Author: chucklevine

Junior Varsity DC Stars Game Preview

chucklevine Leave a comment

The Upper Montgomery Lightning face an uphill battle on Wednesday evening against the DC Stars. The team’s leading scorer and co-captain, forward Josh Nadler will miss the game serving his one game supplemental disciplinary action. The team’s standout goalie, Ilan Shterenberg will be returning from a school sponsored trip to New York. Emergency backup netminder Chris Hassett will be on standby in case there is a travel delay with Shterenberg getting back to the DC area. The team’s second leading scorer, TJ Gottesman will also miss the game. And, with illness traveling around the DC Metropolitan area, the number of available skaters could decrease further before puck drop.

If the Lightning should prevail on Wednesday evening, they will all but certain need just one more victory over their final two games to secure a bye in the opening round of the junior varsity playoffs. Receiving a top seed in the playoffs is certainly something to shoot for. It has been a welcome change this season for the Lightning junior varsity rebounding from last season’s 4-5-2 record to record wins in each of their first six games this season. There are two very winnable games upcoming on the schedule. With a deep playoff run, the team could threaten the junior varsity record for wins in a season, eight, set during the 2021 – 2022 junior varsity championship season (8-4-2 record).

The path to success for Upper Montgomery on Wednesday evening will be its trademark team defense, hustle, and playing ugly hockey. The team’s effort will need to be extraordinarily high as Nadler will not be available to skate the puck out of harm’s way. If the Lightning are able to lock down the Stars, they may be able to score just enough (one or two goals) to emerge victorious. The team is a perfect 18 for 18 on the penalty kill and that unprecedented success surely has helped in all of the close game Upper Montgomery has been a part of.

Ninth grade netminder Ilan Shterenberg began his high school career authoring two shutouts. He has followed up allowing only two goals against in each of the last four outings. He will be counted on to continue his strong play to give Upper Montgomery any chance at a victory over the Stars. Shterenberg’s statistics over his first six junior varsity games are an eye popping 1.36 goals against average and a .941 save percentage. A case can be made that Shterenberg, along with Nadler are two of the most valuable student athletes on the roster. In net for the DC Stars will be Gabriel Sokol. Sokol has had a very good start to the season as well and has a 2.14 goals against average and an .895 save percentage. If both netminders play up to their capabilities, scoring goals may be very difficult on Wednesday night. The goaltenders strong play coupled with the trouble each team has scoring goals, Upper Montgomery is averaging 3.5 goals per game and the DC Stars are averaging 2.6 goals per game, could make this a very low scoring affair.

Offensively, the Stars are led by forward Kai-Handy Kanegis who has three goals and an assist in five games. Harry Fishman and Nicholas Rosenberg have each scored twice. Usually, Upper Montgomery is led on offense by junior co-captain Josh Nadler. Nadler has scored in each of the team’s six games this season and has scored seven goals. However, he will be unavailable for the game. Also unavailable will be junior forward, TJ Gottesman. Gottesman has an uncanny ability to rack up points by being in the right place at the right time. His four goals and three assists will be missed. Junior Cole Howerton will likely play offense against the DC Stars. He has scored four goals and added two assists over the first six games of the season. Senior co-captain Adam Levine leads the Lightning with five assists in six games having set up Nadler multiple times on nice give and go passing plays and helping generate key goals off of faceoff wins. Howerton and Levine are likely to play on the same line on Wednesday as the team looks to generate offense without its top two points leaders.

On defense the Lightning will likely have a rotation of Avery Evans paired with Jake Roth and Patrick Sell paired with Miles Wendland. Anticipate that Behr Schickler will see time as both a defender and a forward during the game. Upper Montgomery will need to maintain its defensive focus throughout the entire game and not get caught up ice allowing the Stars to get into their transition offense and counterattack with odd skater rushes.

If the Lightning can control the faceoff dot and get clean zone exits, and if the team competes in the dirty areas across the ice the extra puck possession in the offensive zone may create additional scoring opportunities. Likewise, winning defensive zone draws will limit the DC Stars offensive zone time. Expect Adam Levine to take the majority of the high danger faceoffs especially if the game is close late. Levine, shifted to center by the coaching staff for the Urbana game, is coming off of winning 20 of 24 faceoffs against the Hawks and 11 of 19 faceoffs versus Richard Montgomery. The dominating performances have led directly to four Upper Montgomery goals including the last two game winning goals.

The Upper Montgomery junior varsity will be looking to extend their unbeaten record to seven with a victory over the Stars. It will not be easy playing without two key contributors. As has been the case all season long, Shterenberg will need to be a difference maker and stonewall the Stars. If he does, and if the team’s stout defense shows up, the Lightning can remain competitive deep into the game. Upper Montgomery has been terrific late in games preventing the opposition from scoring. The Lightning have given up only two third period goals all season while playing with slim leads in most games. Upper Montgomery has grown accustomed to playing in tight games, something that should be of benefit as the season winds down towards the playoffs. The stretch run continues for the junior varsity on Wednesday with a sprint towards the playoffs.

#Extend the Streak, #Our Time, #UML, #Bleed Green, #Go Bolts!

Lightning Junior Varsity’s Hot Streak Continues, Upper Montgomery Defeats Top Ranked Rockets

chucklevine Leave a comment

The Upper Montgomery Lightning junior varsity had something to prove on Friday evening. Although undefeated to start the season winning its first five games, the Lightning had not played an arduous schedule. That changed on Friday night facing the top ranked Richard Montgomery Rockets. Upper Montgomery played its style of hockey, and the complete team effort propelled the Lightning to a thrilling 3-2 victory. With the win, the Lightning need to win two of their final three games to secure a first round bye in the upcoming Montgomery Hockey Conference junior varsity playoffs. The victory also guarantees that the Lightning will finish the season with a winning record.

From the outset it was clear that the Rockets possessed the more talented individual skaters. Richard Montomery rushed the puck up ice and Upper Montgomery was forced to defend. This type of game is familiar for the Lightning junior varsity as they have come to rely on the strong goaltending of 9th grade netminder Ilan Shterenberg to backstop the team. Upper Montgomery’s defensive system of keeping play to the outside, chipping pucks out of the defensive zone, icing the puck to slow down play, and getting the puck to the center red line and dumping it into the zone has nullified the play of the opposition’s top skaters. Timely goal scoring has not hurt either.

With just over six minutes remaining in the first period, the Rockets would jump out in front. Richard Montgomery senior defender Jack Evans took control of the puck in neutral ice along the Lightning blue line. He entered the offensive zone on the left wing. When he reached the left faceoff circle, he fired a pass across the crease to a streaking Connor Myers who had slipped inside of the Lightning defense. Myers was ahead of the Upper Montgomery defense, and he tapped the puck in from the back post past Shterenberg who had to make sure that Evans did not unleash a shot on net.

A minute later the Lightning were forced to kill a roughing penalty to forward Jason Woodman. As they have all season long, the Upper Montgomery penalty killers did an outstanding job and prevented the Rockets from extending their lead. Sheterenberg was strong on the penalty kill making three saves while Richard Montgomery had the extra skater. The opening period concluded with Richard Montgomery outshooting the Lightning by a thirteen to five margin with Upper Montgomery never really testing Rockets goaltender Gregory Saffell.

