The Upper Montgomery Lightning varsity squad looks to spring a second straight playoff upset when the team faces off against the second seeded Walter Johnson Wildcats on Friday evening. Puck drop is scheduled for 9:00 pm at the Rockville Ice Arena. The Wildcats had a tough start to their season beginning the 2025 – 2026 campaign with a 1-3 record before reeling off eight straight victories. The winning streak included a 9-3 throttling of Upper Montgomery back in early January just after the turn of the new year. As the number two seed in the Montgomery Hockey Conference playoffs, the Wildcats had a first round bye last Friday and rested up.
Meanwhile, Upper Montgomery pulled off the first playoff upset of the season beating seventh seeded Whitman by a score of 3-2. Upper Montgomery trailed 2-1 entering the third period and rallied behind the stellar goaltending of junior 16U AAA Ilan Shterenberg and the offensive prowess of senior 18U AA high scoring defender Brady Berkhammer. The Lightning’s victory came one year after the Vikings mauled Upper Montgomery 8-0 with running clock before the halfway point of the game.
The three goals Upper Montgomery scored in the first meeting with Walter Johnson was the most goals that the Wildcats have given up to a county team in their last seven games. The top seeded Churchill Bulldogs scored two goals and one goal in their games against Walter Johnson. While the Lightning appear to be at a significant disadvantage, the early January game saw Upper Montgomery play without Shterenberg in net and without two key skaters also not available for the game. Friday night will mark one of the few times this season that the team will have its full roster available for the game. Walter Johnson will be ready. They have the same lineup as in the first matchup minus an injured second line forward. The Wildcats had their entire squad on the ice during the team’s regular season game.
Walter Johnson enters the game with a 9-4 record having given up only 32 goals on the season (2.46 goals against per game) which is 43 goals less than what Upper Montgomery has given up (5.77 goals against per game). However, over the past three outings with Shterenberg in net for all three games, the Lightning’s goals against average is far fewer at 3.33 goals per game.
Shterenberg was excellent times a hundred last week in the team’s 3-2 upset win over Whitman. He made 53 saves on 55 shots, (.963 save percentage) and both goals Whitman scored were gifts provided by Lightning misplays in the crease. The 53 saves were a personal career high and are also an Upper Montgomery playoff record. He was easily one of the two most impactful students on the ice last week. Shterenberg will need to be just as good, if not better, this week for Upper Montgomery to remain in the game and have a chance to win. Shterenberg’s year to date statistics are a 3-4-1 record, a .910 save percentage, and a 3.30 goals against average. Walter Johnson’s primary varsity goalie is junior 18U AA Isaac Russ. Russ has been fantastic this season with a 9-4 record, an .883 save percentage, and a 2.46 goals against average. Provided he is in town, he will get the start in net. Against Upper Montgomery, Russ stopped fourteen of seventeen shots on goal, well below his season averages. If Russ is unavailable, the Wildcats will be forced to start a position skater in goal which might be senior John Abrams who played goalie years ago as a youngster.
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 Walter Johnson 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 2.38 points per game with (13GP, 14G, 17A). Berkhammer is also within a few points of the outright lead for the entire Montgomery Hockey Conference in scoring with his 31 points. His 14 goals, 17 assists, and 31 total points this season are all personal single season career highs. He reached high school hockey immortality last week in recording his 50th career assist. This milestone achievement automatically qualifies him for induction into the Maryland Student Hockey League Hall of Fame. He had a hand in all three Upper Montgomery goals last week including scoring the game winning goal with 2:04 remaining in the game.
Sophomore 16U Lower A Matt Rivera (11GP, 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. The Lightning defense will be instructed to rush up ice and contribute offensively as the team is short on experienced forwards. Two games ago, 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 (12GP, 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. Last week against Whitman was the best game he has played in his high school career with eight blocked shots and six hits. 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 (9GP, 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.
