Author: chucklevine

The Blair Blazers defeated Upper Montgomery for the first time in three seasons abruptly ending the Lightning’s 2024 – 2025 varsity hockey season. Blair sophomore forward Mason Boucher scored 19 seconds into overtime to send the Blazers into the Montgomery Hockey Conference Varsity Tournament championship game. Blair will be a decided underdog next week when they play county powerhouse Churchill for the varsity tournament title. Upper Montgomery heads into the offseason needing to digest how to take the next steps to regularly defeat the top five or six teams in the county. Even though the Lightning have advanced up the county rankings over the past few seasons, there is still a sizeable amount of work to be done to qualify for the Maryland Student Hockey League state playoffs. Entering its 17th season of existence next year, the Lightning have never qualified for the state playoffs. Upper Montgomery finished as high as fifth in the county while winning the varsity tournament championship for the first time ever after last season.

All observers thought this game would be a hard fought low scoring contest throughout. They were not wrong. Neither team had more than a one goal lead in the contest which ebbed and flowed all game long. Upper Montgomery seemed to be chasing the game right from the outset as senior center, and the team’s leading scorer entering the game, Henry Honacki was called for a roughing penalty thirty seconds into the contest. The early penalty kill disrupted the flow of the line combinations and defensive pairings taking Upper Montgomery out of its regular rotations. The early powerplay permitted the Blazers to be aggressive from the start as numerous shots were fired toward Upper Montgomery sophomore goalie Ilan Shterenberg. Upper Montgomery’s penalty kill which struggled at times during the regular season stood tall to prevent the Blazers from jumping to an early lead.

Nine minutes into the game Upper Montgomery went to their first extra skater advantage when Blair junior defender Joseph Killebrew was sent to the penalty box for a tripping penalty. Although the Lightning had significant offensive zone time, the first opportunity the Blazers had to clear the defensive zone resulted in a penalty to Lightning senior defender Cole Howerton when he got his stick under the skates of the Blair forward exiting the defensive zone with puck possession. Upper Montgomery’s powerplay was over as the team’s skated for fifty seconds of four on four action. Once Killebrew returned to the ice, Blair went on their second powerplay of the game. While Blair was on the powerplay, Shterenberg made a routine save with Blair senior forward Ari Gardner standing nearby. A known agitator, Gardner started doing his thing. Upper Montgomery senior forward Josh Nadler was having none of it with both skaters ushered to the penalty box for coincidental cross checking penalties.

With two minutes remaining in the first period the Lightning broke through jumping to a 1-0 lead. The Blazers dumped the puck into the Upper Montgomery defensive zone with Shterenberg stopping the puck behind his net. Lightning sophomore defender Avery Evans swooped in to collect the puck. She sent a pass up the right wing boards to Upper Montgomery’s active leading scorer senior forward Nathan Cassel high in the Lightning’s defensive zone. Cassel’s zone exit outlet pass intended for Honacki was deflected. The pass instead found Upper Montgomery junior defender Owen Robbins in the right faceoff circle. Robbins connected with Honacki leading to the defensive zone clear.

Honacki passed the puck to his left for Upper Montgomery forward Philip Shkeda. Shkeda skated to his right before leaving a backhand pass for Cassel on the left wing. Cassel entered the Blair defensive zone against the left wing boards on a quick developing two on one rush with Shkeda after a Blazers defender fell while pivoting to skate backwards. From the outside of the left faceoff circle, Cassel centered the puck to Shkeda alone in the slot. Shkeda had time to position his body into a shooting stance where he roofed a shot into the top of the net over Blair junior goalie Sylvan Vernon’s outstretched left leg pad. It was Shkeda’s seventh goal of the season which gave the Lightning a late first period lead. Shots on goal in the opening period were twelve Blair shots on Shterenberg which were all turned aside and seven for Upper Montgomery with Shkeda’s finish the only shot getting past Vernon.

The tough fought game continued into the second period. It was a period that was very evenly played, but Blair found a way to score twice to jump into the lead. Three and a half minutes into the middle period Killebrew, not known for providing much offense, tallied his second goal of the season to get Blair even. From a faceoff in the right faceoff circle in the Blair defensive zone, Blair center Eva Caron won the draw to the boards. She swept the puck back to Killebrew in the left corner. Killebrew paused to assess the Lightning defensive alignment before heading up the ice with the puck. He went up the middle of the ice into the neutral zone on a solo rush against both Upper Montgomery defenders. He cut to his right where he was pushed by the Upper Montgomery defender wide to a bad shooting angle at the bottom of the right faceoff circle. His backhand shot toward the net somehow squirted between Shterenberg’s legs drawing the Blazers even.

