Category: Lightning Strike Blog

As the summer reaches the midway point, the Upper Montgomery Lightning program is already deep in preparations for the upcoming hockey season. Many of the team’s student athletes are participating in various camps to improve their individual skill level. Coach Todd’s summer high school hockey boot camp, the Premier Hockey Camp, is finishing up with a few on ice and dryland sessions remaining.

The team is three weeks away from the beginning of organized dryland workouts. In seven short weeks the team will hit the ice for the first evaluation session scheduled for Monday evening, September 11. The only unknown at this juncture is if the conference will make any changes to the current roster of high schools that make up the Upper Montgomery program. There is discussion that either or both of Watkins Mill or Gaithersburg high schools may be shifted to a different cooperative program.

All of the team’s focus will be on qualifying for the Maryland state high school playoffs for the first time in team history. The upcoming season will be the fifteenth season that the green, white, and gold will battle it out against the best in Montgomery County. The Lightning are one of six programs with a legitimate shot at advancing through the Montgomery Hockey Conference playoff bracket and making a run into the state playoff tournament. Each student athlete will need to dedicate themselves to this goal, starting with the mid-August off ice dryland workouts.

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

Upper Montgomery Lightning Junior Forward Olivia Robbins was named to the second team All-Metropolitan Girls ice hockey team by the Washington Post newspaper. It is an exceptional honor for Olivia, and she becomes the first Upper Montgomery student athlete in program history to be named to an All-Met ice hockey team.

Olivia’s selection comes on the heels of her fine junior season where she scored six goals and registered five assists in eleven games. Olivia’s performance of a point per game playing against the top teams in Division One of the Montgomery Hockey Conference (the top conference in the Maryland Scholastic Hockey League) made an impression on the selection committee. There are very few female student athletes competing in the Maryland Scholastic Hockey League as many female student athletes choose to compete in Girls only high school leagues. If Olivia chose to play in Girls only high school hockey, she would dominate play. Playing against her male counterparts, some of whom will play advanced hockey in college or junior leagues, is a much tougher environment in which to compete and makes Olivia’s statistics all the more impressive.

Outside of high school hockey, as an underage student athlete, Olivia plays for the Washington Pride 19U AAA team, the top female external travel team in the Washington, DC metro area.

The Upper Montgomery program is proud of Olivia’s accomplishment and recognition. She will receive her All-Met plaque at the team’s year end celebration in May.

It was an exciting conclusion to the 2023 spring high school hockey season. Both Upper Montgomery teams improved throughout the spring. The future is bright for the Lightning. Upper Montgomery has an opportunity during the 2023 – 2024 high school hockey season to accomplish history; making the varsity state playoff tournament for the first time in program history. The junior varsity team should be much improved and should again compete for the junior varsity championship.

UML Team Green finished the spring season strong winning its last two games for an overall record of 3-6. UML Team White had an excellent regular season finishing with a 7-1-1 record before falling to Walter Johnson in the semifinal round of the spring league playoffs.

Upper Montgomery also celebrated the 2022 – 2023 team at the program’s season ending team party.

The team and several student athletes were celebrated for their accomplishments:

The 2022 – 2023 team was the first ever in program history (dating to the 2028 season) to win a varsity division one playoff game. It was a thrilling 2-1 overtime victory over St. Johns.

Olivia Robbins became the first Upper Montgomery student athlete to be named to an All-Metropolitan team when she earned second team All-Met Girls honors for her performance last season.

Team captain, senior George Benedick was honored with the team’s Hobey Baker award. This award is presented to a student athlete that recognizes character and leadership in hockey and academics.

Chris Hassett was presented with both the Henri Richard and Art Ross awards for most goals and points for the varsity.

Henry Honacki was presented with both the Henri Richard and Art Ross awards for most goals and points for the junior varsity.

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

The 2023 spring high school hockey season is in full swing. The Upper Montgomery Lightning is fielding two squads this spring. With many of the program’s varsity student athletes choosing not to play spring league, Upper Montgomery’s teams are comprised of many of the program’s younger student athletes combined with seven incoming 9th graders. The Upper Montgomery program is using the 2023 spring season as a way to provide its younger student athletes more ice time in game situations. The coaching staff is also able to provide direct instruction to the younger student athletes to help improve their performance.

UML Team Green is in a division with more competitive teams while UML Team White is in a division with teams that are more comparable with UML Team White’s talent level.

