The Upper Montgomery Lightning takes on their new archrival, Wootton on Friday night with each team vying for supremacy of division two of the Montgomery Hockey Conference. The game will be a tall task for Upper Montgomery as Wootton is averaging twelve goals per game so far this season. With Upper Montgomery missing last season’s leading returning scorer Nathan Cassel for some length of time as he deals with an upper body injury, the young Lightning will be sizeable underdogs in this game. Further adding to the drama surrounding this game is that Upper Montgomery has won the last three meetings between the teams after never having beaten Wootton in its first fourteen years of existence. Wootton will be looking for revenge after the Lightning’s 9-1 destruction of the Patriots in last year’s Montgomery Hockey Conference Varsity Tournament championship game.
Upper Montgomery has started the 2024 -2025 high school hockey season in fine fashion with a 2-0-1 record coming off of yesterday’s 7-3 victory over Northwest / Quince Orchard. Wootton destroyed that same Northwest / Quince Orchard team 14-0 on opening night and followed up with a 10-4 victory over BCC. Upper Montgomery also beat BCC, but only by a score of 4-3 to open the season. The game will be a contrast in styles as Upper Montgomery will look to suffocate the game defensively to keep the high powered Patriots offensive dynamo that is piling up the goals early in the season from controlling the pace of the game.
Upper Montgomery’s goaltender, 16U AA Ilan Shterenberg was really good in the season opening win over BCC. Shterenberg made 31 saves, with a .912 save percentage, and he did not give up a goal while the Lightning were at even strength. BCC scored two powerplay goals and their last goal with the goalie pulled for an extra attacker. Against Rockville / Magruder Shterenberg was busy once again making 30 saves including some outstanding saves to deny Rockville / Magruder likely goals. Three goals that went in were the direct result of Upper Montgomery defensive zone turnovers. Shterenberg will need to be exceptionally sharp against the Patriots, and if Upper Montgomery prevails, it will likely be because Shterenberg stole the show. He will again be backed up by ninth grade netminder Porter Stutsrim-Lyons. Stutsrim-Lyons plays for the Caps Academy 14U Lower A external travel team and he has started off his high school career strongly playing for the junior varsity. Stutsrim-Lyons is 2-1-2 on the season with a 1.96 goals against average and a .933 save percentage. He began his high school career with a shutout of Richard Montgomery and followed up that performance with a career high and junior varsity program record 47 saves against Wootton. Yesterday, Stutsrim-Lyons got his first taste of varsity action playing well in the third period against Northwest / Quince Orchard.
In net for Wootton will be sophomore 16U Upper A goalie Kevin Yu. The Lightning have faced Yu twice before, in the aforementioned Montgomery Hockey Conference Varsity Tournament championship game and earlier this season when Yu was backstopping the Wootton junior varsity team. He is a very solid netminder and it will be tough for Upper Montgomery to get many pucks past him. At the varsity level he sports a 2-0 record so far this season with a 2.00 goals against average and an .846 save percentage. Wootton’s opposition has not fired many shots on net as they have been overwhelmed by the Patriots offensive firepower.
On defense, the Lightning will have a full compliment of their defense available for the game. The Lightning’s most experience defender junior 16U AA Brady Berkhammer (two goals yesterday versus Northwest / Quince Orchard) will pair with ninth grade defender Lillian Robbins. Anticipate that 16U Lower A defender Miles Wendland (2GP, 3A) will skate with senior Cole Howerton. Ninth grade defender Matt Rivera may see some game action. Depth defenders Patrick Sell and Avery Evans may or may not play much depending upon score and circumstance.
Wootton’s most explosive skater is 18U AA senior defender Sam Hosier. Hosier is just about a lock to be one of the two defenders on the Montgomery Hockey Conference All-Conference first team at the conclusion of the season. He may also be voted an all state defender as well. Through two games, Hosier leads Wootton in scoring with eight goals and four assists. Hosier plays as a rover and he will be all over the ice during the game. Wootton has other capable defenders as well. Junior Nicholas Chung has experience to help lead younger defenders ninth grade 14U Upper A Isaac Greene and 14U Lower A Nathan Tian. The Wootton defensive corps is mobile and will cause problems for the Lightning forwards on transitions up the ice.
Offensively, Upper Montgomery will be challenged for the next several weeks. With Cassel out of the lineup, junior forward Philip Shkeda and senior center Henry Honacki will be relied upon to provide the bulk of the team’s offensive production. With Upper Montgomery playing 16U AAA Owen Robbins at center this season, the junior has flourished scoring a hat-trick against BCC. Sophomore 16U Lower A Aiden Zheng had two point games against both BCC and Rockville / Magruder to start the season. Senior Josh Nadler finally returns to the lineup tonight against Wootton after missing the first three games of the season while he was out of the country.
Both Zheng and Nadler will play heavy minutes with the varsity this season and both will need to increase their offensive output. Nadler is the junior varsity’s all-time leading goal scorer with 20 career junior varsity goals. Joining them on the varsity roster are forwards TJ Gottesman, the junior varsity’s career points leader with 32 points (and who scored his first career varsity goal yesterday against Northwest / Quince Orchard), sophomore newcomer Jake Hudson (two assists in his first varsity game), and ninth grade 14U Lower A forward Siddy Bhasin. Bhasin and Hudson currently lead the junior varsity in scoring so far this season. AJ Marks and his big frame will get a look in varsity competition as well. Other junior varsity student athletes may get called up as the season progresses when the core of the varsity squad is missing due to out-of-town external travel team game conflicts.
Wootton has a dynamic duo of forwards in junior 18U AA Justin Heller and 16U Upper A Owen Goozh. Heller has two goals on the season and Goozh has three. Senior 18U AA Nathan Tai, a hulking monster who has played defense in prior seasons, has been moved to forward and he has scored five goals in the first two games. Sophomore 16U Upper A Nathan Geeng has scored three times. Michael Klimantov 16U AA has scored twice. AAA forwards Evan Batbold and Jaina Kronforst have not yet played for the Patriots making their lineup even deeper and stronger. With this much offensive potential, Upper Montgomery will be unable to take any shifts off and will need to clear the zone continuously without getting hemmed in defensively for long periods of play.
The 2024 – 2025 season has started out well for Upper Montgomery. Once thought of as a season of growth and development for the green and gold’s younger student athletes, the year is quickly turning into an opportunity to compete right away. If the Lightning are competitive with fourth ranked Wootton, the season would take a leap forward and prove that Upper Montgomery can compete with every team in the county. Headed into Friday’s late night tilt with high powered Wootton, the Lightning are off to their best start to a season in years. Let’s hope that a scary good day after Halloween performance is in store for Upper Montgomery!
#UML, #Bleed Green, #Go Bolts!