The Upper Montgomery Lightning skate into the opening round of the varsity playoffs coming on the heels of one of the team’s best defensive efforts of the season in the regular season finale last week against BCC. The Lightning controlled play throughout the opening two periods holding the Barons to only nine shots on goal in the opening thirty minutes of the game before eventually falling 3-2 in overtime with four seconds remaining. The team is prepared for another tight checking contest in the opening round of the Montgomery Hockey Conference playoffs when Upper Montgomery plays the Whitman Vikings on Friday evening at Cabin John Ice Rink. Game time is 8:15 pm provided that the rink opens and has no mechanical issues as a consequence of the winter storm that has shut down the entire Washington, DC Metro area.
The Lightning have not faced the Vikings this season. However, the teams rosters are mirror images of one another. Over the past six seasons, the teams have alternated victories with Upper Montgomery winning three low scoring games and Whitman prevailing four times in high scoring affairs. So, the task seems simple. Keep the game tight checking and low scoring giving the Lightning an excellent chance at pulling the upset, just like the junior varsity did two weeks back in beating the second seeded Northwest / Quince Orchard / Wootton combined team. Whitman enters the contest as the seventh seed while Upper Montgomery is seeded tenth. Over the past several seasons, there has been at least one upset in the opening round of the playoffs, sometimes two upsets. The Montgomery Hockey Conference playoff games always seem to be very tight giving both programs an opportunity to advance to the quarterfinals.
There are a few changes in high school playoff hockey. The periods will be seventeen minutes long instead of the typical fifteen minutes during the regular season. Penalties revert back to the usual two minutes for a minor penalty, five minutes for a major penalty, and ten minutes for a misconduct rather than the silly changes implemented during the regular season of shortened penalties. Overtime remains three on three play for five minutes, but with a stopped clock rather than running time. And, since playoff games can’t end in a tie, a five round shootout determines the victor if the game remains tied after overtime has not determined a winner.
Friday’s game will mark just the second time all season that Upper Montgomery’s primary varsity goaltender junior 16U AAA Ilan Shterenberg will be in net for consecutive games. He enters the game with a 2-4-1 record, an .897 save percentage, and a 3.57 goals against average. He played very well last week in the third period and overtime making 21 saves on 23 shots. Several of the saves were amazing robberies of Barons’ ten bell offensive opportunities. Opposite Shterenberg in net, Whitman is likely to start junior Tsukumi Tsuruda. Tsuruda has played in most of the Vikings games this season and has a 5-3 record. He is coming off a 21 save shutout over the Richard Montgomery Rockets in his last outing. Tsuruda has an .881 save percentage and a 3.20 goals against average. If Tsuruda is unavailable to play, Whitman backup goalie Alexander Minkoff will get the starting nod. Minkoff shutout the Lightning last season.
On defense, the Lightning will have their full complement of defenders for the game. Anticipate that the defensive pairings will remain Upper Montgomery’s regular quartet. But, the coaching staff is ready to change at a moment’s notice if Whitman has a stacked first forward line and two other lines that have significantly less talent. The Lightning’s leading scorer, also the leading defensive scorer for all of Montgomery County, as well as the second leading defensive scorer throughout the entire Maryland Student Hockey League, senior 18U AA Brady Berkhammer will once again lead the Lightning’s backline. He has been superb offensively this season averaging 2.33 points per game with (12GP, 12G, 16A). Berkhammer is also within a few points of the outright lead for the entire Montgomery Hockey Conference in scoring with his 28 points. His 12 goals, 16 assists, and 28 total points this season are all personal single season career highs.
Sophomore 16U Lower A Matt Rivera (10GP, 1G, 4A) has played better as the season has gone along. His progression this year into a full time varsity defender has allowed the Lightning to play with two full sets of defenders in every game. Anticipate the Lightning defense will be instructed to rush up ice and contribute offensively as the team is short on experienced forwards. In his last game, Rivera scored four goals in the junior varsity’s upset come from behind playoff victory. He has set many junior varsity program records this season for goals scored by a defender. Lightning junior defender 16U Upper A Miles Wendland (11GP, 1G, 2A) has embraced his defensive defender role. Always positionally sound, a smooth skater who moves the puck up ice quickly, Wendland has matured into quality varsity skater on the left side of the ice. He will team up with fellow junior Max Curtusan. The more physical Curtusan plays, the more his game stands out. The more in control and fiercely competitive he plays, his size and reach permit him to block several shots each game. Ninth grade defender Lenny Roth (8GP, 3A) has played hard and well in limited action. He will dress for the game and may see shifts along with Berkhammer or Wendland throughout the evening.