At the mid-point of the spring season, UML Team Green is 1-4 and UML Team White is 3-1. Both teams look to finish the season strong with UML Team White in position to qualify for the spring league playoffs.

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

CONGRATULATIONS to Olivia Robbins, a junior forward on the Upper Montgomery Lightning. A three year varsity student athlete, Olivia was named to the Washington Post All-Metropolitan 2nd Team Girls Ice Hockey Team. This is a tremendous honor and Olivia becomes the first Lightning student athlete to be recognized on one of the All-Met teams.

The 2023 high school spring hockey season has commenced. The Lightning are pleased to welcome seven new student athletes into the program for the spring season. Unlike last spring, this season, the coaching staff will be approaching the spring league games with two main objectives. First, to provide a significant amount of ice time to those participating student-athletes. Second, the coaches will be spending a considerable amount of time with the student athletes in-game coaching and teaching.

UML Team White and UML Team Green are both made up of many of the program’s younger and more inexperienced student athletes paired with the seven incoming new student athletes. Sprinkled in to provide guidance are a few of the team’s varsity student athletes. In many games the Lightning will be playing 13 and 14 year old skaters against opposition teams playing several 18 year old AA student athletes. The coaches are more concerned with Upper Montgomery’s compete level and progression as the spring games continue rather than the outcome of the games.

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

The 2022 – 2023 high school hockey season has concluded. Congratulations are being sent out to Walter Johnson for winning their first ever Maryland Student Hockey League championship. The thrilling 5-4 victory over Churchill in the state final ended the Bulldogs nine season run as rulers of high school hockey in the Maryland/DC area. With most of their team returning next season, Churchill will by far be anointed as the pre-season number one team in the area.

Walter Johnson made it a two fer by also winning the Montgomery Hockey Conference junior varsity championship.

As Upper Montgomery looks to a very bright future, the program will be graduating five seniors, team captain George Benedick, Ethan Hockey, Andrew Gean, Stephen Shkeda, and Lucas Eyman. A huge thank you to these five student athletes for everything they brought to the program over the past four seasons.  They were the last link to the program that transitioned from Damascus, et al. to the Upper Montgomery Lightning, and they helped so much with the transition and the transformation of the Lightning program over the past four years. 

Congratulations to Nathan Cassel for being named honorable mention Montgomery Hockey Conference Division One forward.

Spring hockey begins next month. There were eleven prospective student athletes who attended the spring season introductory webinar. The team is looking forward to these new student athletes taking the ice just after spring break.

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

The 2022 – 2023 high school hockey season was a season of growth and historic firsts for the Upper Montgomery Lightning. Yes, the sting of last week’s division two semifinal loss will be with the team all off-season, but that outcome should not take away from a number of history making firsts for the Lightning/Damascus et al. program.  It was satisfying to see the team succeed after going through some tough times and difficult challenges the past two seasons as the team matured and developed.

The Lightning finished the season ranked 6th in Montgomery County.  The team’s highest finish ever. The team finished ranked 11th out of the public school programs in Maryland and DC, also a program high. The team finished ranked 22nd in all of Maryland/DC high school ice hockey, another milestone finish for the program. Per the rankings system, the Lightning had the 15th toughest schedule in the Maryland/DC area.  This includes the private school league (St. Johns’ top team, Georgetown Prep, etc..) and finished with an overall 8-7-2 record. 

The team won its first ever division one playoff game!  The 2-1 overtime thrilling victory over St. Johns will also be remembered as skate-gate for the craziness of having to play four minutes in the second period without a goalie while the bench scrambled to repair Landon’s skate blade. Hunter Cameron scored the program’s first ever overtime game winning goal.

The team was one goal away from making the state playoff tournament for the first time ever.  The team tied Churchill. The playoff game is recorded as a tie with Churchill advancing 3-2 on penalty shots.  Churchill had not lost a county or state playoff game in nine seasons. The heartbreaking outcome was made more so by how hard the team played and just needing one more either in five on five play, three on three play, or in the skills competition shootout. To put it in perspective, all four MHC teams won their opening round state playoff game and are competing in the state quarterfinals. Upper Montgomery was that close….but earned the team’s first ever points against the Bulldogs.

Upper Montgomery beat Wootton for the first time ever in December just prior to winter break. The 8-2 pounding of the Patriots broke a fourteen year period without a victory against what has been one of the historically top teams in the county. The Lightning proved that the pre-winter break win was no fluke by sweeping the Patriots coming out of the winter break with a 4-2 victory.