A minute and a half later Blair went on their third powerplay of the evening when Lightning depth forward Siddy Bhasin was called for slashing. It was a very questionable call as there was not much force on the slash to the Blair forward’s pants. The Lightning penalty kill did an excellent job containing the Blazers for most of the powerplay. With twenty seconds remaining in Blair’s extra skater advantage, Honacki was a little overzealous checking a Blazers forward into the boards. The result of the check was a boarding penalty assessed to Honacki putting the Lightning down two skaters for fourteen seconds. Even more detrimental was that a boarding penalty call comes with an automatic ten minute misconduct penalty. Thus, the Lightning’s leading scorer would be out of action for twelve minutes of the game. The Lightning skaters and Shterenberg stood tall to kill off the short two person disadvantage and then the rest of the traditional extra skater Blair powerplay.

Ten seconds after Upper Montgomery returned to even strength, Blair’s leading scorer, Jackson Martindill, scored his seventh goal of the season to give Blair its first lead of the game. The scoring play began with Upper Montgomery sending the puck down the ice with it nestling in behind the Blair net. Blair senior defender Rafi Shore took the puck up the right side of the Blazers defensive zone. He sent the puck to Martindill as he was leaving the defensive zone. Martindill turned up ice skating all the way into the Lightning defensive zone. From the left wing he cut to the high slot. Now in the center of the ice he fired a wrist shot that got past Shterenberg to the stick side. With six minutes remaining in the second period the Lightning suddenly found themselves down in the game. Both Blair goals had been scored on innocent rushes up ice with plenty of Lightning defensive skaters in position defending.

With two and a half minutes left in the period, Howerton and Blair forward Danilo Azcarate got into a skirmish in front of the Upper Montgomery net. Both were assessed coincidental minor penalties for head contact. A penalty for head contact also comes with an automatic ten minute misconduct penalty. Both skaters were parked in the penalty box for the next twelve minutes of the game, only being released deep into the third period with approximately five minutes remaining in regulation time. Shots on goal in the middle frame were similar to the first period, thirteen for Blair with two finding pay dirt. Upper Montgomery countered with eight shots, all of which Vernon turned aside.

Trailing 2-1 entering the third period, Upper Montgomery had fifteen final minutes to find at least one goal to continue their season. The Lightning pushed the pace of play with defenders starting to join rushes up ice. The Upper Montgomery defenders began holding the offensive blue line pinching down the boards to keep the play alive in the offensive zone. One of the defensive pinches bore fruit when Blair forward Quinn Streaker was called for hooking with nine minutes remaining in the game.

Based upon the flow of the game, this powerplay opportunity appeared to be the chance the Lightning were looking for. It was such an important juncture in the game the Upper Montgomery coaching staff chose to utilize their timeout. The short break allowed all of the students to get a brief rest, refocus on the upcoming powerplay, and coordinate the plan of attack to attempt to knot up the game at two. A minute into the extra skater advantage, Blair cleared the puck all the way down to the Upper Montgomery defensive zone.

Upper Montgomery sophomore defender Miles Wendland took the puck behind his own net continuing into the right faceoff circle where he fired a pass up ice to Cassel in the neutral zone. Cassel stickhandled to center ice where he cut to the left proceeding to enter the offensive zone. He was pinned against the boards by three Blazers defenders. Cassel spiked the puck into the left wing corner. Wendland retrieved the puck passing it out to the front of the net to Shkeda. Shkeda’s shot went just wide to the short side with the puck bouncing off the side of the net. The Blair defense got to the puck first behind their cage while being pursued by Shkeda. A poor clearing pass was cut off up ice by Honacki along the right wing boards. Honacki sent a backhand pass to Robbins at the right point. Robbins skated around Honacki before sending the puck back to Cassel who had moved over to the right point. Cassel’s long range shot was saved by Vernon with Shkeda poking home the rebound on his backhand. Shkeda’s eighth goal of the season tied the game at two with eight minutes remaining. The marker also pushed Shkeda into the Lightning’s overall scoring lead for the season with 22 points.

Eight minutes remained for either team to emerge victorious. Both squads went for it offensively, with each team cognizant of getting back on defense to thwart the other team’s counterpunch rushes up ice. Each team generated one really good scoring chance that was snuffed out by the opposing goaltender. When the final horn sounded ending regulation time, the Lightning had fired a period high of twelve shots at Vernon while Blair was limited to their lowest total of the game with nine.

