The 2022 – 2023 high school hockey season is ready for puck drop. The season begins this coming Wednesday for some teams, and on Friday night October 21st for the majority of the teams in the Montgomery Hockey Conference (MHC).
The Upper Montgomery Lightning have been placed in the top division of the MHC. This is a major achievement as the conference believes that the Lightning’s pre-season roster strength is in the top seven teams in the league. The Lightning are ready to build off last season’s first ever division one playoff appearance and return to the post season for the second consecutive year. With the top division placement comes a challenging schedule to begin the season as Upper Montgomery will play the top three teams in the county over the first three weeks of the season; at Walter Johnson, home versus BCC, and at Churchill. The other teams in the top division of the Montgomery Hockey Conference are Blair, Whitman, and Wootton. In the bottom division are the DC Stars, Northwest, Quince Orchard, Richard Montgomery, Rockville/Magruder, Sherwood, and St. Johns.
Once again this season the Lightning feature a young and exciting lineup. With only five seniors in the program three of whom play on defense, there will be plenty of ice time for a young, speed forward group. The future is very bright. However, the 2022 – 2023 season campaign is expected to be another year of growth and development for the team. Picked to finish 9th out of the 14 teams in the MHC pre-season poll, the team is out to prove they are much better than the lowly pre-season ranking. A hallmark of the Lightning is that the team competes extremely hard. Upper Montgomery aims to give the more experienced teams in the top division of the MHC all they can handle in the regular season. A solid goal for the team is to not only make the MHC post-season playoff tournament but to also win and advance in either the division one playoff tournament or the division two post-season tournament.
The team will have to replace the loss of former active scoring leader in defender James Botti. James was the team’s only departing senior who saw considerably playing time for the varsity. Landon Bernard will see exclusive duty in net for both the varsity and junior varsity as the program’s only goaltender. Bernard will need to build on last season where he backstopped the junior varsity squad to the MHC junior varsity championship. The team will be experienced on defense with seniors George Benedick, Andrew Gean, and Ethan Hockey as well as talented sophomore Andrew Botti. This core will be joined by 9th grade defenders Brady Berkhammer and Owen Robbins, who will both see significant action this season as the team looks for larger roles for both defenders in future seasons. Expect Cole Howerton to possibly see some playing time if he is called up from the junior varsity as a depth defensive replacement.
Up front, it is a supremely talented but young group of forwards. The varsity has only one senior forward who will receive playing time. Last year’s leading scorer, Chris Hassett returns along with the majority of the team’s forward group. The top three forward lines are mainly comprised of juniors and sophomores. Much will be expected from Hunter Cameron, Ryan Jacobson, Olivia Robbins, Brad Cupples, Nathan Cassel, and Brandon Bernard. Winger Stephen Shkeda, the lone senior forward, will be counted on to provide energy, solid board play, and defensive tenacity. Stephen’s brother, 9th grader Philip Shkeda, will add a burst of speed and skill playing in a top nine forward role. Expect sophomores Josh Nadler and Henry Honacki to see playing time throughout the entire year as depth forwards. Junior Adam Levine will see some limited action when the team is short on forwards due to injury or out-of-town travel team commitments. The biggest question facing the team this season is just how long it will take for the talented young roster to gel with each other and correctly play team concepts. It will be a step up in competition this season, so how will the skilled forwards fare against tougher competition? Time will tell, and we invite you to join along for the ride.
It will be hard to repeat as MHC junior varsity champions as every program will be looking to knock off Upper Montgomery, but the Lightning are ready to accept the challenge. The Lightning junior varsity squad is made up of several experienced student athletes and a bunch of new faces. Returning top line forwards Josh Nadler, Henry Honacki, and Adam Levine will be expected to produce offensively and carry the team. More will be expected of upper class forwards Lucas Eyman and James Hyman who have been in the program now for several years. These experienced forwards will be joined up front by several student athletes who will be vying for larger roles and additional playing time; TJ Gottesman, AJ Marks, Branson Hughes, Callum Hughes, and Jason Woodman. On defense, the junior varsity squad should be pretty stingy. Playing down from varsity will be both Brady Berkhammer and Stephen Shkeda who are junior varsity eligible. They will be joined by the returning tandem of offensively minded and smooth skating Cole Howerton who is typically paired with steady stay at home defender Patrick Sell. Returning to the team after a year’s absence is Sean Levine. Newcomers Jacob Roth and Behr Schickler will also see regular playing time on the blue line. The defense will be solid. If Bernard plays well in net and the top forward line produces offensively, the junior varsity should be very competitive again this season.