The Upper Montgomery Lightning hockey program made major strides during the 2021-2022 high school hockey season. The coaching staff is extremely pleased with the team’s accomplishments and big achievements are in store for the program moving forward. This season the program had one objective—that the varsity team qualifying for the Montgomery Hockey Conference division one post season playoff tournament. The program had never before qualified for the division one playoff tournament.
Not only did the team qualify for the division one playoffs, earning the 10th seed out of the 12 teams that qualified, it battled Richard Montgomery all game before falling 4-2. In the division two playoffs, the Upper Montgomery jumped out to an early two goal lead and were tied with perennial hockey power Wootton 3-3 with six minutes left in the game before succumbing late. The young Lightning will be losing only three seniors to graduation and the team is trending upward. Next season, expect the goals for the team to be much loftier. The coaching staff will be looking for the experiences of this season to carry over. With an entire (fingers crossed) COVID free offseason, Upper Montgomery should be poised to take another giant leap forward in the fall of 2022.
Congratulations go out to the Churchill Bulldogs, Walter Johnson Wildcats, St. John’s Cadets, and Quince Orchard Cougars who were the four Montgomery County teams who made the Maryland Student Hockey League state playoffs. Also, a shout out to the Blair Blazers for winning the Montgomery Hockey Conference division two championship with a 6-5 victory over the Whitman Vikings.
The Lightning offense was led all year by the first line of Chris Hassett (15 GP, 17 goals, 16 assists), Ryan Jacobson (11 GP, 7 goals, 10 assists), and Nathan Cassel (12 GP, 11 goals, 6 assists). All three student athletes are in 9th or 10th grade. The future is very bright for this trio. Depth scoring is an area of immediate need for the team next season. The second line started to find its scoring touch later on in the season. Hunter Cameron had (15 GP, 6 goals, 7 assists) and Bradley Cupples (15 GP, 1 goal, 11 assists). Against the top tier division one teams, the Lightning found it more difficult to find the back of the net.
On defense, James Botti led the group offensively with (13 GP, 5 goals, 10 assists). Through 2/3rds of the season, the Lightning had given up the fewest goals in the Montgomery Hockey Conference, thanks in part to the stellar play of Will Mellen in net. One of the primary reasons for the five game winning streak in the middle of the season was the Upper Montgomery penalty kill which was excellent during the regular season, killing off 44 of the 48 opponents’ powerplays, 91.7%. In the playoffs, the penalty kill fell off somewhat. Along with James Botti, George Benedick, Ethan Hockey, Andrew Gean, and Andrew Botti worked hard in the defensive zone to limit the opposition from getting many high danger scoring opportunities. The team found an identity when they clogged up the ice and mucked up the game making it difficult for teams to get many good looks at the net. In games that were played with more of an up and down the ice style of play, the young Lightning struggled against AAA travel level senior and junior student athletes.
Three Upper Montgomery Lightning student athletes were recognized by the conference for their outstanding play this past season. Andrew Botti, 9th grade defender and Will Mellen, sophomore goaltender were both named to the Montgomery Hockey Conference 2nd team division two team. Chris Hassett was an honorable mention at the forward position.
In an unexpected development, the Upper Montgomery Lightning junior varsity completed a turnaround for the ages. Finishing dead last in the Montgomery Hockey Conference junior varsity standings last season in its first year of existence, the team was looking to play competitive hockey this year against the more established programs. After battling to a 2-4-2 record over the first half of the season and hovering in the middle of the conference standings, Lightning struck. The team found some additional offensive firepower and won its final three regular season games. The hot finish to the season landed the junior varsity in second place in the conference standings by virtue of a tiebreaker over Rockville/Blair. Three inspiring playoff performances later (a come from behind shootout win over Northwest in the quarterfinals, easily handling Rockville/Blair 6-2 in the semi-finals after falling behind early in the contest, and then the program defining 2-1 win over undefeated (10-0), top seed Richard Montgomery in the final and the Upper Montgomery Lightning were the 2021-2022 Montgomery Hockey Conference Junior Varsity CHAMPIONS!!!
The offensive leaders for the junior varsity were Brandon Bernard (13 GP, 6 goals, 9 assists), Joshua Miller (14 GP, 8 goals, 4 assists), Bradley Cupples (10 GP, 6 goals, 6 assists), and Josh Nadler (12 GP, 5 goals, 2 assists). Landon Bernard had a terrific second half of the season and finished with an outstanding 2.69 goals against average. The team received depth scoring from James Hyman, Lucas Eyman, and Henry Honacki who were all integral parts of the team. Adam Levine scored two incredibly important goals in the playoffs, the Lightning’s first goal of game in both the semi-final game and then again in the championship final. Cole Howerton, Patrick Sell, Andrew Gean and Stephen Shkeda formed a defensive core that gave up only eight goals over the final six games of the regular season. As the season continued, the team got better and better and played more as a team and for each other. The goal will be to ramp it up right from the start of next season in an attempt to defend the title.