To open overtime, Upper Montgomery started with three of its top offensive skaters in Cassel, Shkeda, and Robbins playing at the defensive position. Blair countered with Boucher, sophomore forward William Campbell, and Killebrew. Boucher won the opening center ice faceoff to begin overtime. Campbell collected the puck in neutral ice before sending it back to Killebrew on the right side of the ice at his defensive blue line. With Cassel pushing up ice to force play, Killebrew sent the puck to his left along the defensive blue line over to Campbell on the left wing boards. Under pressure from Shkeda, Campbell ragged the puck up the left wing side of the ice. At the Upper Montgomery blue line, he cut inside of Robbins’ defense positioning thus being surrounded by the three Upper Montgomery defenders; Cassel on his right, Shkeda applying back pressure from behind, and Robbins on his left. Campbell sent a perfectly placed backhand pass through the Upper Montgomery defenders to Boucher who was skating hard toward the back right goal post. Clear of Cassel’s reach, Boucher settled the pass before he fired from directly in front of Shterenberg. The puck went past the Lightning goalie’s glove hand side into the back of the net for Boucher’s sixth goal of the season. It was by far the most important tally of his high school career to date. The Blair bench exploded over the boards onto the ice forming a red colored mosh pit in the far offensive corner of the ice. Just like that game over, along with it the Upper Montgomery season. Overtime concluded in only 19 seconds with no Lightning skater touching the puck.

With the loss Upper Montgomery’s season ended abruptly. It was the third straight season that the Lightning advanced at least to the semifinal round of the season ending Montgomery Hockey Conference varsity tournament. It will be a long offseason where the Upper Montgomery coaching staff will need to evaluate each student athlete’s strengths and weaknesses to come up with a style of play that permits the team to succeed against the more talented teams in the county. Each year is another opportunity for the program to end its two long streaks left to demolish, never having beaten Churchill and never having qualified for the Maryland Student Hockey League state playoffs. It will now be up to the 2025 – 2026 squad to make history.

Game Notes:

• Blair outshot Upper Montgomery 35-27 for the game.
• With his two goals junior forward Philip Shkeda finished the season as the Lightning’s top scorer with eight goals and fourteen assists for 22 points.
• Senior center Henry Honacki finished the season leading Upper Montgomery with twelve goals.
• Junior defender Brady Berkhammer finished the season leading Upper Montgomery with fifteen assists.
• Upper Montgomery finished the season with a 7-8-2 record, 6-5-1 in conference play. Both marks are the Lightning’s best winning percentages since the 2018 – 2019 season.
• The Lightning killed off all four Blazers powerplays.
• This was the third consecutive season that Upper Montgomery advanced at least to the Montgomery Hockey Conference varsity tournament semifinals.

Three Stars of the Game:

First Star—Philip Shkeda—Upper Montgomery Forward—2 Goals
Second Star—Ilan Shterenberg—Upper Montgomery Goalie—32 Saves, .914 Save Percentage
Third Star—Mason Boucher—Blair Forward—Game Winning Overtime Goal

For the third time this season the Upper Montgomery Lightning eased past the Northwest / Quince Orchard Jaguars. The final score of Friday’s game was 8-4, with the game not as competitive as the final score indicated. Northwest / Quince Orchard scored two goals in garbage time at the end of the game to make the score look more respectable. Upper Montgomery charged out to a 6-1 lead after two periods of play outshooting the Jaguars badly in building its insurmountable lead. With the victory, Upper Montgomery advances to the semifinals of the Montgomery Hockey Conference varsity tournament. It was a very good win for the Lightning who played without their leading scorer in senior center Henry Honacki (15GP, 12G, 7A) and their leading defensive scorer junior defender Brady Berkhammer (15GP, 4G, 15A). The Lightning also saw the return of sophomore goalie Ilan Shterenberg who missed last week’s playoff game against BCC with an illness.

Upper Montgomery controlled play right from the beginning of the game. Having the majority of puck possession time the Lightning were easily able to hold down the Jaguars. Northwest / Quince Orchard never threatened in the offensive zone over the opening three and a half minutes of play. The frustrated Jaguars chased play all over the ice. The only scenario that helped Northwest / Quince Orchard was that Upper Montgomery missed the net on multiple high danger scoring opportunities. The Jaguars frustration eventually boiled over when Jaguars forward Omar Ben Younes received a roughing penalty for throwing a body check away from the play.

On the powerplay, the Lightning turned up the pressure even further. Upper Montgomery 18U AA senior forward, Nathan Cassel cut off a Northwest / Quince Orchard shorthanded advance up ice along the right wing boards. The puck was scooped up by Lightning junior 16U AAA defender Owen Robbins. Robbins curled back into his defensive zone where he passed the puck over to Cassel on the left wing. Cassel entered the offensive zone down the left wing progressing to the bottom of the left faceoff circle. He unleashed a wrist shot top shelf short side above Northwest / Quince Orchard senior goalie Joseph Dean’s blocker. It was Cassel’s eighth goal of his condensed senior season as he missed multiple games at the beginning of the year with an upper body injury.

