, every single forward will need to contribute. Expect that AJ Marks, TJ Gottesman, Aiden Zheng, and Jackson Schickler will continue to see lots of ice time, and each will improve as the season progresses.

Northwest/Quince Orchard will be led up front by Trevor Bartolomeo. He is the team’s most explosive skater, and his conditioning is second to none. He will be flying all over the ice like the energizer bunny every time he is out there. Unfortunately, he doesn’t have a lot of top end talent to play with.

Upper Montgomery will need to maintain focus throughout the entire game. If the game is competitive, the Lightning will need to be laser sharp with their defensive assignments and structure. If Upper Montgomery is able to open up a bit of a lead during the game, the team will need to be very focused on attention to details to prevent bad habits from creeping into their game moving forward. Every game is an opportunity to shine. Upper Montgomery will be looking to push their record to 2-0 on the young season.

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

The Upper Montgomery Lightning junior varsity begins its season on Friday evening, October 6th with a rematch of last season’s junior varsity playoff quarterfinal. Upper Montgomery will face the Whitman Vikings at 8:15 pm at Cabin John Ice Rink. The junior varsity will have fourteen skaters and incoming 9th grade netminder Ilan Shterenberg handling the goaltending duties. The junior varsity team should be much better than last year’s junior varsity squad as there is a significant amount of experience returning on defense. The junior varsity games may be lower scoring than last season as the team uses its defensive strength to focus on preventing the opposition from scoring. The big change in the junior varsity season will be the additional length of the periods, now fifteen minutes up from twelve minute periods that had been played in previous seasons.

Shterenberg will handle the netminding duties for the entire season. His play in net will ultimately determine how successful the team is and how far the Lightning junior varsity advances in the junior varsity county playoffs. He has the talent and ability to be a difference maker. In net for the Vikings will be Alex Minkoff, also a 9th grade student athlete. Both Shterenberg and Minkoff play for the Montgomery Youth Hockey Association Ice Devils travel program.

On defense the Lightning will dress several experienced defenders and two promising 9th grade student athletes. Seniors Sean Levine 9 GP, 2 G, 2 A and Jake Roth will both see extensive action. Offensive minded defender Cole Howerton 11 GP, 2 G, 4 A, 6 PTS will regularly join the rush looking to use his speed and shot to help deliver offensive firepower. He is likely going to be paired with hulking defensive defender Patrick Sell. Sell’s focus is on using his size and reach to upset the offensive rushes of the opposition. He chipped in with two goals last season, but his value is on the defensive side of the ice and penalty killing duties. Incoming defenders Miles Wendland and Avery Evans both play upper level travel hockey. They both need some seasoning learning how to play high school hockey against older competition. This season will go a long way in their development as both will be integral components of the team moving forward over the next four seasons.

Whitman is stingy on defense and will also have an experienced defensive lineup playing in the game. Junior defender Mark Buckley will lead a defensive corpse that is big and moves the puck very well. Joining him on defense will be sophomore brothers Will and Cooper Schultz and Brady Schwartz. Expect 9th grade defenders Steven Mah and Aaron Zhang to see significant playing time as well.

Up front co-captains junior Josh Nadler 9 GP, 4 G, 1 A, 5 PTS and senior Adam Levine 11 GP, 3 G, 4 A, 7 PTS will look to use last season playing together as a springboard to produce more offensively this season. Nadler missed the playoff game last season while serving supplemental discipline after receiving a fighting major and he will be looking play a strong game to make up for his absence.

Junior TJ Gottesman will look to improve on last season statistically 8 GP, 4 G, 9 A for 13 PTS, and be more consistent throughout the season. He is a big hitter and the coaching staff will be looking for that aggression and toughness again this season. AJ Marks will begin his second season with the Lightning. He has a big shot, but needs to hit the net more frequently to add to the two goals he scored last season. Incoming 9th grader Aiden Zheng will get every opportunity to receive top line game action. His speed has the chance to open up the game and stretch the ice. The coaching staff will be working with Aiden all season long on growing the defensive side of his game. Jason Woodman’s enthusiasm and effort will be useful all season. He chipped in with two goals a year ago, and if he can extend his scoring by even just a little bit, that will go a long way. The Schickler brothers will see more extensive playing time after the high school football season ends, but both Behr on defense and Jackson on offense will help provide balance to the forward lines.