The second period started similar to the first. Richard Montgomery controlling pace of play and Upper Montgomery defending and executing on the defensive side of the puck. Just over halfway through the period, Upper Montgomery broke through and tied up the game. Lightning junior co-captain Josh Nadler dumped the puck from neutral ice down into the left wing corner. The puck was played by Saffell behind his net. Lightning forward Aiden Zheng crashed in hard on the forecheck. Zheng swung his stick and smacked at the puck making contact. The puck ramped up the stick of the Richard Montgomery defender and popped into the air. The flight of the puck tumbled up over the back side of the cage, hit the netting on top of the goal, and caromed forward. The puck banked off Saffell’s back and landed across the goal line. It was a fortuitous flight path the puck took to settle into the back of the net. In Upper Montgomery’s case, it was par for the course as the ugly, gritty goal was right up its alley and fitting for its style of play. The second period ended tied with the Rockets firing eleven shots at Shterenberg and Upper Montgomery being credited with four shots on Saffell. The two period shots on goal total was 24-9 in favor of the Rockets and was a true indication of how the game was playing out.

The third period became fifteen minutes to determine the top of the conference standings. With the score tied at one, Upper Montgomery was in a very familiar position. A low scoring tight game in the third period. In five of the six games this season, the Lightning junior varsity have either been tied or in one goal games. The flow of the first half of the third period was similar to the opening two frames. Then, Upper Montgomery’s only rush sequence of the game broke the tie. At his own blue line, Lightning forward TJ Gottesman stopped the defensive zone exit pass. He knocked the puck over a few feet to Cole Howerton. Howerton exited the zone and then skated diagonally across the ice to the right wing boards entering the offensive zone. He carried the puck wide and skated around the Rockets defender. From the bottom of the right circle he sent a pass into the slot for Nadler. Nadler wasted no time sweeping a wrist shot from the low slot five hole on Saffell. The Lightning had battled all evening on the defensive side of the puck and now had the lead with eight minutes remaining in the game.

With just over five minutes left in the game, a key insurance goal would prove critical for Upper Montgomery. Off of a missed pass which caused a Richard Montgomery icing, the faceoff came back into the Rockets defensive zone. Adam Levine, who crushed Urbana in the faceoff dot leading to three Upper Montgomery goals last game, was at it again. He won the faceoff back behind him, but not deep enough for either Lightning defender to reach the puck. He fought off a Rockets defender and pushed the puck back to Behr Schickler at the right point. With the puck on its way to the point, Levine pivoted and headed toward the high slot area. Schickler’s slapshot was deflected by Levine out front at the inside edge of the right faceoff circle. The puck changed directions hitting into Gottesman’s skate and ricocheting past Saffell’s right leg pad. For Gottesman, it was what has become a regular refrain, being in the right spot at the right time to collect points. It was also Upper Montgomery’s fourth goal off of a faceoff play over the past two games.

The Lightning had five minutes to continue to stifle Richard Montgomery to walk out with the victory. It took only thirty seconds for the game to once again become a nailbiter. A failed clear by the Lightning defense was kept in at the right point by Evans. He skated down into the right corner stepping around the Upper Montgomery defender. His pass out front to the slot was blocked but bounced directly back to him. His second pass evaded the Lightning skaters and settled into the slot where high scoring forward Aaron Hwang shot from in front while being checked. The puck beat Shterenberg to close the score to 3-2 with just under five minutes remaining in the game.

Far from out of the woods, Upper Montgomery had to sweat through a difficult close to the game. First, Nadler and Rockets forward Edward Bernard got into a skirmish along the end boards behind the Lightning goal. The referees determined that both skaters engaged in a fight which disqualified each skater from the remainder of the game and automatically comes with a three game suspension under USA Hockey’s supplemental discipline system. After the game, league officials subsequently determined that the skirmish was not a fight, and the student athletes will only miss one additional game not three.

In addition to the fight, the referees called a fictitious cross checking penalty on Nadler. The Lightning were forced to kill a Rockets powerplay with 3:30 remaining in the game. Kudos to Levine, Zheng, Howerton, and defenders Miles Wendland, Jake Roth, Patrick Sell, and Avery Evans for clearing pucks, blocking shots, getting in shooting lanes which forced shots wide of the net, and getting the puck out of the zone. But, the job was still far from done. With 1:23 remaining in the game and an offensive zone faceoff, Richard Mongomery pulled Saffell their goalie creating a six on five skater advantage. The final minute of action was a scramble of action as Richard Montgomery controlled the puck in the Lightning defensive end sending shot attempt after shot attempt at Shterenberg to try and tie the score. Upper Montgomery did a terrific job not giving the Rockets any high danger chances and survived until a defensive zone clear with five seconds remaining sealed the victory for Upper Montgomery.

Up next for the Lightning junior varsity is going to be a tough game against an improved DC Stars squad. The Stars have a 3-2 record this season. The Stars play a low scoring grind it out type of game, a style similar to the Lightning’s. Upper Montgomery will be playing without its top goal scorer in Nadler and will need all of the student athletes to step up and contribute. It will likely be a low scoring affair, a game that Upper Montgomery needs to continue their undefeated season. As always, Shterenberg will need to make some huge saves, and the Lightning will have to commit to stopping the Stars with all five skaters playing with incredible effort and hockey IQ in order to defeat a well coached opponent. A win will keep the Lightning in striking distance of winning the Montgomery Hockey Conference regular season title.

Game Notes:

  • The victory over the Rockets was the junior varsity’s sixth consecutive victory to start the season.
  • Shots on goal for the game were lopsided in favor of Richard Montgomery, 37-13.
  • Josh Nadler scored for the sixth consecutive game. He has scored in each game this season and leads the Lightning junior varsity with seven goals.
  • Upper Montgomery went 2-2 on the penalty kill and remains a perfect 18-18 on the season.
  • Upper Montgomery did not have a powerplay opportunity in the game.
  • Nadler will be suspended for the Lightning’s next junior varsity game as he will serve a one game suspension as supplemental discipline for his fight at the end of the game.
  • The Lightning need to win two of their final three conference games to secure an opening round bye in the Montgomery Hockey Conference junior varsity playoffs.
  • The Upper Montgomery junior varsity returns to game action on Wednesday night, December 13th against the DC Stars. Game time is 8:00 pm at Wheaton Ice Rink.

Three Stars of the Game:

First Star—Ilan Shterenberg—Upper Montgomery Goalie—Win, 2 GAA, 35 Saves, .941 Save %
Second Star—Jack Evans—Richard Montgomery Defense—2 Assists
Third Star—Brody Evans—Richard Montgomery Defense

Varsity Churchill 2 Game Preview

chucklevine Leave a comment

The Upper Montgomery Lightning return to action on Friday evening against the Churchill Bulldogs Team Two. Game time is late night at Rockville Ice Arena, a 10:00 pm start. Unlike Monday’s game against Churchill’s main varsity team, an 8-0 Upper Montgomery defeat, the game against Churchill Two will be even more lopsided in the Lightning’s favor. Upper Montgomery should never be threatened in this contest.