Upper Montgomery continued to dominate play over the next five minutes of action looking to increase their lead. The Jaguars cleared the puck out of their defensive zone down the ice where Shterenberg stopped the puck. The goalie then handed the puck to Robbins in the right defensive corner. Robbins sent an outlet pass to Lightning forward Philip Shkeda in the neutral zone. Shkeda banked a pass off the boards that was intercepted by Northwest / Quince Orchard. Shkeda followed up the play knocking the puck free to Cassel who then took the puck down the right wing boards. He stickhandled with the puck before sending it back to the right point to Upper Montgomery sophomore defender Miles Wendland. Wendland dumped the puck to the right corner with the puck coming around the boards to Lightning sophomore center Jake Hudson stationed in the left corner. Hudson sent a backhand pass to Shkeda. Shkeda received the pass before curling to the middle of the ice. He stickhandled through several defenders then faked out Dean putting a forehand shot past the goalie’s leg pad. Shkeda’s sixth tally on the year increased Upper Montgomery’s lead to 2-0.

Two minutes after Shkeda’s goal, Upper Montgomery faced its first penalty kill situation of the evening. Lightning depth forward Jason Woodman was called for a roughing penalty for an excellent body check on the Jaguars puck carrier. It was a mystifying penalty call. Not only did Upper Montgomery excel during the penalty kill, the Lightning outplayed the Jaguars with one less skater on the ice. A Northwest / Quince Orchard shot from the left point was blocked by Upper Montgomery senior center Josh Nadler. The puck bounced forward directly to Cassel sending him off on a breakaway down the left wing. Cassel’s shot was saved by Dean’s left leg pad. The rebound was collected by Nadler along the right wing boards. After a short puck battle, Nadler emerged with the puck. He turned sending a pass to Cassel in the slot. This time Cassel’s wrist shot went low past Dean’s glove hand for the shorthanded goal. Cassel’s second goal of the night and ninth of the season gave Upper Montgomery a 3-0 lead entering the first intermission. It was one of the better periods that the Lightning had played in several weeks.

After a small blip, the second period mirrored the first. Three minutes into the second period, the Jaguars got on the scoreboard off of a broken play. Northwest / Quince Orchard leading scorer, junior center Ethan Custodio collected the puck along the right wing boards in his defensive zone. He skated the puck up ice all the way into the offensive zone. He was guarded by Wendland and his defensive partner, Lightning senior defender Cole Howerton. With both defenders shadowing the dangerous Custodio who had the puck, he sent the puck to his left into open ice. The puck came close to the slot where Ben Younes slapped at the puck. Somehow, his slow shot along the ice got past the left leg pad of Shterenberg just inside the right goal post. It was Ben Younes’ first goal of the season bringing the Jaguars within two goals at 3-1.

Twenty five seconds later the Lightning’s lead was back to three goals. Upper Montgomery had considerable offensive zone time. A slap pass by Northwest / Quince Orchard was cut off by Wendland at the center point just inside the blue line. He skated two strides to his left and unloaded a wrist shot high to the far side of the net past Dean’s glove hand. Wendland’s unassisted marker was his second goal on the season eliminating any stress a potential Northwest / Quince Orchard comeback would apply.

The next six minutes of game action saw Upper Montgomery continuously press forward offensively. A fifth goal would likely end the competitive portion of the game putting the Lightning up by four goals. With five minutes left in the middle period, the Jaguars cleared the puck to the Upper Montgomery defensive zone. The puck was retrieved by Upper Montgomery ninth grade defender Matt Rivera. He sent a pass up the middle of the ice to Cassel in the neutral zone. Cassel took the puck down the right wing into the Northwest / Quince Orchard defensive zone. He stickhandled to free himself from the Jaguars defense leaving a drop pass for Shkeda. Shkeda was not expecting the pass but was able to secure possession bringing the puck deeper into the offensive zone along the right wing boards down into the right faceoff circle. He stopped and found Robbins unguarded in the slot. Robbins had time and space to send a slinging wrist shot high over Dean’s glove hand for his eighth goal of the season. It was Robbins first tally since the Richard Montgomery game back in early November.

With under a minute remaining in the second period, Upper Montgomery scored its sixth goal of the evening putting the game well out of reach. From a faceoff in the left faceoff circle in the offensive zone, Nadler won the draw to Robbins in the slot. Robbins fired a backhanded shot that Dean saved with his right leg pad. A Jaguars defender attempted to go around the net with the puck from his left to his right. On the way around the net he was met by Robbins who relieved him of the puck. Robbins left the puck along the right wing boards for Shkeda. Shkeda carried the puck further down the right wing boards into the right corner before giving it up to Robbins who was headed in the other direction up the boards toward the right point. With possession, Robbins pivoted back toward the corner coming at the net on the same side. He sent a backhand pass to Nadler standing just outside the goal crease. Nadler fired a quick shot short side over Dean’s leg pad and under his glove. It was goals in back to back games for Nadler after going the entire regular season without scoring.

