Author: chucklevine

On Friday night, the Upper Montgomery Lightning have an opportunity of a lifetime. A chance to pull off the biggest upset in the history of Maryland high school hockey. The Lightning will be facing off against the Churchill Bulldogs. Churchill has not lost a playoff game in the past nine seasons. The Bulldogs have won seven of the past eight Maryland high school state championships with only COVID interrupting the streak by preventing Churchill from competing in the 2021 state playoff tournament. Churchill is widely recognized as ‘the team’ in Maryland high school hockey. Game time is 9:00 pm at Rockville Ice Arena. Expect a raucous, vocal, and pro-Churchill crowd to be present adding to the delirious atmosphere.

Upper Montgomery has never before reached the second round of the Montgomery Hockey Conference division one playoff tournament. A win in Friday’s game would send the Lightning to the state playoffs for the first time in program history. The 2022 – 2023 season has been a season in which the team has achieved many firsts; winning the program’s first ever division one playoff game, beating Wootton for the first time ever, earning standings points against one of the top four programs in the county with a tie against BCC, and beating the number two ranked team in the county with its late season victory over Quince Orchard. The Quince Orchard win was against the highest ranked opponent that the Upper Montgomery program had ever beaten.

This game against Churchill will be an extremely difficult matchup for the young Lightning. Churchill will dress an array of AAA level travel hockey student athletes (possibly six) and the Bulldogs expect to continue their dominance. Upper Montgomery will have a big mountain to climb just to remain competitive in the game. In early November, in the team’s regular season matchup, Churchill prevailed easily by a score of 8-2.

In net for the Bulldogs will be either AAA goalie, senior Avery Schiff (4-3 record, 2.33 goals against average, .892 save percentage), or AAA goalie, 9th grader Mac Glazer (3-2-1 record, 3.41 goals against average, .875 save percentage). It will be a game time decision on who starts in net for the Bulldogs, or if Churchill will play both netminders during the game. For Upper Montgomery, Landon Bernard will again be between the pipes as he has been all season long. Bernard is coming off of a very strong outing versus St. Johns in Upper Montgomery’s first ever division one playoff victory, stopping 22 of 23 shots on goal. It was a crazy game in that Upper Montgomery had to play four minutes of game action without a goalie in net during the second period when Bernard lost a skate blade. For the season Bernard has a 7-6-1 record, a 3.74 goals against average, and an .858 save percentage. Throughout the entire game, expect Churchill to fire the puck at Bernard often with shots coming from long range and in bunches.

On defense, Montgomery Hockey Conference All Conference selection Samuel Strand steadies an inexperienced defense. This season, Strand was second on the Bulldogs in points with (12GP, 12G, 7A). Dalton Esko-Himmelfarb (11GP, 3G, 4A) will also see significant action versus the Lightning. The Churchill attack is so strong that often times their defense is overlooked.

On offense, when playing against the Bulldogs, it is pick your poison. With junior top tier forward Joshua Potenti back, the Lightning have to contend with three AAA level travel forwards; Potenti, Brook Chapman, and Ryan Wees, and then also highly talented AA level Montgomery Hockey Conference All Conference forward Zack Silver, who by the way tallied (15GP, 19G, 5A). In addition to the top end forwards, Churchill has plenty of depth. Brook Chapman (9GP, 7G, 4A), Asher Wang (8GP, 8G, 8A), and Daniel McNelis (11GP, 6G, 10A) will all be going concerns for the Upper Montgomery defense. Lightning forwards will need to play back in a defensive shell to clog up the ice and make it more difficult for Churchill to find open space in which to make plays with their superior talent.

