The Upper Montgomery Lightning are preparing for a tough challenge on Friday night when the team takes on the Whitman Vikings. Game time is 9:00 pm at Rockville Ice Arena. The Lightning enter the contest after a ten day layoff following a disappointing loss to Churchill when the team was positioned to end the program’s long sixteen year streak of never having beaten the Bulldogs.
Upper Montgomery will finish conference play with a winning record (and best record) since the 2018 – 2019 season. Even if the Lightning losses is final regular season conference game to Whitman, the team will finish with a 6-5-1 conference record. The finish to the regular season will be extremely tough for Upper Montgomery as the squad faces the top two teams in the state over the next week. First up is Whitman followed by a non-conference game against Oakdale, last year’s state champion. It would not shock anyone to see Whitman and Oakdale meet late next month in the Maryland Student Hockey League state championship game. These two late season matchups against high quality opponents should help the Lightning prepare for their own playoff journey.
In net for the Lightning will be sophomore 16U AA goalie Ilan Shterenberg. Shterenberg has handled the majority of the goaltending duties this season for Upper Montgomery. He has shined in some games making 49 saves in the Lightning’s 3-1 loss to Wootton early in the season and 44 saves in the overtime victory over the DC Stars. His play is typical for an underclass student athlete moving up from his staring role on the junior varsity last season. Shterenberg set or tied numerous junior varsity program records; tying for most wins in a season, and setting the lowest goals against average and highest save percentage in program history. This year, Shterenberg has a solid save percentage of .887. His goals against average is a strong 4.38 having been negatively impacted by the Lightning’s poor defensive performances against both Urbana and in the second Wootton game. For Upper Montgomery to have any shot against Whitman, the young Lightning netminder will have to be the star of the evening.
In goal for Whitman should be senior all conference netminder, Ryan Graf. Graf is an 18U AA netminder who has three full years of varsity experience under his belt. His personal statistics are outstanding this season. He has an 11-1 record with four shutouts. His goals against average is 1.50 and his save percentage is .917. He is backed up by sophomore netminder, Alexander Minkoff. Minkoff has seen very limited varsity action this season only playing against the weaker competition that the Vikings have faced.
Defensively, junior 16U AA defender Brady Berkhammer has upped his game this season. He has set personal career highs in all offensive categories (12GP, 4G, 14A). He has been on a tear recently with a four point game earlier in the season against Northwest / Quince Orchard with two goals and two assists. He has eight points in his last three games, and eleven points in his last five games. Berkhammer leads the team with fourteen assists. Sophomore defender Miles Wendland has played important minutes against the opposition’s top forward lines. He has accelerated his game from his ninth grade season and scored his first career varsity goal last time out against Churchill. Senior Cole Howerton has stepped into a regular role on the varsity playing mostly with Wendland. Howerton has played some of his best hockey in his final high school season. His play stood out in the Lightning’s win over Richard Montgomery. Ninth grade 14U AA defender Lillian Robbins has seen regular action this season and contributed three assists in the game against Richard Montgomery. She has played in eight games and has dished out four assists. Senior Patrick Sell scored his first career high school varsity goal in the Northwest / Quince Orchard game. His size and presence on the blue line has caused problems for the opposition. Ninth grade Matt Rivera and 19U AA sophomore Avery Evans have each gained valuable experience at the varsity level in their limited game action. Getting time in varsity games now will help them in future seasons as they take on larger roles with the team.
On defense the Vikings excel. Quite frankly they are loaded and are the stingiest team in the county having given up only 23 goals in 14 games. Whitman shines in shot suppression, which is a function of the Vikings having puck possession for the majority of the game. Their defense also contributes heavily to their offense. The Vikings defensive leader is senior 18U AA Zachary Kraus. He happens to be related to Upper Montgomery junior varsity sophomore center Jackson Schickler. Kraus has (12GP, 7G, 13A) so far on the season. He will be looking to push forward and attack offensively on Friday night. Fellow senior 18U AA Morrison Cohen will also flash offensively. So far this season he has scored (12GP, 8G, 8A). Both Kraus and Cohen have scored more individually than the entire Upper Montgomery defense has scored combined, six goals. Sophomore Steven Mah will take on a much larger role next season after Kraus and Cohen have graduated. The rest of Whitman’s defense will rotate in during the game.