Whitman will roll many forwards throughout the game. Returning an experienced forward corps led by senior Ben Lammers, junior Daphne Lapierre, junior Lucas Giesecke, sophomore Drew Kaplan, and senior Thomas Rouxel who had an excellent game during last season’s playoff matchup, the Vikings will look to work in several new 9th grade student athletes. Whitman plays a very structured system with lots of back pressure and support. Anticipate that the Vikings will have possession of the puck for a majority of the game and will look to break down the Upper Montgomery defense.

The Lightning will be facing a team that is very skilled and plays a suffocating defensive style. It will be hard for the Lightning to match up unless the team commits to playing a gritty blue collar type of game where the team competes all over the ice for every inch and loose puck. Upper Montgomery will need to claw and fight the entire game to remain competitive and give the team a chance to win down the stretch. A super performance from Shterenberg might just be enough to pull off a season opening upset victory.

The season begins now….

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

The Upper Montgomery Lightning host the Sherwood Warriors on Wednesday afternoon in the semifinal round of the Montgomery Hockey Conference Division Two playoff tournament. Game time is set for 4:00 pm at Laurel Ice Gardens. The Lightning will be looking to continue their excellent defensive play of late after holding St. Johns and Churchill both to just one goal each, and then holding Blair to only one goal during the competitive portion of last Friday’s division two quarterfinal game. Unlike during the regular season matchup between the two teams in early December, a game won by Upper Montgomery 6-1, Sherwood will have its full roster for this playoff clash.

Sherwood is driven by four highly skilled student athletes. Senior Jeremy Isaacs (18U AA) leads the team with (11GP, 19G, 11A). Junior Grayson Winckler (16U AA) has (12GP, 14G, 11A). Sophomore Noi Jonasson (16U AAA) has (10GP, 12G, 11A), and he scored a ‘michigan goal’ last season against Upper Montgomery. Jonasson may be the purest and most talented skater on the ice in this game. On defense, the Warriors are led by senior Samuel Greenberg (18U AA), (14GP, 11G, 2A). Sherwood tries to win games by outscoring their opponents. As with last week’s game, the Lightning will have to carefully determine when to press forward offensively while these skilled student athletes are on the ice. Keeping the Warriors out of transition attack mode will limit Sherwood’s ability to score goals. All four of these talented student athletes will try and rush the puck up ice fast break style which often times gets the Warriors in trouble off the counter attack. The Warriors are weak defensively and Upper Montgomery should be able to take advantage of the Warriors back line. Sherwood also does not possess a tremendous amount of depth. So, when the Warriors top four are not on the ice, or if they are split up on different lines, the Lightning will have an advantage.

For what seems like the first time in ages, Upper Montgomery will have a full roster dressed in Wednesday’s game. Leading scorer Chris Hassett (15GP, 12G, 18A) will center Nathan Cassel (11GP, 10G, 13A) and Philip Shkeda (13GP, 7G, 5A). On the second line expect Ryan Jacobson to focus on stopping Noi Jonasson while also adding to his offensive production (9GP, 12G, 4A). He will likely center Brandon Bernard (13GP, 9G, 6A) and Henry Honacki, who is coming off a two assist game against Blair. The third line will feature Bradley Cupples (14GP, 3G, 10A), who is coming off of a four point game against Blair, his finest performance this season, centering Hunter Cameron fresh from his three point effort against the Blazers, and Olivia Robbins (10GP, 5G, 5A). Cameron has points in all three playoff games this season. Playing against mostly the second division teams, Sherwood is averaging giving up 5.57 goals per game. If the Lightning play hard, the team should be able to light the lamp on Wednesday afternoon.

The defense will also be fully stocked. Senior George Benedick is the team’s leading defensive scorer with (14GP, 5G, 10A), and he will be looking to extend his high school career by one more game. Sophomore Andrew Botti has provided a steadying presence on the back line. His quick puck moving skills and transition up ice has eliminated many opponents’ offensive chances. Senior Ethan Hockey (14GP, 3G, 7A) has the skating ability to catch and eliminate the Warriors speedy forwards. Ninth grade defender Brady Berkhammer always seems to be in the correct position, or he gets his stick on a forward’s shot to cancel out scoring chances.