Upper Montgomery will need to play a near perfect game just to remain competitive. Chris Hassett (13GP, 9G, 17A) and Nathan Cassell (10GP, 10G, 13A) will be counted on to provide offense. The entire team will need to pitch in and contribute. The game will hinge on how well Upper Montgomery defends as the Lightning will not outscore the Bulldogs in a back and forth offensive shootout. The team’s defenders will need to step up bigtime. George Benedick (12GP, 5G, 9A), Andrew Botti (11GP, 3G, 4A), and Ethan Hockey (13GP, 3G, 7A) will receive the bulk of the minutes on defense. However, it will not fall on these three experienced defensive skaters to try and contain Churchill. The entire Upper Montgomery roster will need to defend all over the ice and take away time and space from the Churchill forwards. Nothing short of an extraordinary effort will get the job done.

In a one game winner take all playoff matchup anything can happen. The Lightning will literally be trying to capture Lightning in a bottle and shock the world. Once the game is over late Friday evening the program will have a pretty good idea of how it stacks up moving forward into next season when Upper Montgomery is likely to be one of the better teams in the county. While the team has advanced farther than ever before and has accomplished a slew of firsts this season, beating ‘the team’ on Friday would blow the top off expectations for this season. Go Bolts!

The Upper Montgomery Lightning will host their first ever Division One playoff game Friday night against the St. Johns Cadets. The Lightning earned the home playoff game by virtue of finishing the regular season ranked seventh in the Montgomery Hockey Conference. It is the highest finish ever in the history of the program. The seventh seeded Lightning host the tenth seeded Cadets at 8:45 pm Friday night at Rockville Ice Arena.

Upper Montgomery’s long mid-season winning streak seems to be in the rearview mirror. Consecutive losses to Richard Montgomery and BCC to end the regular season dropped Upper Montgomery in the Montgomery Hockey Conference rankings. The team now has a much tougher path to the Maryland Scholastic Hockey League Maryland state playoff championship. The Lightning have never qualified for the state tournament.

Friday’s game is expected to be a slugfest. It will likely be a low scoring, physical, gritty, fight for every inch of the ice kind of game. Upper Montgomery will need to slow the game down as much as possible as the Lightning will be playing without two of the team’s top forwards; Nathan Cassell and Ryan Jacobson. Without this offensive firepower, the team will need contributions from all available skaters to make up for the missing offense. It will be extremely tough to score on St. Johns netminder Jack Faricy. Faricy is arguably the best goalie that the Lightning will face this season. He has a 3.58 goals against average and a .918 save percentage. If he can see the puck, he will stop the puck. He made 61 saves in a 2-0 loss to Whitman a few weeks ago. Faricy has been playing behind a very young defense, a defense that the Lightning will need to take advantage of to generate scoring opportunities. Upper Montgomery will need to get layers and layers of skaters in the shooting lanes. Traffic around the crease is a must to screen Faricy and deposit rebounds and garbage goals.

Landon Bernard will be looking to regain the form he displayed earlier this season when he won six of seven games. He has a respectable 3.93 goals against average and an .852 save percentage. When the team plays strong defense in front of him, the Lightning are unbeaten. In games where the Lightning play a free flowing, offensive, and ‘pretty’ hockey game, the results have not been so positive. Bernard will need to make several key saves for the Lightning to win on Friday. It would be a tremendous help if the team defense in front of him clogged up the center of the ice and blocked shots, eliminating Cadets scoring opportunities.

On defense the Lightning will need to play the game along the boards. Make it tough on St. Johns to operate in the offensive zone. Flip the puck out. Frustrate the Cadets forwards. Force St. Johns to continuously rewind in the neutral zone and chase the puck off of dump ins. If the Lightning get back to their mid-season form of playing a more defensively sound and compact system through the neutral zone, the team will have an outstanding chance of winning. St. Johns has struggled on offense for much of the season averaging exactly three goals per game. Upper Montgomery will need to focus on Teddy Kurowski (11GP, 7G, 6A), Noll Myers (11GP, 6G, 4A), and Will Spicer (9GP, 4G, 4A). On defense, Joseph Krauth also contributes from the blue line (10GP, 5G, 3A). The play of these four skaters will determine whether St. Johns can steal the victory.