The Bulldogs enter the contest ranked last in the county standings with an 0-6 record. They have scored ten goals in six games. Defensively, Churchill Two has given up 57 goals in six games, an average of 9.5 goals per game, and Churchill Two has mainly played against the bottom teams in the county standings. Quite simply, Churchill Two would be more appropriately rostered at the junior varsity level, and even then, several of the better junior varsity teams in the county would beat Churchill Two, Upper Montgomery included.

Friday’s game will be similar to a working scrimmage. Upper Montgomery will jump out front early in the game and will use the rest of the game to sharpen their play heading into next week’s important rematch against the Whitman Vikings. Expect the coaching staff to provide many student athletes who do not play significant minutes with lots of playing time.

An encouraging sign for the Lightning is that junior defender Andrew Botti is expected to make his first appearance this season. Botti’s return from a preseason injury that has kept him out of the Lightning’s first eight games should be a jolt of confidence for the team on the defensive side of the puck. His leadership and calming ability should settle down a defensive corps that has been underwhelming thus far over the first half of the season.

Churchill Two is led in scoring by Adam Klewans who has 5GP, 2G, 3A. No other Bulldog skater has more than three points. In goal for the Bulldogs will be either Nick Nelson who has a 7.36 goals against average and a .730 save percentage or Lucas Petrosyan who has a 13.20 goals against average and a .585 save percentage. Upper Montgomery is likely to play both goalies, Landon Bernard and Ilan Shterenberg in the game.

One area that needs to immediately improve is the Lightning’s powerplay, or lack thereof. Upper Montgomery remains 0 for the season, 0-20. The only ‘powerplay’ goal scored by the Lightning this season has been a converted penalty shot. The lack of success with the extra skater is unacceptable with the level of talent the Lightning have on the ice. Although there will likely be very few powerplay opportunities in this game, if the powerplay continues to falter, anticipate that the coaching staff is going to make changes. Several student athletes who do not normally receive powerplay time will get an opportunity.

Upper Montgomery needs to use this game as a springboard to go on a run over the second half of the season. Qualifying for the state playoffs is still a realistic goal for the program, but only if the student athletes come together as a team and play for each other.

#Start the Streak, #UML, #Bleed Green, #Go Bolts!

Varsity Churchill Game Preview

chucklevine Leave a comment

Fresh off their first win of the season over third ranked Walter Johnson, the Upper Montgomery Lightning finish the first half of the season schedule against perennial state champion Churchill on Monday evening at Cabin John Ice Rink. Puck drop is at 6:30 pm. The Bulldogs have won eight of the last ten Maryland high school ice hockey state championships. The two years that Churchill did not win the state title were last season when they lost in the championship game, and during the COVID health crisis when the Bulldogs were prevented from competing in the state playoffs. Monday’s game will be the first time that the teams have played since their epic Montgomery Hockey Conference quarterfinal matchup last winter. With the winner advancing to the state playoffs, Churchill outlasted the Lightning in a five round shootout by a three to two margin after a one all tie through regulation and overtime.

This year is no different for Churchill. The Bulldogs enter the contest ranked first in the county standings with a 6-0-1 conference record. The Churchill roster is stacked with high-end talent. The Bulldogs trot out a variety of AAA and AA external travel team level skaters. While Upper Montgomery will have very close to its full lineup for the game, keeping up in the game will still be a challenge. Unlike in last year’s playoff game, Churchill will not be overlooking the Lightning this season.

In this game, Upper Montgomery’s success will be defined by how well the team defends and clears the puck out of high danger zones. To be competitive, the Lightning will need to muck up the game and prevent Churchill’s speed from overpowering Upper Montgomery’s inexperienced defenders. Although Andrew Botti is close to returning for the Lightning, he is not yet cleared for participation. The lower scoring the game, and the uglier that the game looks visually, the more of an opportunity Upper Montgomery will have to pull off the massive upset. Last year’s tie in the playoff game before succumbing in the shootout was the first ever points Upper Montgomery has earned against Churchill. In fifteen seasons, the Lightning have never beaten the Bulldogs. The Lightning have also never beaten a team ranked number one. Last year’s victory over second ranked Quince Orchard is the team with the highest ranking that the Lightning have ever beaten.

On offense, the Lightning seem to have progressed from the beginning of the season. When close to the full team is in attendance, the Lightning have scored seven, five, and eight goals in their most recent three games. This is a far cry from the start of the season when goals were non-existent. Nathan Cassel continues to lead the team in points with 7GP, 4G, 10A. He is coming off of a three assist effort versus Walter Johnson. Chris Hassett’s production has ramped up over his last couple of games and he is now second on the team in scoring with 6GP, 5G, 8A. He is also coming off of a multi-point effort over the Wildcats with two goals and four assists. Hassett’s next assist will be a milestone, his 50th career varsity assist. Philip Shkeda is heating up having scored in four straight games. His two goals against the Wildcats helped propel the Lightning to victory. He is tied with Hassett for the team lead in goals with five.

Ryan Jacobson has scored four goals in five games, bouncing back and forth between centering the second line and playing defense. Henry Honacki has begun to get into the heavy traffic areas and his point totals have increased as a result. Honacki now has 7GP, 3G, 3A. Bradley Cupples chipped in with two goals against Walter Johnson and is clustered with Hunter Cameron and Brandon Bernard with two goals and several assists each. The depth scoring from the second and third lines which had been missing early in the season has really helped the Lightning’s offensive production improve. One area that has not improved has been the Lightning’s powerplay. It has been simply putrid. The stink has now reached 18 extra skater advantages to begin the season with no powerplay goals. The streak includes three different five on three extended powerplay chances. The team’s only ‘powerplay’ goal was a penalty shot converted by Cassel against Mount St. Joseph.

Defensively, and in goal, the team must be significantly better. Yes, the team has had to patch together the defensive pairings while working through the injury to Botti, but the defensive blunders have been plentiful and massive. Most of the miscues have led directly to key opposition goals against. The forwards need to do a better job on the backcheck and with breakouts, controlling the game with puck possession and management. The defense must be more physical and not allow the opposing forwards down low beneath them and the goal.

Churchill’s offensive output is led by 18U AA forward, Zachary Silver. Silver has tallied over and over this season. He has 8GP, 12G, 4A. Not too far behind has been Joshua Wong, with 8GP, 6G, 3A and 18U AAA forward Joshua Potenti, 5GP, 6G, 2A. Daniel McNelis has four goals in five games. He plays 16U AAA. Asher Wang, 18U AA leads the Bulldogs in assists. He has 8GP, 2G, 7A. On defense, Churchill has 9th grade 14U AA Alexander Bazyluk with six assists in eight games. Dalton Esko-Himmelfarb has 5GP, 1G, 3A. He plays with the Lightning’s Hunter Cameron on the Little Caps 18U AAA team.