With a five goal lead and in complete control of the game, the Upper Montgomery coaching staff pulled Shterenberg and inserted ninth grade goalie Porter Stutsrim-Lyons to handle the netminding duties in the third period. It was a reward for Stutsrim-Lyons whose play last week was excellent in both the varsity playoff game against BCC (40 saves on 43 shots on goal, .930 save percentage) and the junior varsity semifinal playoff game directly after the varsity game (39 saves on 42 shots on goal, .928 save percentage).

It seemed that inserting Stutsrim-Lyons into the game signaled to the teams that the competitive portion of the game had ended. Upper Montgomery certainly played the third period similar to a scrimmage with very low intensity. A minute into the final period Lightning sophomore forward Aiden Zheng was called for a tripping penalty for reaching in from behind on a Jaguars skater. It took a minute and a half, but Northwest / Quince Orchard struck while playing with the additional skater. Jaguars senior defender Drew Blurton broke up an Upper Montgomery shorthanded two on one rush. He possessed the puck in his own left defensive corner where he started innocently skating the puck up ice. He wound around the defensive zone then into the neutral zone where he cut left to enter the Upper Montgomery defensive zone. He carried the puck around the net from left to right. As he came around the side of the net heading up into the right faceoff circle, Blurton lifted a backhanded shot toward the goal. The puck clanked off the side of Stutsrim-Lyons helmet backwards into the net for an unassisted powerplay goal, Blurton’s third goal of the season.

A minute later Upper Montgomery stretched the lead back to 7-2. A Northwest / Quince Orchard clear down the ice was retrieved by Wendland. He skated with the puck around his net from right to left. On the right side boards, he swung the puck up the boards to Shkeda in the neutral zone. Shkeda entered the offensive zone down the middle of the ice. With no Jaguars defender converging on him, Shkeda took the puck directly to the net. He faked Dean but the goalie was able to poke check the puck loose from Shkeda’s possession. Robbins collected the puck momentarily but lost possession to the Jaguars defense. The Northwest / Quince Orchard defensive zone clearing attempt was read well by Rivera. He rushed over to stop the puck before it crossed over the defensive blue line. Rivera did what he could with the puck by simply dumping it into open ice on the left side of the offensive zone. Robbins skated hard reaching the puck first due to his effort. He regathered the puck. Once in control of the puck, Robbins spun towards the net and fired a rocket of a wrist shot that beat Dean high to the glove side. The Jaguars’ netminder hardly moved as the puck zoomed past him for Robbins’ second goal of the evening and his ninth on the season.

Five minutes later Nadler scored his second goal of the evening to finish off the Lightning’s goal scoring. It was his third goal in the last two games. From a faceoff in the left faceoff circle in the offensive zone, Nadler won the draw to the right where Robbins stepped forward to grab the puck. Robbins sent a pass over to Cassel at the left point. Cassel’s wrist shot was blocked by the Jaguars defense falling into the slot near Nadler. Nadler fired a quick wrist shot low to the far side of the goal past Dean’s glove hand.

With just over three minutes remaining in the game, Upper Montgomery depth forward Siddy Bhasin was issued an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty for mouthing off to the officials in an 8-2 game. Northwest / Quince Orchard wasted no time at all in tallying their second powerplay goal of the period. Five seconds after Bhasin went into the penalty box, the score closed to 8-3. Off of a faceoff in the left faceoff circle in the offensive zone, the referee dropped the puck before Upper Montgomery was aligned to defend. Custudio won the faceoff forward stretching to nudge the puck to his right. Jaguars ninth grade forward Gabriel Carlos was all alone on the right side of the crease to easily tap in the puck past Stutsrim-Lyons. It was Carlos’ fourth goal of the season and third scored against Upper Montgomery.

Thirty seconds later Custudio scored to close the margin to 8-4 which was as close as the Jaguars would get. An Upper Montgomery turnover in the neutral zone went to Custodio. He turned back up ice blazing down the left side of the offensive zone around the Lightning defense. His initial short side shot was saved by Stutsrim-Lyons with the puck deflecting up in the air. Upper Montgomery ninth grade defender Lillian Robbins saved a goal by clearing the puck off of the goal line. Her clearing swat went all the way to the left point where Blurton kept the puck in the offensive zone. Blurton’s shot bounced around on its way toward the net. It finally settled at the side of the goal directly onto Custodio’s stick for an easy tap in goal.