As seems to be the case each week this season, on offense the Lightning will be shorthanded as noted above. The Upper Montgomery forward depth will be tested. Several student athletes will need to pick up additional shifts that would normally be given to their missing teammates. Someone will need to fill the void and produce some unexpected offense. Every single offensive opportunity will be huge. Capitalizing on those chances will determine the outcome of the game. The Lightning will need superior games from Chris Hassett (12GP, 9G, 16A), George Benedick (11GP, 5G, 9A), Brandon Bernard (10GP, 8G, 2A), Philip Shkeda (10GP, 5G, 5A), and Ethan Hockey (11GP, 3G, 7A). A big boost would be for Hunter Cameron to have a dominating game and provide an offensive spark. Contributions from Olivia Robbins, Bradley Cupples, and Andrew Botti will also be key to victory. It does not need to be just one skater elevating their game. The Lightning can come away with the win if the entire team plays as one unit and receives excellent performances from everyone.

Special teams are an area where the Lightning have improved over the course of the season. Since starting the season so poorly on the penalty kill (two of their first eight chances while down a skater), the Lightning have raised the penalty kill percentage to over seventy percent effective. On the powerplay, the Lightning have hovered around the twenty percent success rate all season and are currently at 21.6%. The bigger problem is that the team is generating less than three power play opportunities per game, limiting the team’s chances of scoring. A powerplay goal or two in a playoff game would really help.

The Lightning are hoping to break through and win their first ever division one playoff game. Doing so would place Upper Montgomery one upset win away from the state playoff tournament. It would be a step forward this season as the young Lightning roster progresses toward becoming a perennial power within the Montgomery Hockey Conference. A vision that is closer to reality than many people associated with high school hockey in the county believe. Is Upper Montgomery ready to announce its arrival as a force to be reckoned with? Or, will the season fizzle at the end leaving progress to be determined by how far the team can advance in the division two tournament later this month? Forty-five minutes of hockey Friday night will provide the answer with the Lightning faithful on hand to lend their support. Go Bolts!

Friday night’s clash between the Upper Montgomery Lightning and the BCC Barons brings with it high stakes. The winner of the game is almost assured of finishing in fifth place in the Montgomery Hockey Conference regular season rankings. Finishing fifth in the final rankings would bring a slightly easier second round playoff game should the winner advance past their opening round playoff game. Game time for Upper Montgomery’s senior night festivities is 10:00 pm at Cabin John Ice Rink. For the Lightning, it is a chance to bounce back from this past Friday’s disappointing showing against Richard Montgomery. It is also an opportunity to finish the regular season strong heading into the playoffs.

Earlier this season, the teams played to a 2-2 tie on Halloween. BCC needed a late pulled goalie six on four powerplay goal to even the score with less than a minute left and leave the contest with standings points. Revenge will certainly be on BCC’s mind in Friday’s rematch as BCC clearly believes that they are the superior team.

The netminding dual will be one to watch. Landon Bernard has played very well this season recording a 6-5-1 record with a very respectable 3.59 goals against average and an .861 save percentage. When the team plays strong defense in front of him, the Lightning are unbeaten. In games where the Lightning play a free flowing, offensive, and ‘pretty’ hockey game, the results have not been so positive. For BCC it will surely be Graham McGrath White playing goalie. McGrath White is 5-4-1 on the season and he has a stellar 2.88 goals against average and an .892 save percentage. McGrath White is a tall and athletic netminder who relies more on his athleticism and talent than positioning and technique. The Lightning will need to get traffic in front of him and take away his sightlines, making it difficult for McGrath White to track the shots.