In goal, Landon Bernard will be looking to continue his recent stretch of very strong performances. He has been very good in goal the past couple of weeks and played exceptionally well in the shootout loss to nine time state champion Churchill. In the playoffs, he has stopped 79 of 84 shots on goal for a .940 save percentage to go along with his 2-0-1 record, and 1.65 goals against average. Sherwood will start Samuel Hutt in net. Hutt (4-7 record) has been left out to dry by a porous Warriors defense and has a 6.02 goals against average, and a .775 save percentage.

Last week’s victory was a nice start to the division two playoffs. The Lightning can’t be satisfied in just advancing farther than last season. The team needs to be greedy and play excellent team hockey for the full 45 minutes. If Upper Montgomery plays a strong, unselfish, team game like the team did last week against Blair, sharing the puck and pounding it at the net, the Warriors will find it difficult to match up against the Lightning. Upper Montgomery needs to have an attitude and take it right to the Warriors physically from the opening faceoff.

Playing good defensive hockey is the key to victory and a spot in the division two championship game on Friday afternoon. Just like during the regular season meeting, the outcome of the game will depend on Upper Montgomery’s ability to keep Sherwood’s top skaters off the scoresheet. Upper Montgomery needs to forget about last week’s game and remain hungry for wins. It is time to play with a swagger and make other teams prove that they can beat Upper Montgomery. Bring it home again this week Lightning. Go Bolts!

The Upper Montgomery Lightning return to game action on Friday evening versus the Blair Blazers in the quarterfinal round of the Montgomery Hockey Conference Division Two playoffs. Game time is 9:40 pm at Rockville Ice Arena. Friday’s game will be an intriguing test for the young Lightning roster coming off of last week’s heroic performance and at the same time heartbreaking loss to Churchill in the Division One playoffs. Upper Montgomery nearly pulled off the greatest upset in the history of Maryland high school hockey going toe-to-toe with the mighty Churchill Bulldogs. Churchill has won nine of the past eleven state championships. They have also not lost in the county or state playoffs in nine seasons. The Lightning succumbed by one shot in a five round shootout after playing the perennial powerhouse even through both regulation and overtime.

The biggest question this week will be how the team responds to being so, so close to qualifying for the state playoffs? Can the team put last week’s heartbreak behind them and come out and play with a similar effort? The regular season matchup against Blair (a 9-1 victory) is not a good indicator of how the playoff game will turn out. Blair will have all three of its premier forwards available for Friday’s game. That trio is very dangerous and are able to win games for the Blazers by themselves covering up a lot of the Blazers’ shortcomings.

In goal, Landon Bernard will be looking to build off of his best performance ever for the Lightning. Holding Churchill to only one goal through 50 minutes of action and stopping two shootout attempts by AAA skaters. He was fabulous last week and one of the primary reasons that the Lightning even had an opportunity to win the contest. Upper Montgomery will have a distinct advantage in goal this week. Lily Bendavid will tend the net for Blair. She has won her last two starts fairly easily. Her statistics for the season are rather pedestrian. Her record is three wins and ten losses. She has a 6.92 goals against average and a .760 save percentage. In contrast, Bernard’s record is 7-6-2. He has a 3.53 goals against average and an .868 save percentage. In Upper Montgomery’s two playoff games his statistics are an eye popping 0.96 goals against average and a .966 save percentage, stopping 56 of 58 shots on goal.

Blair has three very high-end forwards, Chris Birchard (11GP, 13G, 7A), Alex Birchard (12GP, 7G, 11A), and Michael Humphreys (6GP, 10G, 3A). These three seniors all play 18U AA travel hockey and are very offensive minded. They will be hard to miss on the ice. Their speed and singular focus on offense can be hard for opponents to play against. Upper Montgomery will have to carefully determine when to press forward offensively while these three student athletes are on the ice. Their counter attack style of play often leads to multiple odd skater rushes each game. The Lightning defense will need to recognize which student athletes are on the ice and adjust quickly or else the Blazers will burn them in transition and score goals.