The team won against Quince Orchard when Quince Orchard was ranked number two in the county.  The win was the program’s best win in terms of opponent’s ranking in team history.

The team tied BCC–The program’s first ever points earned against the Barons.

Key for the program this season was the maturation of the team’s core group of student athletes. It makes a world of difference to field a roster of experienced student athletes rather than relying on highly talented 9th graders and sophomores. The offensive production this year was more evenly distributed. Last year, the team had only five skaters score five or more goals for the entire season. This year, the team has seven student athletes with five or more goals.

What really helped the Lightning explode up the conference standings and rankings was the team’s defense five on five. Upper Montgomery gave up fewer chances than over the past two seasons. Limiting the opposition’s chances and playing a tighter defensive system made it difficult for teams to score against Upper Montgomery. Not yielding too many goals allowed the offensive firepower to carry the Lightning to victories. The Lightning averaged .6 more goals per game than last season (4.76 to 4.06) playing against a tougher schedule as part of division one.

The Churchill performance has no team looking past Upper Montgomery anymore. The Lightning are no longer going to sneak up on the top echelon programs. The program will be looking to ascend even higher next fall and that will begin with the 2023 spring season.

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

In thrilling fashion, the Upper Montgomery Lightning won its first ever division one varsity playoff game late Friday night with a come from behind 2-1 overtime victory against the St. Johns Cadets at Rockville Ice Arena. With the win, Upper Montgomery advances to face long-time perennial powerhouse Churchill in round two of the division one playoffs. The winner of next Friday’s game will advance to the Maryland state high school playoff tournament. The Churchill game will be Upper Montgomery’s first ever chance at a state playoff berth.

In Upper Montgomery’s first ever overtime game, Hunter Cameron finished off a two on one rush with a forehand snapshot into a wide open net. The play originated deep in the Lightning defensive zone. Lightning center Chris Hassett swung the puck from behind the Upper Montgomery goal up the right wing boards to George Benedick. Benedick protected the puck with his body. While shielding the puck from the St. Johns’ attacking skater, he placed a neat little spinning backhand pass into open ice toward Cameron in the center of the defensive zone.  Behind the net, Hassett collided with the St. Johns’ defender who dropped his stick behind the goal. Hassett beat the St. Johns’ skater up ice to create the two on one play. 

As they entered the offensive zone, the lone remaining defender closed in on Cameron who made the correct read and sent the puck over to Hassett coming down the off wing on the left side.  Cameron’s pass was an aerial pass, knee high, and Hassett did an excellent job knocking the puck out of mid-air while controlling the puck. In doing so, he was wide of the net with a poor angle to shoot on his backhand. Instead, with St. Johns’ goalie Jack Faricy committing to Hassett and a likely shot on goal, Hassett backhand passed the puck across the ice to Cameron who was wide open in front of the net at the right post. Cameron buried the cross ice return pass into the net from three feet out and two feet outside the right post sending the jubilant Lightning bench pouring over the boards and into a mob pile along the far boards surrounding Cameron. For Cameron, it was a memorable way to score his first goal of the season and send the Upper Montgomery spectators into a wild celebration.

In a gritty and tightly contested game, Upper Montgomery defended all over the ice and limited the Cadets scoring opportunities. St. Johns managed just 23 shots on goal for the game and went a long stretch of the second and third period with zero shots. This included a four minute span of the second period where the Lightning were forced to play with six skaters on the ice as Upper Montgomery’s goalie Landon Bernard lost a skate blade that needed to be replaced on the bench.

From the outset it was clear that Upper Montgomery was the better team, even while missing two important forwards, Nathan Cassell and Ryan Jacobson. The Lightning earned eight powerplays during the game, but were unable to mount much pressure with the extra skater. When Upper Montgomery was able to tilt the ice, St. Johns netminder, Jack Faricy was there to make the timely saves.

With two and a half minutes remaining in the first period, St. Johns would jump in front with leading scorer Teddy Kurowski scoring a shorthanded goal. Unfortunately for the Lightning, the play was two feet offside, a call that was missed by both referees. The St. Johns lead would hold until the five minute mark of the second period when Philip Shkeda scored off of a two on one pass from Brandon Bernard. The play was set up by a fine defensive play and pass up ice by Lightning forward Olivia Robbins who sprung her linemates on the two on one odd skater rush. The score would remain even at one for the final 25 minutes of regulation setting up the climatic three on three overtime session.