On defense the Lightning will need to clog up the ice and make it a fight for every inch of space. There cannot be pinches at the blue line that miss. There cannot be Barons’ skaters winding up in their defensive zone and rushing up ice from end to end. The game must be played along the boards, tough and physical, with zone entries resulting in turnovers which push BCC back. When the Lightning play a more defensively sound and compact system through the neutral zone, the team plays better and limits the opposing team’s offensive chances. This stifling defensive hockey creates turnovers that lead to Upper Montgomery’s own odd skater offensive chances. Playing sound defensive hockey will be critical to stopping the Barons who are averaging 4.77 goals per game this season.

BCC’s defense is led by Graham LeBlanc, a senior who plays AA level travel hockey. LeBlanc has had a fine senior campaign with (11GP, 8G, 10A). He is joined on defense by juniors Johnny Brunn and Danny Loughlin, both smooth skaters. Experienced upperclass defenders, Jake Williams, Alex Elias, and Sebastian Harrison round out a solid core that has only allowed an average of 2.45 goals per game. The BCC defense is tall and difficult to move around because of their size and length.

On offense, the Lightning will be shorthanded as several student athletes will be missing the game at various external hockey team tournaments. The Upper Montgomery forward depth will be tested as several student athletes will need to pick up additional shifts that would normally be given to their missing teammates. The Lightning will need superior games from Chris Hassett (11GP, 9G, 15A), Nathan Cassel (9GP, 9G, 13A), George Benedick (10GP, 4G, 9A), Brandon Bernard (9GP, 8G, 2A), and Ethan Hockey (11GP, 3G, 7A). A big boost would be for Hunter Cameron to have a dominating game and provide an offensive spark.

BCC’s offense goes through its team leader, senior Henry Caldicott. Caldicott is having a wonderful senior season (12GP, 17G, 8A). He scored both of BCC’s goals against Upper Montgomery in the first meeting. His primary running mate Alexsander Talty (12GP, 11G, 14A) has posted gaudy offensive numbers as well. Collin Eccles, Matthew Duffy, and Hank Blumberg, all upperclass skaters, have provided balance for the Barons’ offense.

Special teams are an area where the Lightning have improved over the course of the season. Since starting the season so poorly on the penalty kill (two of their first eight chances while down a skater), the Lightning have raised the penalty kill percentage to 71.7% effective. On the powerplay, the Lightning have hovered around the twenty percent success rate all season and are currently at 21.2%. The bigger problem is that the team is generating less than three power play opportunities per game, limiting the team chances of scoring to either come back in a game or separate while playing with the lead.

The Lightning are hoping to close out a successful regular season with a win. A preview toward making a deep run in the postseason playoff tournaments??? A win against BCC would be the program’s first ever. There have been a lot of teams this season that have overlooked the Lightning. Upper Montgomery is ready to announce its arrival over the next month and a confidence boost would be a victory on senior night and the start of a new winning streak. Please join us as we celebrate and honor the five seniors who have helped marshal the team from a lower tier program to one knocking on the door of the historical dominating teams in the county; Lucas Eyman #40, Stephen Shkeda #55, Andrew Gean #8, Ethan Hockey #15, and team captain George Benedick #54.

The Upper Montgomery Lightning are poised to earn their first ever home playoff game in the upcoming Montgomery Hockey Conference season ending playoff tournament. Coming off the team’s biggest victory in program history, a 5-3 win against second ranked Quince Orchard, the stakes are even higher on Friday night against Richard Montgomery. Upper Montgomery will have to contend with a hostile environment as a large crowd is expected to be on hand to celebrate and honor the eight Richard Montgomery senior student athletes on senior night.

Riding a five game winning streak and having won six of their past seven games, the Upper Montgomery Lightning will need to manage expectations and respond appropriately. An almost full roster is expected to be present for the game, something that has occurred very infrequently this season. The game is extremely important as Richard Montgomery is the team ranked just behind the Lightning in the conference rankings. An Upper Montgomery win will solidify a top six seed in the conference playoff tournament, bringing a more favorable path to a potential spot in the state playoff tournament, something not thought possible just three short years ago.