With the victory, Upper Montgomery moves into the semifinal round of the Montgomery Hockey Conference Varsity Tournament. It is the third straight year that the Lightning have made the semifinals. The team will be looking to advance back to the championship game with an opportunity to defend their championship from last season. Last year’s finals victory was the most impactful championship won in the history of the Upper Montgomery program. Becoming back to back champions would continue to cement the program’s climb into the top tier of Montgomery County hockey programs.

Game Notes:

• Upper Montgomery had a distinct advantage in shots on goal. The Lightning fired 39 shots on Northwest / Quince Orchard senior goalie Joseph Dean. The Jaguars fired 23 shots against the Lightning goalie tandem. Upper Montgomery outshot the Jaguars 26-10 over the first two periods of play in building their 6-1 lead.
• Upper Montgomery had three different students score two goals in the game; senior forward Nathan Cassel, senior center Josh Nadler, and junior defender Owen Robbins.
• All three games Owen Robbins scored in were multi-goal efforts. He authored two, three, and four goal games this season.
• Upper Montgomery played without its leading defensive scorer Brady Berkhammer in the game.
• The Lightning were also without their leading overall scorer, senior center Henry Honacki who missed the game serving his one game supplementary disciplinary suspension for receiving a major penalty for boarding in last week’s playoff game against BCC.
• Jaguars center Ethan Custodio tallied eight points in three games against the Lightning; three goals and five assists.
• Lightning sophomore goalie Ilan Shterenberg increased his varsity win total to seven.
• Upper Montgomery advances on to the Montgomery Hockey Conference Varsity Tournament Semifinals. After a two week break, the Lightning will host the Blair Blazers on Friday, February 21st. Game time is 8:10 pm at Rockville Ice Arena.

Three Stars of the Game:

First Star—Nathan Cassel—Upper Montgomery Forward—2 Goals, 2 Assists
Second Star—Owen Robbins—Upper Montgomery Defense—2 Goals, 3 Assists
Third Star—Josh Nadler—Upper Montgomery Center—2 Goals, 1 Assist

The Upper Montgomery Lightning junior varsity played an outstanding game late Friday night against top seeded Wootton in the semifinals of the Montgomery Hockey Conference junior varsity playoffs. It was an excellent high school hockey game between the top two junior varsity squads in the county. Upper Montgomery controlled the flow and pace of the game against the high flying Patriots holding a 1-0 lead entering the third period. At that point, the effects of playing back to back games became too large of an impediment for Upper Montgomery. Wootton stormed back aided by two early third period powerplay goals to defeat the Lightning 3-1 advancing to the junior varsity championship game against BCC. Wootton is expected to prevail easily against the Barons and take home their first junior varsity title. The loss ends the season for Upper Montgomery completing the year with a 5-3-2 record.

Entering the contest Upper Montgomery knew that the best way to stifle the Patriots was to play a smothering defensive system that prevented Wootton from getting into their preferred skating game. At times, the Lightning created a ring around the interior of the defensive zone content to let Wootton keep possession of the puck on the exterior. The Patriots were forced to fire long range shots on Upper Montgomery ninth grade goalie Porter Stutsrim-Lyons. When Upper Montgomery did possess the puck, the team sent the puck out to neutral ice or deep into the Patriots defensive zone with multiple students scrambling to the bench for a line change. Upper Montgomery’s plan was to frustrate the Patriots while capitalizing on counter attack rushes up ice. The Lightning skaters blocked shot after shot. The defense cleared rebounds out of harm’s way. Upper Montgomery goaltender Stutsrim-Lyons came through with an outstanding performance after being unexpectedly thrust into playing in back to back games. He had to start the varsity playoff game when the Lightning’s starting varsity goalie, sophomore Ilan Shterenberg came down ill forcing Stutsrim-Lyons into playing both games.

The beginning of the game was unsettling. After the Upper Montgomery varsity game ran late due to a zamboni malfunction, the student athletes that were also playing in the junior varsity game hustled from Rockville Ice Arena over to Cabin John Ice Rink. The Lightning were forced to use their time out at the beginning of the game to allow Stutsrim-Lyons time to complete gearing up. Once game action commenced, the Lightning executed the game plan to a T. Defense, defense, defense, more defense, and then even more defense. Wootton was unable to solve Stutsrim-Lyons. The Lightning rolled forward lines and defensive pairings in an attempt to keep the students playing in their second game of the night as fresh and rested as possible.

Six minutes into the game, Upper Montgomery earned the first powerplay of the night when Wootton’s top line center sophomore Nathan Geeng was called for an interference penalty. While Upper Montgomery did not score or even threaten offensively, it was two more minutes of denying Wootton the ability to play to their core strength, transition offense. After Upper Montgomery’s powerplay fizzled, Lightning sophomore forward Jake Hudson took his first penalty of the season. He was whistled for a minor penalty for hooking. Wootton pressured the entire two minutes in the offensive zone, but could not penetrate Upper Montgomery’s packed in penalty kill. When shots did get through, Stutsrim-Lyons was there to shut the door.