Upper Montgomery’s offense should be able to find the net against Blair. The core of the Lightning’s offense will be on the ice Friday led by junior center Chris Hassett, the team’s leading scorer (13GP, 10G, 17A). Joining Hassett on the top line is likely to be Hunter Cameron with a rotation on left wing. Cameron scored in overtime against St. Johns two weeks ago to provide Upper Montgomery with the team’s first ever Division One playoff victory. Centering the second line will be Ryan Jacobson (8GP, 10G, 3A). He is likely to play with Brandon Bernard (12GP, 8G, 3A) with another rotation on right wing. Bradley Cupples will center the third line as well as taking some shifts at wing on the top two lines. Expect Henry Honacki, Josh Nadler, and Adam Levine to receive periodic playing time throughout the game as well.

On defense, Upper Montgomery will have its top two defenders log a significant amount of ice time. Senior captain George Benedick (13GP, 5G, 8A) will be looking to extend his Lightning career if Upper Montgomery is able to secure the win. Andrew Botti (12GP, 3G, 4A) will likely pair with Benedick whenever Blair’s big three forwards are on the ice. Stephen Shkeda will hope to extend his career games played record. Shkeda has played in the most career games of any Upper Montgomery student athlete. He will play in his 80th career game on Friday evening. His scrappy, energetic play will be a boost to the defensive corps.

To advance to the semifinals of the Montgomery Hockey Conference Division Two playoffs, Upper Montgomery needs to play a complete game and not give up too many high quality scoring chances to the Blazers. If Upper Montgomery is able to limit Blair’s offensive production, the Lightning should be able to find the net enough to come away with the victory. In the playoffs, the games are almost always lower scoring, tight checking affairs. If Upper Montgomery completes and plays its guts out like the team did last week, the Lightning should be able to book a spot in next week’s Division Two semifinal against Sherwood. A win would also advance the team farther this year than last season when the Lightning lost in the quarterfinal round of the Division Two playoffs. Go Bolts!

On Friday night, the Upper Montgomery Lightning have an opportunity of a lifetime. A chance to pull off the biggest upset in the history of Maryland high school hockey. The Lightning will be facing off against the Churchill Bulldogs. Churchill has not lost a playoff game in the past nine seasons. The Bulldogs have won seven of the past eight Maryland high school state championships with only COVID interrupting the streak by preventing Churchill from competing in the 2021 state playoff tournament. Churchill is widely recognized as ‘the team’ in Maryland high school hockey. Game time is 9:00 pm at Rockville Ice Arena. Expect a raucous, vocal, and pro-Churchill crowd to be present adding to the delirious atmosphere.

Upper Montgomery has never before reached the second round of the Montgomery Hockey Conference division one playoff tournament. A win in Friday’s game would send the Lightning to the state playoffs for the first time in program history. The 2022 – 2023 season has been a season in which the team has achieved many firsts; winning the program’s first ever division one playoff game, beating Wootton for the first time ever, earning standings points against one of the top four programs in the county with a tie against BCC, and beating the number two ranked team in the county with its late season victory over Quince Orchard. The Quince Orchard win was against the highest ranked opponent that the Upper Montgomery program had ever beaten.

This game against Churchill will be an extremely difficult matchup for the young Lightning. Churchill will dress an array of AAA level travel hockey student athletes (possibly six) and the Bulldogs expect to continue their dominance. Upper Montgomery will have a big mountain to climb just to remain competitive in the game. In early November, in the team’s regular season matchup, Churchill prevailed easily by a score of 8-2.

In net for the Bulldogs will be either AAA goalie, senior Avery Schiff (4-3 record, 2.33 goals against average, .892 save percentage), or AAA goalie, 9th grader Mac Glazer (3-2-1 record, 3.41 goals against average, .875 save percentage). It will be a game time decision on who starts in net for the Bulldogs, or if Churchill will play both netminders during the game. For Upper Montgomery, Landon Bernard will again be between the pipes as he has been all season long. Bernard is coming off of a very strong outing versus St. Johns in Upper Montgomery’s first ever division one playoff victory, stopping 22 of 23 shots on goal. It was a crazy game in that Upper Montgomery had to play four minutes of game action without a goalie in net during the second period when Bernard lost a skate blade. For the season Bernard has a 7-6-1 record, a 3.74 goals against average, and an .858 save percentage. Throughout the entire game, expect Churchill to fire the puck at Bernard often with shots coming from long range and in bunches.