Upper Montgomery’s leading scorer Chris Hassett (10GP, 9G, 14A) will have his regular linemates available; Nathan Cassel (8GP, 9G, 12A) and Philip Shkeda (10GP, 5G, 5A). The second line will likely be centered by Ryan Jacobson (7GP, 8G, 3A). The wing pairs for that line are likely to fluctuate throughout the game based upon matchups and the flow of the game. Expect Olivia Robbins (7GP, 5G, 4A), Brandon Bernard (8GP, 6G, 2A) and Hunter Cameron to see plenty of ice time. Bradley Cupples is likely going to slot in as the third line center with Stephen Shkeda and Henry Honacki.

Defensively, the team will have most of its core defenders available for the game against Richard Montgomery. George Benedick (9GP, 4G, 9A), Andrew Botti (8GP, 3G, 4A), and Ethan Hockey (10GP, 3G, 6A) will need to pay particular attention to Richard Montgomery’s premier and highly talented star student athletes. Benedick is coming off of what likely was his best overall game as a member of the program against Quince Orchard. Richard Montgomery has had no difficulties scoring on teams this season and it is incumbent upon the Lightning defenders to play a hard physical style to slow down the Rockets’ offensive rushes.

In goal, Landon Bernard will be looking to continue his string of strong performances. He has been a rock the past couple of weeks helping the team secure victory after victory. Similar to last season’s run to the junior varsity championship, when hot, Bernard has the ability to be a difference maker. Richard Montgomery will likely start senior netminder Ian Hutchinson. Hutchinson has been very good this season with a 4-0-1 record, a 2.70 goals against average, and a .902 save percentage. However, those wins and statistics have come against division two caliber teams. Will he be able to hold up against the Upper Montgomery attack?

Like last week when Upper Montgomery faced a team with arguably the best single ice hockey student athlete in the county, this week the Lightning square off against one of the two best defenders in the county in senior (18U AA) Luke Guttman. Guttman has scored 21 goals in nine games this season while adding twelve assists. He is literally a one person wrecking ball with three or more points in every game but one this season. He has five hat-tricks on the season. Guttman currently ranks number one in goals in the Maryland State Hockey League and his 33 points is tied for third.

Running right alongside Guttman is senior center Daniel Martella. Another 18U AA student athlete, Martella has had a fine senior season with (10GP, 14G, 9A). Second line center Tom Stone has had a breakout season. His play has elevated in his sophomore year, becoming the Rockets’ third leading scorer (9GP, 11G, 9A). This trio has produced 46 of Richard Montgomery’s 62 goals on the season. The Lightning must stay out of the penalty box at all costs. The Richard Montgomery powerplay has been awesome, clicking at a 44% success rate.

Controlling these three very talented student athletes is critically important to a Lightning victory. On defense, the Rockets have a very experienced shut down defender in Paulina Utochkin. Utochkin holds down the fort while Guttman rushes up ice creating odd skater opportunities. When Upper Montgomery has played a strong team defensive game, smothering the opponent and blocking shots, the Lightning have been successful. When the team tries to get involved in up and down flashy shootout style games, Upper Montgomery has lost in all four of those games.

The Lightning continue to pile up victories. After last week’s huge victory another challenge awaits in the Rockets. A win on Friday night would lock up a top six seed in the upcoming conference playoffs. The atmosphere in Rockville should be great. A full team effort for all 45 minutes will be necessary to snag yet another important victory. Upper Montgomery needs to play with a hunger, adhere to the little details, and win battles all over the ice to secure the win. Bring it home again this week Lightning and run the winning streak to six straight games and seven of the last eight. Go Bolts!

The Upper Montgomery Lightning junior varsity begins defense of their 2021 – 2022 season junior varsity championship on the road versus the third ranked Whitman Vikings. With the change in junior varsity eligibility rules for this season, the Upper Montgomery program knew that many of the younger student athletes would take on a more prominent role this season. After finishing the regular season with a 4-4-2 record, and 2-2-2 in conference play, the best description of the team’s regular season play would be categorized as streaky and uneven. Some good sprinkled in with some poor play, which is not surprising for a young squad. Now, the playoffs provide the team with an opportunity to redefine their season as something more.