Offensively, the Lightning knew they would have to replace Maryland Student Hockey League Hall of Fame standout Chris Hassett who graduated after last season. Unexpectedly, junior Ryan Jacobson left to play junior hockey in Michigan. Then, last season’s leading returning scorer Nathan Cassel (5GP, 6G, 5A) missed most of the early portion of the season with an upper body injury. His hat-trick against Rockville / Magruder helped the Lightning to a 5-5 tie against the Rams. Cassel just returned to game action this month. He has scored in all three games in which he has participated. His presence on the ice has given Upper Montgomery a shot of confidence offensively.
The Upper Montgomery coaching staff moved 16U AAA junior defender Owen Robbins to center as a means of generating additional offense. The move has paid off as Robbins authored a hat-trick in the Lightning’s season opening win over BCC and scored four times against Richard Montgomery. The Lightning’s season opening victory over BCC was the program’s first ever win against the Barons. The team followed that win up with a hard-fought 3-2 victory over BCC to complete the season sweep. Robbins has been near the top of the Lightning’s leading scorers the entire season with (8GP, 7G, 4A). He is second on the team in goals behind Upper Montgomery’s leading offensive threat, senior center Henry Honacki. Honacki has had an offensive explosion in his final high school season. He currently leads the team in goals with (12GP, 12G, 7A). He has been on a tear recently having scored in five consecutive games before the loss to Churchill. Honacki scored the game winning goal in two important Lightning victories, beating the overtime buzzer by scoring with eleven seconds remaining in the extra period to defeat the DC Stars. Then, Honacki scored on the powerplay late in the third period against BCC. Honacki leads the team in powerplay goals with four. His production on the powerplay has helped the Lightning immensely. The team has more powerplay goals already this season (10 for 25, 40.0%) than all of last year’s dismal performance with the extra attacker. Junior forward Philip Shkeda has also been an offensive threat with (10GP, 5G, 11A) playing alongside Honacki and Cassel.
A couple of sophomores have stepped in and filled important roles on the team. Returning forward Aiden Zheng has (12GP, 3G, 6A) continuing his assent from last season’s breakout during the Montgomery Hockey Conference varsity playoff tournament. Newcomer Jake Hudson has used his size well to get the puck out of the defensive zone along the boards leading to numerous rushes up ice. Several of the odd skater rushes have directly led to goals. He has (10GP, 2G, 6A) including dishing out three assists against Richard Montgomery and scoring twice against Northwest / Quince Orchard. With depth an issue, several student athletes who have played the majority of their high school careers with the junior varsity team are receiving playing time this season at the varsity level. Senior forward TJ Gottesman scored his first career varsity goal in the Northwest / Quince Orchard game and senior forward AJ Marks contributed an assist in that same game. Ninth grader Siddy Bhasin has dressed and played in several varsity games. His play is starting to ramp up as he has (9GP, 1G, 4A). Senior Josh Nadler missed the beginning of the season while he was out-of-the country. He is looking to elevate his game heading into the playoffs.
Whitman’s senior laden squad will have plenty of firepower offensively as well. Senior 18U AA Charles Ingis leads the Vikings in overall scoring. He has torched the Montgomery Hockey Conference this season with (14GP, 23G, 8A) in leading the Vikings to their 12-2 record. Another senior 18U AA skater, Nicholas Huguely, has terrorized Upper Montgomery over the years. This season he has contributed (13GP, 8G, 9A) and he must have been eagerly awaiting Upper Montgomery showing up on the schedule. Another Lightning killer, senior 18U AA Trevor Fay (14GP, 7G, 6A) is also licking his chops for the game on Friday night. Whitman’s second forward line of junior 16U AA Benjamin Luo (10GP, 8G, 6A), Andrew Kaplan (14GP, 5G, 4A) and Henry Herdman (14GP, 4G, 3A) can’t be ignored either. Whitman will look to pressure the Lightning defense in waves on Friday. Upper Montgomery will need to play low event hockey. Just get the puck back over the defensive blue line.
It’s time for the Lightning to ramp up their play as the playoffs are approaching. To go on a long playoff run, the Lightning will need to clamp down defensively and make it more difficult for the opposition to score. Conversely, on offense Upper Montgomery will need to drive more to the net and score ugly goals. While finishing the regular season strong is important, the team will need to increase its overall level of play to match that of the top teams in the county. These next two games should go a long way in determining if the Lightning are up for once again advancing out of the opening round of the Montgomery Hockey Conference playoffs and then playing for an opportunity to qualify for the Maryland Student Hockey League state playoffs for the first time ever.
#Second Half Fury, #Playoff Prep, #UML, #Bleed Green, #Go Bolts!