As Wootton’s extra skater advantage concluded unsuccessfully, the Lightning began to exude confidence at keeping Wootton off the scoreboard for more than ten minutes. Upper Montgomery had a burst offensively which ultimately gave the Lightning a 1-0 lead. Upper Montgomery sophomore defender Miles Wendland had the puck at his own defensive blue line along the left wing boards. He sent a diagonal pass which Hudson received at the right wing boards standing at the center red line. Hudson skated the puck into the Wootton defensive zone. He was immediately pressured by the Wootton defense. While falling down, Hudson swept the puck around the net into the left corner. The puck hit the net and was gathered in by the Wootton defense.

The clearing attempt was kept in at the left point by Wendland. His shot on goal was an easy pad save for Wootton’s sophomore goalie Kevin Yu, with the puck directed into the left corner. Lightning ninth grade forward, Luke Hudson, Jake’s brother, retrieved the puck and sent it our front to fellow ninth grade forward Siddy Bhasin. Bhasin’s first shot attempt was blocked by the Wootton defense. His second shot was saved by Yu with the puck bouncing back to Bhasin. The Upper Montgomery forward then took the puck around the back of the net. Moving from left to right he pivoted out from behind the goal line extended and stuffed a backhand wraparound shot between Yu’s left skate and the near goal post. Upper Montgomery had all three of its first period shots in quick succession concluding with Bhasin’s sixth goal of the season.

With two minutes remaining in the opening period Upper Montgomery now had a lead to protect. Then came more penalties. First, Luke Hudson took an interference penalty inside of a minute remaining in the first period. Twenty seconds later Wendland was called for a roughing penalty for a great check in the corner. Definitely not a penalty. The Lightning were down two skaters for a minute and forty seconds bridging the first and second periods. Upper Montgomery’s penalty killers, Jake Hudson, Aiden Zheng, AJ Marks, Patrick Sell, and Cole Howerton did an amazing job getting through both the end of the opening period and the beginning of the second period without giving up a goal. Stutsrim-Lyons did a heck of a job as well maintaining his focus and fighting off shot after shot.

Wootton controlled the territorial advantage throughout the second period as well. Although shots were more even, fourteen for Wootton and nine for Upper Montgomery, several of the Lightning’s shots were defensive zone clears or red line dump ins that happened to be on goal forcing Yu to push the puck aside. Stutsrim-Lyons continued making saves. Upper Montgomery continued defending all over the ice. Wootton kept pressing all while the score remained 1-0 Upper Montgomery as the time passed eleven o’clock in the evening. With just over a minute remaining in the second period, Lightning senior defender and team captain Cole Howerton received a minor penalty for high sticking.

Back to the penalty kill for Upper Montgomery. The team’s passive approach seemed to confuse the Patriots. Rather than work into the interior of the defense, Wootton settled for long range shots or tried to force opportunities that were not available. This allowed Stutsrim-Lyons to swallow shots with no rebounds, Upper Montgomery penalty killers to block shots, Wootton shots flew past the net wide, and the Lightning kept clearing the defensive zone. At the end of two periods of play the Lightning were ahead needing to just hold on for the final fifteen minutes of action. Shots on goal through two periods of play favored Wootton 26-12.

The game was about to enter the danger zone for the Lightning. Could the team keep playing with the same pace and intensity with so many of the students already having played five periods of hockey in the past three hours with travel in between the games. Upper Montgomery was able to make it through the last forty five seconds of Wootton’s fourth powerplay. Fourteen minutes remained…

On the next shift after Howerton returned to the ice surface, Bhasin was issued a slashing penalty for hacking an onrushing Wootton forward. The Lightning admirably killed off the first minute and forty five seconds of the extra attacker advantage. Twelve minutes remained… As Bhasin was getting ready to return from the penalty box, Wootton struck to even the game at one. From a faceoff in the left faceoff circle in the offensive zone, Wootton won the draw and maintained puck possession. Patriots Defender Isaac Greene took the puck to the left corner continuing on around the net from left to right. His shot from the lower right faceoff circle was blocked. The puck ricocheted to the left wing boards. Wootton forward Brendan Lau sent the puck deep into the left corner for Geeng. Geeng sent the puck back to the left point to Greene who had returned to his regular defensive position. Greene’s wrist shot along the ice was saved by Stutsrim-Lyons’s right leg pad. Stutsrim-Lyons steered the rebound back into the left corner. The puck was gathered in by Geeng who skated towards the net drawing the Lightning defensive coverage. Geeng sent a cross ice pass to Wootton forward Drew Kronforst. With Upper Montgomery’s far side forward out of position, Kronforst had time to stop the puck before he lifted a wrist shot high over the Lightning netminder as Stutsrim-Lyons was coming over to face up to the shot. It was Kronforst’s third goal of the season tying up the game with twelve minutes remaining.