The Wildcats have a very experienced and mobile defensive corps. Junior 18U AA Matthew Corwin has three years of varsity experience. He is playing this season without his older brother who has graduated. Corwin is still one of he leaders for Walter Johnson (12GP, 4G, 10A), putting up a goal and three assists in the early January romp over the Lightning. Senior 18U AAA Oliver Curtis has four years of varsity experience (12GP, 6G, 7A). He tallied two assists against Upper Montgomery in the first matchup. Senior 19U AA Sophie Pyott is a very mobile defender whose skating ability allows her to get to loose pucks first and skate the puck out of danger. Junior 16U Upper A Owen Sievers is seeing more playing time this season and will likely be paired with Corwin or Curtis during the game. The Wildcats also have depth on the back line. Junior 16U Upper A Sebastian Fries and ninth grade 14U AA Kiran Buttazzoni will receive playing time throughout the game. With the playoff games containing seventeen minute periods instead of the usual fifteen minute periods, the depth of the Wildcats defenders will come into play. Upper Montgomery will need to take advantage of line mismatches.
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 (7GP, 6G, 5A), paired with ninth grade 16U AA Miles Gleason (8GP, 17G, 7A) has been DOMINANT. The problem has been the Lightning have had this line available only three times this season. Robbins has missed time with his external travel team including last week’s playoff win. Shkeda recently returned from an extended absence with an upper body injury. The good news is that Gleason returned from his own recent month long absence due to a medical issue. In his return, Gleason provided instant offense with two goals and two assists. He is averaging three points per game on the season and has scored the second most goals in the county. He put two behind Russ in the early January game. Junior 16U Upper A forward Aiden Zheng (12GP, 3G, 6A) has stepped up and provided a spark. His hustle, energy, and defensive backchecking are examples for the younger students who should be watching how hard Zheng plays away from the puck.
The Wildcats have offensive weapons but are more focused on playing a strong two way game. They are less potent offensively than in prior years, but have strung together seven straight impressive league games including smothering top seeded Churchill 4-1 in their most recent game within the league standings. Senior 18U AA forward Henry Horwell leads the Wildcats in scoring with (13GP, 10G, 13A). Horwell is a small speedy winger who will fly past defenders not prepared for his speed. He scored twice and added an assist in the team’s earlier matchup. Walter Johnson’s second leading scorer is sophomore 16U AA Tyler Pappafotis (11GP, 10G, 8A). He provided four assists against the Lightning in the regular season meeting. Fellow sophomore 16U AA Lukas Anderson (13GP, 10G, 6A) is tied with Horwell and Pappafotis for the Wildcats team lead in goals. The Wildcats second line has another sophomore 16U Upper A Finnian Carr (11GP, 9G, 2A) playing with a rotation of depth forwards. Carr scored a hat-trick against Upper Montgomery but may be on the injured list Friday night. The lack of scoring depth is one of the reasons that Walter Johnson has been in so many tight low scoring games this season. If the top line is not on, the Wildcats have had difficulty stretching games into running time even against weaker competition.
As was the message last week, it’s playoff time. It’s win one game and qualify for the Maryland Student Hockey League State Playoffs or go home. If the Lightning wish to extend their season, the team will have to fight through adversity and bring it against the Wildcats even better than the team did last week against Whitman. If the team adheres to the coaches’ game plan, Upper Montgomery is likely to shock the Maryland high school hockey world and make the state playoffs. If the team fails to commit to the defensive habits necessary to play effective hockey, Walter Johnson will be jumping out of their skin to 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 Walter Johnson’s top end students skating through and around the young Lightning skaters. But, Upper Montgomery is a frightening team to play in a one and done playoff scenario. If Shterenberg plays well once again, coupled with Berkhammer and the top forward line being on, the Lightning can storm through any team in the county, just ask Whitman. It’s time for the senior leaders and Shterenberg to lead the way and carry the program to an historic playoff win. Hopefully, the third time is the charm and Upper Montgomery and its faithful spectators will celebrate late into the night (and early morning) as the team pushes through and makes the state playoffs for the first time in program history.
#Historic Upset, #State Playoffs, #UML, #Bleed Green, #Go Bolts!