On defense, Montgomery Hockey Conference All Conference selection Samuel Strand steadies an inexperienced defense. This season, Strand was second on the Bulldogs in points with (12GP, 12G, 7A). Dalton Esko-Himmelfarb (11GP, 3G, 4A) will also see significant action versus the Lightning. The Churchill attack is so strong that often times their defense is overlooked.

On offense, when playing against the Bulldogs, it is pick your poison. With junior top tier forward Joshua Potenti back, the Lightning have to contend with three AAA level travel forwards; Potenti, Brook Chapman, and Ryan Wees, and then also highly talented AA level Montgomery Hockey Conference All Conference forward Zack Silver, who by the way tallied (15GP, 19G, 5A). In addition to the top end forwards, Churchill has plenty of depth. Brook Chapman (9GP, 7G, 4A), Asher Wang (8GP, 8G, 8A), and Daniel McNelis (11GP, 6G, 10A) will all be going concerns for the Upper Montgomery defense. Lightning forwards will need to play back in a defensive shell to clog up the ice and make it more difficult for Churchill to find open space in which to make plays with their superior talent.

Upper Montgomery will need to play a near perfect game just to remain competitive. Chris Hassett (13GP, 9G, 17A) and Nathan Cassell (10GP, 10G, 13A) will be counted on to provide offense. The entire team will need to pitch in and contribute. The game will hinge on how well Upper Montgomery defends as the Lightning will not outscore the Bulldogs in a back and forth offensive shootout. The team’s defenders will need to step up bigtime. George Benedick (12GP, 5G, 9A), Andrew Botti (11GP, 3G, 4A), and Ethan Hockey (13GP, 3G, 7A) will receive the bulk of the minutes on defense. However, it will not fall on these three experienced defensive skaters to try and contain Churchill. The entire Upper Montgomery roster will need to defend all over the ice and take away time and space from the Churchill forwards. Nothing short of an extraordinary effort will get the job done.

In a one game winner take all playoff matchup anything can happen. The Lightning will literally be trying to capture Lightning in a bottle and shock the world. Once the game is over late Friday evening the program will have a pretty good idea of how it stacks up moving forward into next season when Upper Montgomery is likely to be one of the better teams in the county. While the team has advanced farther than ever before and has accomplished a slew of firsts this season, beating ‘the team’ on Friday would blow the top off expectations for this season. Go Bolts!

The Upper Montgomery Lightning will host their first ever Division One playoff game Friday night against the St. Johns Cadets. The Lightning earned the home playoff game by virtue of finishing the regular season ranked seventh in the Montgomery Hockey Conference. It is the highest finish ever in the history of the program. The seventh seeded Lightning host the tenth seeded Cadets at 8:45 pm Friday night at Rockville Ice Arena.

Upper Montgomery’s long mid-season winning streak seems to be in the rearview mirror. Consecutive losses to Richard Montgomery and BCC to end the regular season dropped Upper Montgomery in the Montgomery Hockey Conference rankings. The team now has a much tougher path to the Maryland Scholastic Hockey League Maryland state playoff championship. The Lightning have never qualified for the state tournament.

Friday’s game is expected to be a slugfest. It will likely be a low scoring, physical, gritty, fight for every inch of the ice kind of game. Upper Montgomery will need to slow the game down as much as possible as the Lightning will be playing without two of the team’s top forwards; Nathan Cassell and Ryan Jacobson. Without this offensive firepower, the team will need contributions from all available skaters to make up for the missing offense. It will be extremely tough to score on St. Johns netminder Jack Faricy. Faricy is arguably the best goalie that the Lightning will face this season. He has a 3.58 goals against average and a .918 save percentage. If he can see the puck, he will stop the puck. He made 61 saves in a 2-0 loss to Whitman a few weeks ago. Faricy has been playing behind a very young defense, a defense that the Lightning will need to take advantage of to generate scoring opportunities. Upper Montgomery will need to get layers and layers of skaters in the shooting lanes. Traffic around the crease is a must to screen Faricy and deposit rebounds and garbage goals.