Upper Montgomery enters the playoff matchup on Monday shorthanded. Both junior defender Sean Levine and sophomore team captain Josh Nadler will miss the game. Both student athletes will serving supplemental discipline issued by the Maryland Student Hockey League for their actions in the final regular season game against Carroll County. Levine is absent for coming to the aid of teammate Henry Honacki who had been sucker punched by a Carroll County skater. While Levine’s actions were not pugilistic in nature, his penalty carried an automatic one game suspension. Nadler will miss the Whitman game for engaging in a fight at the end of the Carroll County game. Should Upper Montgomery prevail, both student athletes would be eligible to return for the semifinal round of the junior varsity playoffs.

Several Lightning student athletes will receive significant ice time to offset the losses of Levine and Nadler. Expect sophomore center Henry Honacki and senior center Stephen Shkeda to skate every other shift down the middle. Honacki leads the team in scoring with (10 GP, 12G, 5A) coming off a program record five goal and six point game versus Carroll County. Shkeda (8GP, 2G, 4A) has played the most games in Upper Montgomery team history (74 and counting) heading into the game against Whitman. Over the past four years, Shkeda has played in almost every situation. His work ethic and enthusiasm provide necessary energy to the team. His leadership and attitude will be heavily replied upon in this game.

Sophomore TJ Gottesman (7GP, 4G, 9A), junior Adam Levine (10GP, 3G, 4A), and sophomore defender Cole Howerton (10GP, 2G, 4A) will need to be factors in the game for Upper Montgomery to be successful. The play of these three student athletes has improved over the second half of the season. Now they will be counted on to raise their level of play even more. In goal Landon Bernard will need to play exceptionally well for Upper Montgomery to pull the upset. Bernard has been excellent in goal over the past six weeks and is capable of stealing this game on his own. The Lightning needs to play very well defensively in front of him so that he is not faced with constant odd skater rushes against.

Whitman finished the junior varsity regular season with a 5-1-1 record, with their loss coming to top ranked Walter Johnson and their tie coming against Wootton. Upper Montgomery lost to Wootton 9-2 earlier in the season. Whitman is a stingy defensive team having given up only twelve goals in their five games. Expect Ryan Graf to backstop the Vikings in net. Graf has three shutouts already this season and has given up only one goal in four games. Defensively the Vikings are led by sophomore Mark Buckley and twin ninth graders Cooper Schultz and Will Schultz. With evenly distributed scoring, the Vikings are led offensively by Trevor Fay, Ben Lammers, Ben Luo, and Shane Churilla. Whitman has received additional depth scoring as well throughout the season.

Upper Montgomery will need to compete for a full 36 minutes on Monday evening. Facing a team that is very skilled and plays a suffocating defensive style, it will be hard for the Lightning to match up. Missing Levine and Nadler from the lineup makes the task even more difficult. The junior varsity playoffs are a one and done tournament. Upper Montgomery will need to claw and fight the entire game to remain competitive and give the team a chance to win down the stretch. A super performance from Bernard might just be enough to carry the Lightning into the semifinals.

Riding a four game winning streak and having won five of their past six games, the Upper Montgomery Lightning soar into Friday evening’s heavyweight matchup up against the second ranked Quince Orchard Cougars. This is a matchup that the team has been very much looking forward to as a gauge of just how much the team has improved. It will also be a litmus test to see if the Lightning can notch their first win in program history against a team ranked in the top five of the conference standings. However, victory will not come easy. Quince Orchard has had arguably the best season of any team in the Montgomery Hockey Conference. Quince Orchard enters Friday’s game undefeated with eight victories including impressive wins over BCC, Churchill, and Whitman in their last three games.