In net for Upper Montgomery is expected to be Ilan Shterenberg. Shterenberg battled to his first career high school varsity victory last time out making enough saves to hold off Walter Johnson. As the team’s goaltending has been spotty this season, the coaching staff is looking for either Shterenberg or senior Landon Bernard to grab the reins on the top goaltender spot. Shterenberg has been lights out at the junior varsity level with six wins, two by shutout, a 1.36 goals against average, and a .941 save percentage. The step up in competition at the varsity level has impact his statistics. Not unexpected for a 9th grade student athlete. Landon Bernard played fantastic last year against Churchill in the playoffs. He stopped 34 of 35 shots and was critical to almost pulling off the greatest upset in the history of Maryland high school hockey. He was also outstanding last year in the opening round playoff game against St. Johns. This year has been a struggle. There have been stretches of nice play sprinkled in with goals that he wishes he had back. In net for Churchill is expected to be 16U AA Macallister Glazer. Glazer splits time with senior Cameron Shure, but receives the starts in goal when Churchill faces stronger competition. Glazer is 3-0-1 on the season with a 3.00 goals against average and a .867 save percentage.

Upper Montgomery desperately needs a good showing to begin moving back up the conference standings and rankings. The team started the season ranked with its highest ranking ever, fifth spot, and then promptly plummeted down the rankings to where it is currently, tenth. Finishing seventh or tenth is preferred rather than landing in eight or ninth spot and having to likely once again face Churchill in the quarterfinal round of the Montgomery Hockey Conference playoffs. The win over Walter Johnson was a step forward. Now the team needs to continue to ascend with a very good performance against a very tough opponent.

#UML, #Bleed Green, #Go Bolts!

Junior Varsity Richard Montgomery Game Preview

chucklevine Leave a comment

On Friday evening just before midnight, the Montgomery Hockey Conference junior varsity playoff seedings will begin to take shape. Even though only halfway through the season, Friday night’s prime time showdown, a show me game so to speak, between the Upper Montgomery Lightning and the Richard Montgomery Rockets will be enlightening. The 5-0 Lightning will play host to the 4-0 and top ranked Rockets. Game time is late, 10:00 pm at Cabin John Ice Rink. Upper Montgomery will need a superior team effort to come out victorious as the strength of the teams the Lightning have beaten to date are not of the caliber of the high flying Rockets. The team defense and Ilan Shterenberg’s goaltending will need to be incredibly sharp, and the forwards will need to provide much more offense than has been generated thus far to propel Upper Montgomery to victory.

Ninth grade netminder Ilan Shterenberg began his high school career authoring two shutouts. He has followed up allowing only two goals against in each of the last three outings. He will be counted on to continue his strong play to give Upper Montgomery a punchers chance at the upset. Shterenberg’s statistics over his first five junior varsity games are an eye popping 1.23 goals against average and a .939 save percentage. Shterenberg will be tested as most of the Richard Montomery junior varsity skaters also play for the Rockets’ varsity squad. In net for Richard Montgomery will be Gregory Saffell. Saffell also has outstanding statistics in the three games he has played, with a 1.07 goals against average and a .941 save percentage. He also has two shutouts this season, against Rockville and the DC Stars. If both netminders play up to their capabilities, scoring goals may be very difficult on Friday night.

Offensively, Richard Montgomery has run through both Churchill and Rockville scoring 21 of their 26 goals in those two games. The Rockets are led by senior forward Jack Evans who has nine goals in three games and 9th grade forward Aaron Hwang who has scored eight goals in four games. Against better competition the Rockets have been held to four goals against BCC and only one goal in their shutout win over the DC Stars. Richard Montgomery has received evenly distributed offensive production from the rest of their lineup with eight other skaters having scored between five and three points each. Upper Montgomery is led on offense by junior co-captain Josh Nadler. Nadler has scored in each of the team’s five games this season and has scored six goals. Junior Cole Howerton has scored four goals over the first five games of the season playing mostly on defense. Junior TJ Gottesman has chipped in with five points on three goals and two assists. Senior Sean Levine has four points. Senior co-captain Adam Levine leads the Lightning with four assists having set up Nadler multiple times on nice give and go passing plays. Against Urbana in the Lightning’s most recent game, the defense chipped in nicely, Miles Wendland scored, and Avery Evans had two assists.

On defense the Lightning’s experienced defenders are beginning to jell. Senior Jake Roth will see extensive action likely paired with Patrick Sell. Ninth grade defenders Miles Wendland and Avery Evans have played together for much of the season. Both have bright futures with the program. Depending upon game flow, Behr Schicker should cycle through the defensive pairings. With the return of AJ Marks to the lineup, Cole Howerton may drop back and play the entire game on defense. Upper Montgomery will need to maintain its defensive focus throughout the entire game to stay competitive versus the Rockets.

If the Lightning can control the faceoff dot similar to how they dominated Urbana, the extra puck possession in the offensive zone may create additional scoring opportunities. Likewise, winning defensive zone draws will limit Richard Montgomery’s offensive zone time. Expect Adam Levine to take the majority of the high danger faceoffs especially if the game is close late. Levine, shifted to center by the coaching staff for the Urbana game, is coming off of winning 20 of 24 faceoffs against the Hawks. It was a dominating performance that led directly to three Upper Montgomery goals and nullified the Hawks’ two separate two skater powerplay advantages.

The Upper Montgomery junior varsity will be looking to extend their unbeaten record to six with a victory over the Rockets. It will not be easy when two of the three marquee teams in the Montgomery Hockey Conference battle it out on Friday night. The victor will all but guarantee a spot in the top three seeds for next month’s Montgomery Hockey Conference’s junior varsity playoffs. The loser will still have an opportunity at finishing in the top three in the standings but will need to accrue more wins over the second half of the season. Shterenberg will need to be a difference maker and stonewall the Rockets. If he does, and if the team’s stout defense shows up, the Lightning can remain competitive deep into the game. Upper Montgomery has been terrific late in games preventing the opposition from scoring. The Lightning have given up only one third period goal all season. Playing with a slim lead for the majority of its games, Upper Montgomery has grown accustomed to playing in tight games, something that should be of benefit as the season winds towards the playoffs. The stretch run begins on Friday with a sprint towards the playoffs.

#Show Me, #Our Time, #UML, #Bleed Green, #Go Bolts!

Lightning Junior Varsity Wins Again, Flys Past Hawks

chucklevine Leave a comment

The Upper Montgomery Lightning junior varsity ran its record to an undefeated 5-0 on the season with a 4-2 non-conference victory over the Urbana Hawks Monday afternoon at Skate Frederick. Both Upper Montgomery and Urbana played with short benches due to injuries and the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday. But, Upper Montgomery used excellent goaltending from Ilan Shterenberg, dominance in the faceoff circle led by Adam Levine, and complementary team play to defeat an Urbana squad that had some talented skaters, but did not play as a team. The Lightning responded to their poor effort against Rockville in their last game and played with much more effort and determination against Urbana. Upper Montgomery now has five junior varsity victories this season, one more than the team’s total of four victories all of last season.