Landon Bernard will be looking to regain the form he displayed earlier this season when he won six of seven games. He has a respectable 3.93 goals against average and an .852 save percentage. When the team plays strong defense in front of him, the Lightning are unbeaten. In games where the Lightning play a free flowing, offensive, and ‘pretty’ hockey game, the results have not been so positive. Bernard will need to make several key saves for the Lightning to win on Friday. It would be a tremendous help if the team defense in front of him clogged up the center of the ice and blocked shots, eliminating Cadets scoring opportunities.

On defense the Lightning will need to play the game along the boards. Make it tough on St. Johns to operate in the offensive zone. Flip the puck out. Frustrate the Cadets forwards. Force St. Johns to continuously rewind in the neutral zone and chase the puck off of dump ins. If the Lightning get back to their mid-season form of playing a more defensively sound and compact system through the neutral zone, the team will have an outstanding chance of winning. St. Johns has struggled on offense for much of the season averaging exactly three goals per game. Upper Montgomery will need to focus on Teddy Kurowski (11GP, 7G, 6A), Noll Myers (11GP, 6G, 4A), and Will Spicer (9GP, 4G, 4A). On defense, Joseph Krauth also contributes from the blue line (10GP, 5G, 3A). The play of these four skaters will determine whether St. Johns can steal the victory.

As seems to be the case each week this season, on offense the Lightning will be shorthanded as noted above. The Upper Montgomery forward depth will be tested. Several student athletes will need to pick up additional shifts that would normally be given to their missing teammates. Someone will need to fill the void and produce some unexpected offense. Every single offensive opportunity will be huge. Capitalizing on those chances will determine the outcome of the game. The Lightning will need superior games from Chris Hassett (12GP, 9G, 16A), George Benedick (11GP, 5G, 9A), Brandon Bernard (10GP, 8G, 2A), Philip Shkeda (10GP, 5G, 5A), and Ethan Hockey (11GP, 3G, 7A). A big boost would be for Hunter Cameron to have a dominating game and provide an offensive spark. Contributions from Olivia Robbins, Bradley Cupples, and Andrew Botti will also be key to victory. It does not need to be just one skater elevating their game. The Lightning can come away with the win if the entire team plays as one unit and receives excellent performances from everyone.

Special teams are an area where the Lightning have improved over the course of the season. Since starting the season so poorly on the penalty kill (two of their first eight chances while down a skater), the Lightning have raised the penalty kill percentage to over seventy percent effective. On the powerplay, the Lightning have hovered around the twenty percent success rate all season and are currently at 21.6%. The bigger problem is that the team is generating less than three power play opportunities per game, limiting the team’s chances of scoring. A powerplay goal or two in a playoff game would really help.

The Lightning are hoping to break through and win their first ever division one playoff game. Doing so would place Upper Montgomery one upset win away from the state playoff tournament. It would be a step forward this season as the young Lightning roster progresses toward becoming a perennial power within the Montgomery Hockey Conference. A vision that is closer to reality than many people associated with high school hockey in the county believe. Is Upper Montgomery ready to announce its arrival as a force to be reckoned with? Or, will the season fizzle at the end leaving progress to be determined by how far the team can advance in the division two tournament later this month? Forty-five minutes of hockey Friday night will provide the answer with the Lightning faithful on hand to lend their support. Go Bolts!

Friday night’s clash between the Upper Montgomery Lightning and the BCC Barons brings with it high stakes. The winner of the game is almost assured of finishing in fifth place in the Montgomery Hockey Conference regular season rankings. Finishing fifth in the final rankings would bring a slightly easier second round playoff game should the winner advance past their opening round playoff game. Game time for Upper Montgomery’s senior night festivities is 10:00 pm at Cabin John Ice Rink. For the Lightning, it is a chance to bounce back from this past Friday’s disappointing showing against Richard Montgomery. It is also an opportunity to finish the regular season strong heading into the playoffs.