Throughout all of high school hockey this upcoming weekend is one very big unknown. Due to the holiday weekend, many external travel teams play in tournaments throughout the United States. Every high school program will have multiple varsity student athletes missing game action. The depth of each program will be tested as many teams will be promoting junior varsity student athletes to take part this weekend’s game competitions. Even though Upper Montgomery will be missing four critically important regular varsity participants, the Lightning will be able to field a full roster for the game against Quince Orchard. Who will Quince Orchard be missing??? Quince Orchard’s full roster of skaters consists of only twelve student athletes, and the team has one goaltender.

The outcome of the game may depend primarily on who is on the ice on Friday night. Even without full rosters, an Upper Montgomery win will seal home ice advantage in the first round of the Montgomery Hockey Conference playoffs. Expect the top end talent for both teams to receive an overabundance of ice time, more so than in previous games this season. Conditioning will definitely be a factor towards that latter portion of the game. That should provide Upper Montgomery’s co-leading scorer Chris Hassett (9GP, 8G, 13A) plenty of opportunity to play with several different forward combinations. The return of both Ryan Jacobson and Olivia Robbins to the lineup will help immensely as both student athletes play a strong two way game. Philip Shkeda and Brandon Bernard will be counted on to produce as they will likely see increased roles in the game. The contest will also provide an opportunity for Upper Montgomery’s depth forwards to impress the coaching staff and push for more playing time when the team is at full strength later this season. Defensively, the team will have most of its core defenders available for the game against Quince Orchard.

In goal, Landon Bernard will be looking to continue his string of strong performances. He has been hot the past couple of weeks giving up only six goals over his last four games, all victories. If available, Quince Orchard will start Jeremy Eager in net. Eager has played very well in a lot of games this season, but has had two uncharacteristic starts where he has given up six goals in both of those two games. His season stats are excellent, a 2.73 goals against average and an .889 save percentage. Bernard’s goals against average has decreased by over three goals per game since late October and is now an impressive 3.40. His save percentage continues to increase and is now up to a robust .860.

Quince Orchard has arguably the best single ice hockey student athlete in the county in Josh Weitzman. Weitzman leads all skaters in the county in points per game with 3.88 (8GP, 19G, 12A). He is second in goals in the county, and also third in total points in all of Maryland high school hockey. His running mate, Dylan Eyester (8GP, 14G, 16A) is right behind, fourth in total points in the state. Daniel Abarjel is the Cougars third leading scorer (8GP, 10G, 6A). This trio has produced in every game this season and it will be quite the challenge for Upper Montgomery to slow them down. When Upper Montgomery has played strong team defensive games, the Lightning have been successful in earning standings points in those six games. When the team has played substandard defense, the team has lost all four of those games.

Defensively, Quince Orchard has three very good stay at home defenders in Dylan Smith, Sydney Soler, and Braden Newell. All three play on AA or AAA external travel teams and all three student athletes are experienced juniors or seniors. Although they don’t put up a significant amount of points, their role is to protect Eager and let Weitzman and Eyester stir the pot offensively. Upper Montgomery will need to work very hard to penetrate the high scoring areas to get prime looks at the net.

The Lightning are piling up victories and are on a roll. A win on Friday night would be huge for the program. A victory over the Cougars would cement the team’s position as one of the top six teams in the Montgomery Hockey Conference. Hosting a first round playoff game would give the team the last line change and favorable line matchups. A full effort for all 45 minutes from every student athlete taking part in Friday’s game will be necessary to snag an important victory. Bring it home again this week Lightning and run the winning streak to five straight games and six of the last seven. Go Bolts!

The Upper Montgomery Lightning head into Friday’s rematch against Wootton feeling good about where the program is with four games left in the regular season. However, the 8-2 thrashing of the Patriots just prior to winter break should not deceive the team. Wootton was missing their three best skaters and their starting goalie. The team that Upper Montgomery will play on Friday night will be vastly different than the team Wootton put on the ice in the initial meeting before winter break.