The start of the game was choppy with lots of whistles and stoppages of play. There was an extended delay as the referees handed out ten misconduct penalties to the Hawks Dimitri Kolmakov and Nico Brown for failure to wear mouthguards. The Lightning’s own Shterenberg was also caught without a mouthguard towards the end of the first period forcing Aiden Zheng to serve ten minutes in the penalty box and miss game action as a result. With only eight skaters, losing Kolmakov and Brown significantly impacted the Hawks not only in the first period but as the game wore on as most of their skaters were gassed having to play almost the entire first period.

Upper Montgomery would open the scoring on a nice shot by Cole Howerton. Howerton, typically a defender, played the first half of the game at forward. Lightning defender Avery Evans broke up an oncoming Urbana rush just inside the Upper Montgomery defensive blue line. She passed the puck up ice into space. Howerton rushed up to the puck collecting it at the offensive blue line near the left wing boards. He skated into the offensive zone to the top of the left faceoff circle before letting loose with a sizzling wrist shot that went far side high above the glove hand of Hawks goaltender Chloe Hanson. For Evans, the assist was her first career high school point. For Howerton, it was his fourth goal in five games this season.

Unfortunately for the Lightning, they held the lead for only nine seconds. After a tie up at center ice off the faceoff, Urbana defender Nathan Gu found the loose puck in several skaters’ feet. He skated up ice along the right wing. As he entered the Lightning defensive zone, Gu cut diagonally through the top of the right faceoff circle into the slot. His speed allowed him to beat the Upper Montgomery defense to create a high danger shot. His wrist shot went five hole, between Shterenberg’s legs to even the score at one.

On the first shift of the second period, the Hawks would briefly take the lead. After a routine save by Shterenberg, a scramble ensued in the slot. The puck was pushed into the right corner by the Lightning defense. Kolmakov got to the puck first. He sent a quick backhand pass back towards the top of the inside of the right faceoff circle. The pass went straight to Hawks forward and leading scorer Patrick Terrebonne. Terrebonne’s shot through a screen went low stick side past Shterenberg to put Urbana up two to one.

Similar to the first period, on the next shift Upper Montgomery would immediately answer. After an Urbana icing, the faceoff came back into the Hawks defensive zone. The draw was in the right faceoff circle. Levine won the draw cleanly and directly left to Upper Montgomery’s leading scorer Josh Nadler positioned in the slot. In one motion, Nadler slapped the oncoming puck far side past Hanson’s right leg pad to even the score at two.

Halfway through the second period the Lightning got themselves into trouble with penalties. First, TJ Gottesman was called for roughing. While shorthanded, the Lightning controlled the puck aided by faceoff win after faceoff win by Levine. Urbana did not control the puck in the defensive zone as the Lightning were able to ice the puck after each faceoff win and prevent zone entries thereafter. While killing off Gottesman’s penalty, Nadler was also called for roughing. His penalty put the Lightning down two skaters for 38 seconds. Levine continued to win each faceoff aided by Jake Roth’s and Howerton’s sure handed clears icing the puck deep into the Hawks zone. Showing his displeasure with the penalty called against him, Nadler was given a ten minute misconduct penalty. The Lightning’s leading scorer would be off the ice for twelve minutes in a tied game where the Lightning only had five forwards available.

With eight seconds left in the second period, the Hawks Nico Brown was called for a questionable slashing penalty. Upper Montgomery would begin the third period on the powerplay with a chance to re-take the lead. Although Urbana outshot the Lightning by a wide fifteen to five margin in the second period, after Terrebonne’s goal Upper Montgomery did a good job controlling the majority of the period and limiting the Hawks shots to non-threatening chances from distance.

Starting the third period on the powerplay, Upper Montgomery would quickly capitalize. Levine again won a faceoff in the right faceoff circle. He went 20 and 4 on faceoffs for the game. The clean faceoff win went to Howerton at the right point. Howerton’s shot was blocked in the slot and fell directly to Gottesman. Gottesman shot wide near side with the puck caroming around all the way to Evans at the left point. Evans’ sweeping shot was also blocked in front. The puck landed next to Levine who quickly fired from the bottom of the left circle. Hanson made an excellent pad save on the shot but could not control the rebound. The puck shot straight into the slot to Gottesman who easily swept the puck into the wide open portion of the net past Hanson’s left leg pad. The Lightning now had the lead three to two.

With nine minutes remaining in the game Upper Montgomery’s fourth goal provided some breathing room. Levine won the draw in the defensive zone. Aiden Zheng skated the puck down the ice into the offensive zone and into the right faceoff circle where he pulled up and fired a wrist shot wide of the net short side. The puck was controlled by the Hawks defense behind the net when Upper Montgomery forward Sean Levine crashed in on the forecheck. Levine stole the puck and circled the puck around the boards to Lightning defender Miles Wendland at the left point. Wendland’s wrist shot from just at the blue line of the left point went past Adam Levine in the slot screening Hanson and changed directions. Hanson never saw the puck as she did not move until the puck skittered past her far side beneath her glove. For Wendland, it was his first career high school goal.

Over the next five minutes of action Upper Montgomery defended and chipped pucks out of the zone, knocked pucks away from the Hawks, packed a defensive shell around Shterenberg, and when they could, exited the zone to the red line and dumped the puck in deep into the Urbana zone. This strategy forced the Hawks to expend a lot of energy to go the length of the ice while they were tired to generate offensive chances. It looked like Urbana was in slow motion skating up ice.

The game plan changed when another horrible officiating call put the Lightning on the penalty kill with 3:22 left in the game. Lightning defender Patrick Sell was called for high sticking when he pushed over a Hawks forward. His stick never was raised above his waist. Urbana pulled Hanson to add an additional skater making the powerplay a six on four skater advantage. The Upper Montgomery coaching staff kept Levine and Nadler on the ice for the entire penalty kill and until the next whistle. It was a two minute and twenty second shift in which Levine won all three defensive zone faceoffs and the Lightning kept the Hawks to the perimeter, blocked shots, forced shots wide of the net, and were able to clear the defensive zone to center ice on three separate occasions. It never felt as if Urbana was on the verge of cutting into the deficit. Another minute of action where Upper Montgomery defended and Shtereberg made a few saves allowing the Lightning to hold on for victory number five.

Up next for the Lightning junior varsity is a show me game against the top junior varsity team in the Motgomery Hockey Conference, the Richard Montgomery Rockets. It will be a battle of two undefeated teams. The Rockets are 4-0 on the season and have given up only four goals while scoring an eye popping 25 goals. Upper Montgomery will need to play superior team defense just to hang around and make it a close game to remain undefeated. Richard Montgomery will be the best team the Lightning junior varsity will play during the regular season. Many of the Rockets junior varsity student athletes receive regular playing time on Richard Montgomery’s varsity team. Shterenberg will need to make some huge saves, and the Lightning will have to commit to stopping the Rockets with all five skaters playing incredible team defense in order to win and vault to the top of the conference standings.