Earlier this season, the teams played to a 2-2 tie on Halloween. BCC needed a late pulled goalie six on four powerplay goal to even the score with less than a minute left and leave the contest with standings points. Revenge will certainly be on BCC’s mind in Friday’s rematch as BCC clearly believes that they are the superior team.

The netminding dual will be one to watch. Landon Bernard has played very well this season recording a 6-5-1 record with a very respectable 3.59 goals against average and an .861 save percentage. When the team plays strong defense in front of him, the Lightning are unbeaten. In games where the Lightning play a free flowing, offensive, and ‘pretty’ hockey game, the results have not been so positive. For BCC it will surely be Graham McGrath White playing goalie. McGrath White is 5-4-1 on the season and he has a stellar 2.88 goals against average and an .892 save percentage. McGrath White is a tall and athletic netminder who relies more on his athleticism and talent than positioning and technique. The Lightning will need to get traffic in front of him and take away his sightlines, making it difficult for McGrath White to track the shots.

On defense the Lightning will need to clog up the ice and make it a fight for every inch of space. There cannot be pinches at the blue line that miss. There cannot be Barons’ skaters winding up in their defensive zone and rushing up ice from end to end. The game must be played along the boards, tough and physical, with zone entries resulting in turnovers which push BCC back. When the Lightning play a more defensively sound and compact system through the neutral zone, the team plays better and limits the opposing team’s offensive chances. This stifling defensive hockey creates turnovers that lead to Upper Montgomery’s own odd skater offensive chances. Playing sound defensive hockey will be critical to stopping the Barons who are averaging 4.77 goals per game this season.

BCC’s defense is led by Graham LeBlanc, a senior who plays AA level travel hockey. LeBlanc has had a fine senior campaign with (11GP, 8G, 10A). He is joined on defense by juniors Johnny Brunn and Danny Loughlin, both smooth skaters. Experienced upperclass defenders, Jake Williams, Alex Elias, and Sebastian Harrison round out a solid core that has only allowed an average of 2.45 goals per game. The BCC defense is tall and difficult to move around because of their size and length.

On offense, the Lightning will be shorthanded as several student athletes will be missing the game at various external hockey team tournaments. The Upper Montgomery forward depth will be tested as several student athletes will need to pick up additional shifts that would normally be given to their missing teammates. The Lightning will need superior games from Chris Hassett (11GP, 9G, 15A), Nathan Cassel (9GP, 9G, 13A), George Benedick (10GP, 4G, 9A), Brandon Bernard (9GP, 8G, 2A), and Ethan Hockey (11GP, 3G, 7A). A big boost would be for Hunter Cameron to have a dominating game and provide an offensive spark.

BCC’s offense goes through its team leader, senior Henry Caldicott. Caldicott is having a wonderful senior season (12GP, 17G, 8A). He scored both of BCC’s goals against Upper Montgomery in the first meeting. His primary running mate Alexsander Talty (12GP, 11G, 14A) has posted gaudy offensive numbers as well. Collin Eccles, Matthew Duffy, and Hank Blumberg, all upperclass skaters, have provided balance for the Barons’ offense.

Special teams are an area where the Lightning have improved over the course of the season. Since starting the season so poorly on the penalty kill (two of their first eight chances while down a skater), the Lightning have raised the penalty kill percentage to 71.7% effective. On the powerplay, the Lightning have hovered around the twenty percent success rate all season and are currently at 21.2%. The bigger problem is that the team is generating less than three power play opportunities per game, limiting the team chances of scoring to either come back in a game or separate while playing with the lead.

The Lightning are hoping to close out a successful regular season with a win. A preview toward making a deep run in the postseason playoff tournaments??? A win against BCC would be the program’s first ever. There have been a lot of teams this season that have overlooked the Lightning. Upper Montgomery is ready to announce its arrival over the next month and a confidence boost would be a victory on senior night and the start of a new winning streak. Please join us as we celebrate and honor the five seniors who have helped marshal the team from a lower tier program to one knocking on the door of the historical dominating teams in the county; Lucas Eyman #40, Stephen Shkeda #55, Andrew Gean #8, Ethan Hockey #15, and team captain George Benedick #54.