The Lightning made it through only twenty seconds before Luke Hudson was called for a roughing penalty. After an initial penalty call made against Wootton, Hudson’s penalty was the sixth consecutive call against Upper Montgomery. The Upper Montgomery coaching staff let the referees hear about the discrepancy in penalties and their thoughts on how weak some of the calls were. Even so, the Lightning were back on the penalty kill yet again. As the second minute of the powerplay got underway, Wootton scored its second powerplay goal in succession to jump into the lead.

A Wootton zone entry dump in was stopped by Stutsrim-Lyons in the left faceoff circle. Kronforst picked up the puck dropping it off the left wing boards back to Geeng who was just entering the offensive zone. Geeng skated to the interior of the left faceoff circle where his snap shot was blocked. The puck caromed over to Lau now covering at the left point. Lau moved around the Upper Montgomery forward coming out to meet him at the point. With inside positioning, Lau traveled to the left faceoff circle where he sent a heavy wrist shot short side high over Stutsrim-Lyons’s right shoulder. With ten minutes left in regulation time, Lau’s seventh goal of the season had put the Patriots on top. Curiously and magically, the stern discussion by the Upper Montgomery coaching staff resulted in no more penalties called against Upper Montgomery for the rest of the game. Humph!

Upper Montgomery had ten minutes to find the equalizer. The team responded by becoming much more offensive. The defenders were instructed to join the rush to try and outnumber the Patriots getting back on defense. The change in strategy once again caught the Patriots by surprise as Upper Montgomery had ten shots on goal in the third period alone. The Wootton powerplays combined with Upper Montgomery taking risks offensively late in the third period resulted in sixteen shot on goal fired against Stutsrim-Lyons. The Lightning were able to generate several good offensive chances over the final ten minutes of the game. Several quality looks were fired wide of the net. A couple hit Yu directly in the center of his chest protector. The tired Lightning gave everything they had with sophomore forward Jackson Schickler firing himself head first diving across the ice to block shots when Wootton countered the Lightning’s offensive push.

With three and a half minutes left in regulation Wootton tallied an insurance goal to put the Lightning behind the eight ball. Wootton entered the Upper Montgomery defensive zone down the left side of the ice. Lau left a drop pass for Geeng at the left faceoff circle. Geeng stepped into a slap shot that sizzled wide of the net to the far side. Lau briefly retrieved the puck in the right corner before he was relieved of the puck by Wendland. Wendland flipped the puck to an Upper Montgomery forward on the right wing boards. Unfortunately, that Upper Montgomery forward fanned on the defensive zone clearing attempt. Geeng shoveled the puck forward to Wootton forward Jayden Ahn. From the low slot, Ahn sent a spinning backhand shot that nestled just inside the left post past Stutsrim-Lyons’s extended right leg for his fifth goal of the season.

With a two goal lead and three and a half minutes remaining, Wootton sat back in a defensive shell. The Patriots were content to flip the puck back to center ice and make the Lightning fight just to gain entry into the offensive zone. The exhausted Upper Montgomery student athletes made a strong effort to try and find another goal, but just simply ran out of gas and time. Upper Montgomery played valiantly. For the first 33 minutes of the game the young Lightning executed the game plan flawlessly. In the later rounds of the playoffs all of the teams are talented. The Lightning gave everything they had pushing Wootton close to the edge before coming up a smidge short of returning to the junior varsity championship game for the first time since 2021 – 2022.

Game Notes:

• Shots on goal were heavily weighted in favor of Wootton 42-22. The Patriots outshot Upper Montgomery twelve to three in the first period in which they were trailing 1-0.
• Lightning ninth grade goalie Porter Stutsrim-Lyons stopped 39 of 42 shots directly after stopping 40 of 43 shots in the Upper Montgomery varsity playoff game played prior to the junior varsity playoff game. It was a combined .929 save percentage with four of the six goals scored against on the opposition’s powerplays.
• Upper Montgomery ninth grade forward Max Israfilbek missed the Wootton game serving his supplemental discipline for receiving four penalties in a game against Churchill in last week’s junior varsity quarterfinal matchup.
• Lightning Head Coach Todd Hassett missed the Wootton game serving his supplemental discipline suspension for receiving three unsportsmanlike conduct penalties in a season.

Three Stars of the Game:

First Star—Porter Stutsrim-Lyons—Upper Montgomery Goalie—39 saves, .928 Save Percentage
Second Star—Nathan Geeng—Wootton Center—3 Assists
Third Star—Drew Kronforst—Wootton Forward—1 Goal, 1 Assist