Game Notes:

  • The victory over the Hawks was the junior varsity’s fifth consecutive victory to start the season.
  • Shots on goal for the game were lopsided in favor of Urbana, 32-18.
  • Josh Nadler scored for the fifth consecutive game. He has scored in each game this season and leads the Lightning junior varsity with six goals.
  • Upper Montgomery went 3-3 on the penalty kill and remains a perfect 16-16 on the season.
  • Upper Montgomery scored a powerplay goal for the third consecutive game (on their only opportunity) and is now 3-14 on the season, 21.4%.
  • The Upper Montgomery junior varsity returns to game action on Friday night, December 1st against the top junior varsity program in the Montgomery Hockey Conference. Game time is late night, a 10:00 pm start against the Richard Montgomery Rockets at Cabin John Ice Rink.

Three Stars of the Game:

First Star—Ilan Shterenberg—Upper Montgomery Goalie—Win, 2 GAA, 30 Saves, .938 Save %
Second Star—Adam Levine—Upper Montgomery Center—2 Assists, 4 Blocked Shots, 20-4 on Faceoffs
Third Star—Nathan Gu—Urbana Defense—1 Goal

Lightning Strike Blog–November 2023

chucklevine Leave a comment

The start of the 2023 – 2024 high school ice hockey season has been one to forget for the Upper Montgomery Lightning varsity squad and pleasantly surprising for the Lightning junior varsity squad. The Upper Montgomery program had very high expectations for this season after the conclusion to last year and with so many highly talented student athletes returning. Unfortunately, qualifying for the state playoffs for the first time in program history seems like a distant vision unless the team comes together, plays as a team, and goes on an epic run. There has been too much individual play, too much worrying about everything but winning, and the team’s performance has suffered as a result.

The Lightning varsity squad sits winless at 0-6 on the season. There have been some stretches of good play, but overall, the only consistency to the season has been the limited amount of student athletes available each game due to external travel team commitments and Andrew Botti’s injury. Upper Montgomery has had its full complement of offensive forward lines for only two games this season. Being able to run three full lines allows the student athletes sufficient rest to compete hard over the entire game. Not surprisingly then, the third periods have been Upper Montgomery’s downfall with the team having a minus twelve goal differential in the final period over the first six games of the season.

Three troubling trends have developed over the first portion of the season. One, a lack of goal scoring. This seems to have been rectified in two of the past three games, a 9-7 loss to Sherwood and a 7-5 loss to Mount St. Joseph. The second issue is the poor finishes mentioned above. Not having a full roster has placed a burden on the student athletes present at each game and they have run out of steam deep into the games. The third issue and the most glaring have been the defensive breakdowns. This may be a result of the top skaters having to play excessive minutes each game as the team has played with a short bench throughout the season. It may be playing without top defender Andrew Botti for the entire season. It may be that the defensive skaters have just not been good enough. It is no secret that the top teams in the county prevent goals. A look at the standings this season as well as last season show a dramatic difference in all teams’ records when giving up three or fewer goals in a game. Quite simply, the Upper Montgomery defensive lapses and breakdowns have been awful and are the leading contributor to the 0-6 start.

Upper Montgomery’s offensive success can be defined by how well the offensive leaders of the team perform. Nathan Cassel leads the team with 6GP, 4G, 6A. He is coming off of a three point effort versus Mount St. Joseph, including converting on a penalty shot goal. Chris Hassett’s production has led the Lightning program for the past two seasons, and he is once again contributing. He is second on the team in scoring with 5GP, 3G, 4A. Ryan Jacobson has scored three goals in four games, bouncing back and forth between centering the second line and playing defense. Philip Shkeda is heating up having scored in three straight games. The difficulty for the Lightning has been getting the offense going especially against the top teams in the conference, scoring twice against Whitman, once against the DC Stars, and twice against BCC. Depth scoring from the second and third lines has been very limited with many of the team’s forwards either underperforming or having all of their scoring centralized in the Sherwood game. Consistent depth scoring would dramatically advance the Lightning’s chances over the second half of the season.

Defensively, and in goal, the team must be significantly better. Yes, the team has had to patch together the defensive pairings while working through the injury to Botti, but the defensive blunders have been plentiful and massive. Most of the miscues have led directly to key opposition goals against. The forwards need to do a better job on the backcheck and with breakouts, controlling the game with puck possession and puck management. The defense must be more physical and not allow the opposing forwards down low beneath them with unobstructed looks at the goal.

If the poor performances do not change quickly expect the coaching staff to provide more playing time to the younger student athletes that have thus far historically played the majority of their high school hockey career at the junior varsity level. When the back half of the varsity schedule flips and the Lightning are facing less talented opposition, the lower portion of the roster will be more capable of receiving playing time and will push the top skaters for playing time. While the depth of the Lightning’s roster should have been able to handle one or two student athletes missing a game here or there, the team has not stepped up and performed.

In net for Upper Montgomery Landon Bernard has had stretches of nice play this season sprinkled in with goals that he wishes he had back. The team knows what Bernard is capable of with last season’s playoff performance as a benchmark of how good he can play. The Lightning will need to see more of that shut down goaltending to have a successful back half of the season.

Going into the season, the junior varsity was expected to be better than last year with the team needing 9th grade goaltender Ilan Shterenberg to be a difference maker in net. The junior varsity games were expected to be lower scoring as the team used its defensive strength to focus on preventing the opposition from scoring. This is exactly how the season has played out. Shterenberg has played very well for the junior varsity this season having won all four of his starts and having posted two shutouts to begin his high school career. His season statistics are a .940 save percentage and a 1.03 goals against average. In limited action last week against Mount St. Joseph at the varsity level he stopped 16 of 18 shots on goal. Anticipate Shterenberg seeing additional varsity game action as the coaching staff gets him experience as preparation for next season. His play in net will ultimately determine how successful the team is and how far the Lightning junior varsity advances in the junior varsity county playoffs. He has the talent and ability to steal any game by himself.

The core reason for the junior varsity’s 4-0 undefeated start to the season has been the team’s leadership and team defensive play. Unlike what may be occurring with the varsity, the junior varsity is not worried about who scores and how the game looks visually. The junior varsity has worked hard each game and has focused on defense only giving up four goals over the first four games of the season. The penalty kill has been a perfect 13-13 on the season including a couple of long 5-3 kills.

Offensively, the coaching staff knew it would be a mixed bag. Some games it was anticipated that the squad would generate offensive much more capably than last season. Other games, it was thought to still be extremely difficult to mount much of an attack. This is because the team has no one individual skater that can take over a game by themselves and propel the team to victory. It was going to be more of a success by committee approach and that is what has played out.

Josh Nadler has led the way scoring in each of the first four games of the season. He leads the team with five goals. Cole Howerton has scored three goals in the first four games of the season. TJ Gottesman also has four points on two goals and two assists. Sean Levine has three points, and the depth scoring has started to come through. AJ Marks and Aiden Zheng have played better over the past couple of games, and both have two points. Adam Levine has chipped in with two assists, both on nice passing plays with Nadler finishing on each occasion. The offense has been just enough with the team averaging 3.5 goals per game.