The remaining teams alive in the Montgomery Hockey Conference varsity division one playoffs are:

Wootton (9) versus Walter Johnson (1)

Upper Montgomery (7) versus Churchill (2)

Richard Montgomery (6) versus Quince Orchard (3)

Whitman (5) versus BCC (4)

The 2022 – 2023 high school hockey season has been a season of historic feats for the Upper Montgomery Lightning. Hopefully, the team continues to make history over the final month or so of the season. Currently, the team sits firmly in the sixth position in the Montgomery Hockey Conference (MHC) rankings. This is the highest ranking ever for the program. The team has almost definitely secured home ice advantage for the opening round of the MHC playoffs. This would be another first for the program and is significant because it affords the team the last line change so the coaching staff can create favorable line matchups.

Other firsts that the program has achieved this year:

–Gaining the program’s first ever points against one of the top four teams in the county with a 2-2 tie against BCC early in the season.

–Beating Wootton for the first time ever in December just prior to winter break. The 8-2 pounding of the Patriots broke a fourteen year period without a victory against what has been one of the historically top teams in the county. The Lightning proved that the pre-winter break win was no fluke by sweeping the Patriots coming out of the winter break with a 4-2 victory.

–With last week’s 5-3 victory over undefeated and second ranked Quince Orchard, the program beat their highest ranked opponent in team history.

–The victory over Quince Orchard is likely to push Upper Montgomery into its highest ever Maryland / District of Columbia state ranking. The team is currently ranked 23rd in the state. The rankings include the top tier private schools that recruit in student athletes.

If the team is able to win its first round playoff game this season, it will be the first time in the program’s history that the team would play for an opportunity to reach the state playoff tournament. While reaching the state tournament is a lofty goal, it is certainly an aspiration that is no longer farfetched.

Key for the program this season has been the maturation of the team’s core group of student athletes. It makes a world of difference to field a roster of experienced student athletes rather than relying on highly talented 9th graders and sophomores. The offensive production this year is more evenly distributed. Last year, the team had only five skaters score five or more goals for the entire season. Already this year (2/3rds through the season), the team has six student athletes with five or more goals with several more skaters in striking distance of achieving this accomplishment.

What has really helped the Lightning explode up the conference standings and rankings has been the team’s defense five on five. Upper Montgomery is giving up fewer chances than over the past two seasons. Limiting the opposition’s chances and playing a tighter defensive system has made it difficult for teams to score against Upper Montgomery. Not yielding too many goals has allowed the offensive firepower to carry the Lightning to victories. The Lightning are averaging 1.3 more goals per game than last season (5.36 to 4.06) playing against a tougher schedule as part of division one.

Riding a five game winning streak and having won six of their past seven games, the Lightning have played their way into the conversation as one of the teams to watch out for. Upper Montgomery is no longer sneaking up on the top echelon programs. If Upper Montgomery can win its first round playoff game, the team will have an outside chance at the state playoff tournament. It would not shock anyone in the county if Upper Montgomery were to continue on its historic season. With two games left until the playoffs begin, excitement is growing. There is anticipation that something special is in store.

The Lightning junior varsity opens the defense of their 2021 – 2022 junior varsity championship on the road this week against third seeded Whitman. The junior varsity season was up and down with some nice wins, some aggravating losses, and a few ties that the team felt should have been wins. Upper Montgomery junior varsity finished the regular season with a 4-4-2 overall record and 2-2-2 in the conference standings, playing many competitive games against the top tier junior varsity teams in the county.

Offensively, the season has been challenging for the junior varsity, especially against the top tier teams. Goals have just been hard to come by. The playoffs will be more difficult as the team will be missing some key student athletes for the Whitman playoff game which will make the task all the more difficult. It will be up to the junior varsity team to elevate their game to pull off the upset. Whitman is a more talented team, but a gutsy effort and determination could propel the Lightning to an unexpected win. In the single elimination tournament, a loss would end the Lightning’s season.

We have reached the half way point in the 2022 – 2023 varsity high school hockey season. The Upper Montgomery Lightning are well positioned to reach heights never before achieved by the Lightning program. Currently ranked sixth out of fourteen teams, if the Lightning play strongly down the stretch the team has an inside track on a home playoff game in the first round of the Montgomery Hockey Conference (MHC) playoff tournament. Finishing as high as possible in the rankings is critical as is earning the home playoff game. Most teams, even those teams at the bottom of the standings, have two or three really good skaters and matching up against those really good student athletes can reduce their effectiveness. Having the last line change will provide Upper Montgomery the opportunity to create the matchups that the coaching staff believes puts the Lightning in the most favorable position.