Without a doubt, Whitman’s leading defender is junior 16U Upper A Stephan Mah. With the graduation of most of Whitman’s varsity roster after last season, Mah has stepped up his game this year scoring a Montgomery Hockey Conference leading fourteen goals by a defender, just ahead of Upper Montgomery’s Berkhammer. He will lead the Vikings in time on ice and is the team’s leading offensive threat from the blue line (14GP, 14G, 4A). Five of his goals have been unassisted markers. Sophomore and fellow 16U Upper A William Bentancourt has seen much more ice time in his second high school season. He is the Vikings second leading defensive scorer with (14GP, 2G, 3A). Ninth grade 14U AA defender Justin Veron (14G, 2G, 2A) will see plenty of ice time in the game paired with sophomore 16U Upper A Dash Caruso. Other depth defenders may see time on ice as well especially with the elongated period times making it nearly impossible to have a condensed rotation of only four defenders play effectively at the end of the game.
Upper Montgomery’s top line of senior 18U AAA center and team captain Owen Robbins (7GP, 4G, 11A), flanked by fellow senior and last year’s leading scorer Philip Shkeda (6GP, 6G, 5A), paired with ninth grade 16U AA Miles Gleason (7GP, 16G, 7A) has been DOMINANT. The problem has been the Lightning have had this line available only three times all season long. Robbins has missed time with his external travel team. Shkeda recently returned after being out long-term with an upper body injury. Gleason returned from his own month long absence due to a medical issue. Gleason has provided instant offense this season with three points or more in four of the seven games he has played in during his inaugural season. Robbins led the way in the Lightning’s game against the DC Stars with two goals and two assists. Junior 16U Upper A forward Aiden Zheng (11GP, 3G, 5A) has stepped up and provided a spark. He was hot during the middle of the year but has cooled recently. His hustle, energy, and defensive backchecking are examples for the younger students who should be watching how hard Zheng plays away from the puck.
During the game against Whitman all of the team’s forwards are likely to play. With the extended period times, Upper Montgomery’s depth forwards will need to play hard, smart, and effective to allow every single forward to be fresh for what may turn out to be the game deciding third period.
Whitman’s top offensive forward has been junior Henry Herdman (13GP, 8G, 6A). He is joined up front by senior Andrew Kaplan (14GP, 7G, 5A). The Vikings most dangerous forward is 18U AA Benjamin Luo (6GP, 4G, 5A). Luo missed several games this season with a lower body injury before returning for the final two games of the regular season. The rest of the Whitman forwards have not lit up the scoresheet. That does not mean they are unskilled skaters, rather it speaks to the defensive style and nature of their team’s play. Sophomore 16U Upper A Tiger Lee would be next up in scoring with (13GP, 1G, 4A). Then, there is a significant drop off. As mentioned at the start of this game preview, both teams are very similar; good goaltending, one super talented offensive defender who leads a strong four deep defensive unit, one very good offensive forward grouping, and then a bunch of other forwards who round out the roster. These games usually have the top end talent cancel each other out, so the game could be determined by which team’s second or third lines play better and can provide the necessary effective ice minutes that will be needed on Friday.
We are done talking about how the 2025 – 2026 season was going to be one of growth and development for the green and gold’s younger student athletes. Now, it’s playoff time. Whitman, and the rest of the programs in the county do not care about Upper Montgomery building a solid foundation for the future. It is now a win one game or go home tournament. If the Lightning wish to extend their season, the team will have to fight through adversity and bring it against the Vikings. If the team adheres to the coaches’ game plan, Upper Montgomery is likely to shock the county and move on to the quarterfinal round. If the team fails to commit to the defensive habits necessary to play effective hockey, Whitman will pounce all over the Lightning. If Upper Montgomery refuses to engage defensively, or has a lapse in its defensive play, Friday’s game could turn into a long night with Whitman skating through and around the young Lightning skaters. But, Upper Montgomery may be a frightening team to play in a one and done playoff scenario. If Shterenberg plays well coupled with Berkhammer and the top forward line being on, the Lightning can storm through any team in the county. It’s time for the senior leaders and Shterenberg to lead the way and carry the program to another playoff win.
#Playoff Wins, #Advance to Quarterfinals, #UML, #Bleed Green, #Go Bolts!