Defensively, the Lightning’s experience and team defense has stood out. Jake Roth, Cole Howerton, Patrick Sell, Miles Wendland, Avery Evans, and Behr Schickler have limited the opposition’s quality scoring chances. When breakdowns occur, the forwards have been in position defensively to clear the danger areas and get pucks out of the defensive zone. The combination has allowed the Lightning to play with the lead or tied for all but 8:30 of game actions this season. The maximum effort displayed so far and the commitment to each other combined with the stellar defensive play must continue for the team to reach its goals. It’s been a nice start, but the middle of the season needs to be strong against stronger competition to position the squad well for the season ending conference playoffs.

#Our Time, #UML, #Bleed Green, #Go Bolts!

Varsity Walter Johnson Game Preview

chucklevine Leave a comment

The Upper Montgomery Lightning face off on Tuesday afternoon against last year’s state champion, the Walter Johnson Wildcats. Although this year’s Wildcats are not as loaded as last year’s squad, they remain a formidable opponent, ranked third in the county standings and rankings. The Wildcats enter the contest with a 3-1-1 record, having tied top ranked Churchill in their most recent game action. Game time for Tuesday’s matinee is early, a 3:15 pm start at Rockville Ice Arena. The Lightning have gotten off to an incredibly disappointing start to the season, and will be looking to spring the upset.

Upper Montgomery will have very close to its full lineup for the game. It will be only the third time this season that the team will likely dress a full complement of forwards. Being able to run three full lines should allow the student athletes sufficient rest to compete hard over the entire game. The third periods have been Upper Montgomery’s downfall with the team having a minus twelve goal differential in the final period over the first six games of the season.

Three troubling trends have developed over the first portion of the season. One, a lack of goal scoring. This seems to have been rectified in two of the past three games, a 9-7 loss to Sherwood and a 7-5 loss to Mount St. Joseph. The second issue is the poor finishes mentioned above. Not having a full roster has placed a burden on the student athletes present at each game and they have run out of steam deep into the games. The third issue and the most glaring has been the defensive breakdowns. This may be a result of the top skaters having to play excessive minutes each game as the team has played with a short bench throughout the season. It may be playing without top defender Andrew Botti for the entire season. It may be that the defensive skaters have just not been good enough. It is no secret that the top teams in the county prevent goals. A look at the standings this season as well as last season show a dramatic difference in all teams’ records when giving up three or fewer goals in a game.

Upper Montgomery’s success will be defined by how well the offensive leaders of the team perform. Nathan Cassel leads the team with 6GP, 4G, 6A. He is coming off of a three point effort versus Mount St. Joseph, including converting on a penalty shot goal. Chris Hassett’s production has led the Lightning program for the past two seasons, and he is once again contributing. He is second on the team in scoring with 5GP, 3G, 4A. Ryan Jacobson has scored three goals in four games, bouncing back and forth between centering the second line and playing defense. Philip Shkeda is heating up having scored in three straight games. The difficulty for the Lightning has been getting the offense going especially against the top teams in the conference, scoring twice against Whitman, once against the DC Stars, and twice against BCC. Depth scoring from the second and third lines has been missing with many of the team’s forwards either underproducing or having all of their scoring centralized in the Sherwood game. Consistent depth scoring would dramatically advance the Lightning’s chances over the second half of the season.

Defensively, and in goal, the team must be significantly better. Yes, the team has had to patch together the defensive pairings while working through the injury to Botti, but the defensive blunders have been plentiful and massive. Most of the miscues have led directly to key opposition goals against. The forwards need to do a better job on the backcheck and with breakouts, controlling the game with puck possession and management. The defense must be more physical and not allow the opposing forwards down low beneath them and the goal.

Walter Johnson’s offensive output has been evenly distributed, led by its external travel team student athletes. 18U AAA forward Brendan Klotz who plays on the same external travel team as the Lightning’s Hunter Cameron has 5GP, 4G, 5A. Henry Horwell who plays on the same external travel team as the Lightning’s Henry Honacki has 5GP, 4G, 2A. Adam Pyott who plays 18U AA has five goals in five games. The Walter Johnson defense has also gotten in on the scoring led by Patrick Murphy who plays on the same 18U AA team as Brandon and Landon Bernard with 4GP, 3G, 1A, and Liam Mannle 16U AA who has 5GP, 3G, 1A. Ruslan Titov has 5GP, 1G, 3A and senior team leader 18U AA Jonathan Corwin has two goals in four games.

In net for Upper Montgomery is expected to be Landon Bernard. Bernard has had stretches of nice play this season sprinkled in with goals that he wishes he had back. Knowing so many of the Wildcat student athletes, he will be motivated to play well and stonewall Walter Johnson. Bernard will be backed up by 9th grade netminder Ilan Shterenberg. Shterenberg has played very well for the junior varsity this season having won all four starts and having posted two shutouts to begin his high school career. His season statistics are a .940 save percentage and a 1.03 goals against average. In limited action last week against Mount St. Joseph he stopped 16 of 18 shots on goal. If the game gets out of hand, anticipate Shterenberg will see additional game action as the coaching staff gets him experience at the varsity level as preparation for next season. In net for Walter Johnson is expected to be Isaac Russ. Russ has played in the majority of the games for the Wildcats this season and has posted respectable statistics, a 3.11 goals against average and an .860 save percentage.

Upper Montgomery is in desperate need of playing well and getting a much needed first win of the season on Tuesday. A win over Walter Johnson would be the first in program history and a terrific way to jump start the season. Up next after Walter Johnson and the Thanksgiving break is top ranked Churchill before the schedule lightens up over the second half of the league season.

#UML, #Bleed Green, #Go Bolts!

Junior Varsity Urbana Game Preview

chucklevine Leave a comment

The Upper Montgomery Lightning junior varsity will bring its undefeated 4-0 record into Monday afternoon’s non-conference tilt with Urbana. Game time is 4:00 pm at Skate Frederick. The Lightning will have a short bench for the matchup due to injuries and medical situations and will need a superior effort and teamwork to come out victorious. The defense and Ilan Shterenberg’s goaltending will need to be sharp, and the forwards will need to provide much more offense than has been generated thus far to propel Upper Montgomery to victory once again. After its most recent tepid performance in a win over winless Rockville, the Lightning will need to demonstrate that they can handle success by playing a complete game.

Ninth grade netminder Ilan Shterenberg has authored two shutouts over his first four career games, all victories, and he will be looking to continue his strong play. Shterenberg’s statistics over the first four games of the season are an eye popping 1.03 goals against average and a .940 save percentage. Shterenberg’s composure was tested against Rockville and he bounced back from a poor period of play to settle in and shutout the Rams in the second and third periods. In net for Urbana is expected to be Chloe Hanson. She stopped 28 of 33 shots in her only game of the season against Fredreick County.

If Upper Montgomery brings the effort and hustle displayed in their wins against Whitman and BCC, the team should be in good shape. Offensively for the Lightning, Josh Nadler has led the way scoring in each of the first four games of the season. He leads the team with five goals. Cole Howerton has scored three goals in the first four games of the season. TJ Gottesman also has four points on two goals and two assists. Sean Levine has three points, and the depth scoring has started to come through. For the Hawks, Patrick Terrebonne scored both of the Urbana goals against Frederick County.