The Lightning’s victory did end one long streak. In the previous fourteen years that the Montgomery Hockey Conference has existed, Upper Montgomery (or playing under the previous team name, Damascus, et al.) the program had never before beaten the Wootton Patriots. That streak is now finally over! Historically, one of the best programs in the Maryland Scholastic Hockey League, the Patriots have fallen off over the past two seasons. Presently, the Patriots are one spot behind Upper Montgomery in the conference standings. While the Patriots long to return to the years of being a powerhouse along-side the Churchill Bulldogs, Upper Montgomery is looking to continue the program’s rise into being viewed as a top tier program in the county.

Once again, Upper Montgomery’s leading scorers Nathan Cassel (7GP, 8G, 11A) and Chris Hassett (8GP, 7G, 11A) will need to carry the offensive load as the team will be without both Ryan Jacobson and Olivia Robbins. Both will be out-of-town with the external travel team. Jacobson scored a hat-trick in the first game against Wootton and Robbins scored the opening goal of the game. The Lightning’s depth scoring this season has been excellent and shows just how much the team has matured since last season. Fourteen different skaters have scored a goal this season with ten of those skaters having found the net multiple times. Playing against a higher level of competition this season the team is averaging 5.55 goals per game.

The defense has also become more active offensively. Senior George Benedick continues to outpace his production from all prior years combined (7GP, 3G, 7A). Ethan Hockey, Andrew Botti, and Brady Berkhammer each have at least six points. Together, in nine games, the team’s defense has contributed (9G and 23A).

In goal, Landon Bernard will be looking to continue his string of strong performances. He has been very good in goal the past couple of weeks at both the varsity and junior varsity levels. He stopped 19 of 21 shots against Wootton in the first game and has been hot lately giving up only four goals over his past three games. Wootton is likely to start Jack Munini this time around as former Lightning goalie Will Mellen started the game against Upper Montgomery before winter break. Although Mellen played well in net, he still surrendered seven goals. Both Wootton goalies have not played particularly well this season with both netminders having a goals against average over 5.00 and save percentages in the mid-.800s. Let’s hope that lack of success continues for at least one more week. Comparatively, Bernard has a goals against average of 3.56 and a save percentage of .856. For Bernard, his stats and play have gotten better and better as the season has progressed.

Wootton has some very talented student athletes in their program. The Patriots are led by a quartet of top-end skaters. Junior (16U AA) forward Grady Sellman leads the team is goals and points with (7GP, 8G, 3A). Speedy Conor Harris (18U AA) has (7GP, 3G, 4A). Junior IIhom Abdulaev, probably the Patriots most talented forward (16U AA) has (4GP, 3G, 3A), and has missed the past month due to an injury suffered early in the season. Abdulaev is expected back against the Lightning. Sam Hosier is an offensive minded defender. Hosier, a (16U AA) talent, has four goals in eight games.

Wootton is a very physical team that has taken far, far too many penalties this season. Upper Montgomery will need to refrain from retaliating against the Patriots and also must convert when the powerplay opportunities present. The Patriots are a young team and are weak defensively. Like in the first game, Upper Montgomery should be able to take advantage of the Patriots back line. Keeping Wootton off the scoreboard once again will be the key to victory.

The Lightning are starting to pile up victories and are on a bit of a roll. This second game against Wootton will go a long way toward determining if the Lightning will finish as one of the top eight seeds in the conference, which would then mean hosting a first round playoff game and having the last line change. The Lightning need to have the attitude of taking it right to the Patriots from the opening faceoff. The team needs to play with the lead and remove any doubt about who is the better team. A full effort for all 45 minutes will be necessary to snag the important victory. The Lightning need to get the win any way possible; high scoring, low scoring, it really does not matter. The only thing that is relevant is to win. Remain hungry, play with a swagger, and make other teams prove that they can beat you. Bring it home again this week Lightning and run the winning streak to four straight games and five of the last six!