Finishing in the top eight teams will guarantee the program a home playoff game. However, that objective should now be the bear minimum in terms of team goals. Finishing further up the standings means that Upper Montgomery would possibly be able to avoid the top one or two programs if they reach the second round of the conference playoffs. In order to qualify for the state playoff tournament, the team will need to win two MHC playoff games. In the previous thirteen years of the Lightning program, last season was the first season that the team was eligible to qualify for the MHC playoff tournament. If the team is able to win its first round playoff game this season, it will be the first time in the program’s history that the team would play for an opportunity to reach the state playoff tournament. While the state tournament is a lofty goal, it is certainly one that is no longer so farfetched.

This season, the Lightning varsity has already made history. On Halloween, the team tied BCC 2-2. It was the first standings points of any kind earned by Upper Montgomery against one of the historically top four schools in the county; Churchill, Walter Johnson, BCC, and Wootton.

Then, in late December, the team raced by Wootton by a score of 8-2. The first victory against one of the ‘top four’ teams. Sitting in fifth place in the top division, Upper Montgomery is assured of a second consecutive trip to the county playoff tournament. The team’s remaining schedule is tough, a rematch against Wootton (currently ranked eighth), playing Quince Orchard (currently ranked third), a game against Richard Montgomery (currently ranked seventh), and the final game of the season, senior night, is against BCC (currently ranked just above Upper Montgomery in fifth place). Upper Montgomery has passed by programs such as Northwest, Rockville/Magruder, DC Stars, Sherwood, Blair, and St. Johns.

This season, the team has received much more balanced offensive production. This growth has taken the pressure off the team’s top three scorers; Nathan Cassell (7GP, 8G, 11A), Chris Hassett (8GP, 7G, 11A), and Ryan Jacobson (6GP, 7G, 2A). The team has received goals from fourteen different student athletes at the season’s mid-point. George Benedick has more points this season than in his previous three seasons combined (7GP, 3G, 7A). Philip Shkeda has fit in nicely in his 9th grade season (8GP, 4G, 5A). Olivia Robbins and Brandon Bernard have increased their scoring over previous seasons (6GP, 4G, 4A) and (6GP, 5G, 2A) respectively. Ethan Hockey and Andrew Botti are each averaging just under one point per game from their defensive positions as is Bradley Cupples from his center position. Ninth grade defenders Brady Berkhammer and Owen Robbins have quickly adjusted to the high school game and have both provided steady play while racking up six and three assists respectively. Stephen Shkeda, Adam Levine, and Josh Nadler have all found the back of the net. Henry Honacki scored his first ever varsity goal against Blair.

In goal Landon Bernard has had a very strong season. He has posted a 4-4-1 record while sporting a 3.56 goals against average and an .856 save percentage. Both the goals against average and save percentage are near the top of the county’s goalie statistics. In the games that the Lightning have achieved standings points, Bernard has not given up more than two goals in any of those games. He earned his first career varsity shutout against Northwest.

The Upper Montgomery junior varsity has had an up and down season and has hovered around .500. The team finished conference play at .500 with a 2-2-2 record. Bernard has played well in net in games when the junior varsity was outclassed against the top junior varsity teams in the county. TJ Gottesman leads the junior varsity in points (6GP, 4G, 8A) and set a program record with a hat-trick and five points in Upper Montgomery’s win against Churchill. Henry Honacki leads the junior varsity in goals with seven in nine games (9GP, 7G, 4A). Adam Levine (9GP, 3G, 4A) and Stephen Shkeda (8GP, 2G, 4A) are approaching a point a game in junior varsity action. Josh Nadler has scored in three consecutive games after rounding into form after a long absence.

The junior varsity is finding that it is difficult to repeat as MHC junior varsity champions. Every program is looking to take out the Lightning. It was a disappointing start to the season for several of the returning experienced student athletes, but those student athletes have begun to turn around their performances as the team looks forward toward the upcoming junior varsity playoffs. The junior varsity playoff tournament bracket is expected to be released at the end of the first week of January. The junior varsity special teams which started the season awfully have come on in recent weeks as the team’s performance has improved over the past month.

It will be an exciting January for the Lightning program as the teams continue on towards previously unreached heights. Jump onboard and we invite you to join the team in person at any of the January games.