On defense the Lightning’s experienced defenders are beginning to jell. Senior Jake Roth will see extensive action likely paired with Patrick Sell. Ninth grade defenders Miles Wendland and Avery Evans have played together extensively and have bright futures with the program. Evans has played well in her first two games against BCC and Rockville. Wendland is playing in all game situations, and he has already been a frequent call up to play in varsity games this season.

Upper Montgomery will need to maintain focus throughout the entire game to put away the Hawks. This is something the team did not do very well against Northwest/Quince Orchard and Rockville earlier this season. Every game is an opportunity to shine and impress the coaching staff. Junior varsity student athletes need to demonstrate that they deserve additional ice time and call ups to participate in varsity game competition. Thus, each game, each shift, the student athletes need to play within the system and gain the coaching staff’s trust that they can contribute at the next level. With a limited roster for Monday’s game, all students will receive a ton of ice time.

The Upper Montgomery junior varsity will be looking to extend their unbeaten record to five with a victory over the Hawks. The Lightning will need to take charge early and grasp the momentum. Then, the team will need to continue playing a complete game to finish off what looks to be an inferior opponent. Shterenberg will need to remain sharp and make big saves if called upon. If the Lightning wait around and play a loose style of hockey, like they did against the Rams, the game against Urbana will be closer than it should be.

#Our Time, #UML, #Bleed Green, #Go Bolts!

Lightning Junior Varsity Downs Rams Remains Undefeated

chucklevine Leave a comment

The Upper Montgomery Lightning junior varsity ran its record to an undefeated 4-0 on the season with a 4-2 non-conference victory over the Rockville Rams Wednesday afternoon at Cabin John Ice Rink. While pleased with the victory, the junior varsity played down to the level of the Rams. The game against the winless Rams wound up being more evenly matched than anticipated before Upper Montgomery’s superior talent eventually delivered the victory. It is a theme that has developed early in the season, against the better competition the Lightning have responded and have competed hard and played well. Against lesser competition, the team has lacked the intensity necessary to control the games and win easily. The four victories equal the team’s total wins from the entirety of last season.

The game got off to an inauspicious start. Less than a minute into the game the Rams jumped to an early lead. Rams center Rowen Pierson collected the puck in his defensive zone. He raced up ice and went wide where he was shut off by the Lightning defense. Pierson was forced to carry the puck behind the net where he passed the puck in front to Ryan Hurley. Hurley got twisted up and fell down, but was able to poke the puck over to Rams defender Adam Salomon. Salomon batted a shot high stick side over a partially screened and unsuspecting Lightning netminder Ilan Shterenberg.

On the next shift, an innocent hockey play resulted in an injury to Upper Montgomery 9th grade forward Jackson Schickler. Rams forward Charles Sickel and Schickler bumped into each other a second after the puck went past. Schickler fell awkwardly and remained down on the ice. He will likely be out long-term with a lower body injury. The referees deemed the contact late and issued an interference penalty to Sickel. Upper Montgomery failed to score on the first half of the powerplay opportunity which was then cut short when Lightning forward Jason Woodman was called for tripping, negating the last minute of the Upper Montgomery skater advantage.

While killing Woodman’s penalty, Lightning center Josh Nadler was called for roughing giving the Rams an extended 5-3 advantage for over a minute and a half. Just after Nadler exited the penalty box, he took another penalty, this time for tripping. Again, the Lightning had to kill a penalty. Great penalty killing by Adam Levine, Aiden Zheng, Jake Roth, Miles Wendland, Cole Howerton, Avery Evans, and Patrick Sell kept the Rams off the board and without a shot on goal during the extended penalty killing time.

The successful penalty kills seemed to energize the Lightning. On the next shift of five on five play, Upper Montgomery would tie the game. The Rams cleared their defensive zone and sent the puck into neutral ice. The puck was corralled by Lightning defender Cole Howerton at the Upper Montgomery blue line. Howerton skated up the center of the ice into the Rams defensive zone. When he reached the high slot, he unleashed a wrist shot that went high past the glove of Rams goalie Alexander Crotzer-Scartascini tying the score at one.

Less than a minute later Upper Montgomery would jump in front for the first time in the game. Levine dumped the puck in from center ice to begin an extended shift in the Rams defensive zone. Nadler raced in and reached the puck first. Nalder passed to Lightning forward TJ Gottesman at the top of the left circle. Gottesman sent the puck to the left point to Wendland. Without a clear shooting lane, Wendland sent the puck low and back into the left corner where the puck was retrieved by Levine. Levine passed the puck over to Nadler. Nadler curled out of the corner and shot wide from a bad angle. The puck went off the boards in the right corner and around to the right point where Sell kept the puck in at the blue line. Sell sent the puck back down the boards and around the net where Levine controlled the puck once again. Drawing the defense, Levine passed the puck over into the left corner for Nadler. Nadler returned the puck to Levine who had moved a few strides to the left of the net behind the goal line. After Nadler dished the puck, he cut to the left faceoff circle where Levine executed a sweet give and go pass. From the lower portion of the circle Nadler wasted no time and riffled a wrist shot five hole on Crotzer-Scartascini. It was as impressive an offensive shift as the junior varsity has had all season.

Now up 2-1 with five minutes remaining in the first period, Upper Montgomery stopped pressing and reverted back to how it started the game. The intensity seemed to leave the Lightning’s play once Upper Montgomery had taken the lead. It also let Rockville tie the score. Off of a poor turnover just inside the Rams defensive blue line, Rockville counter attacked. With Levine and Nadler already in the offensive zone anticipating a pass and the Lightning defense moving up ice, the puck was turned over on a selfish individual play. Calder Wilcox stole the puck and sent it up ice to Hurley steaking through the neutral zone behind the Upper Montgomery defense. Skating hard, the Lightning defense caught up to Hurley. With all skaters focusing on Hurley and an expected shot on goal, instead Hurley circled around the net. His feed out front found an unguarded Pierson cutting down the slot. Pierson’s slap shot went high glove side past Shterenberg re-tying the game, this time at two.

The first period concluded with Rockville excited to be tied and Upper Montgomery feeling lucky to be tied, having had to kill three Rams powerplays and playing poorly in front of Shterenberg. For Shterenberg it was his worst performance of the season making only one save in the period. Shaking off the poor period, Shterenberg settled down and stonewalled the Rams over the final two periods of play. The second period saw the Rams fire ten shots at Shterenberg and continue to play competitively despite their 0-5 record.

Halfway through the second period Wilcox was called for interference, a penalty that would allow Upper Montgomery to take the lead for good. Nadler collected the puck along the side boards on the left wing. He pushed the play up ice entering the offensive zone. Nadler passed the puck down the wing to Zheng in the left wing circle before charging down the slot toward the net. Zheng sent a shot / return pass to the front of the net where Nadler deflected the puck from just outside the crease in between Crotzer-Scartascini’s leg pads.

At the very end of the second period, Nadler was back in the penalty box, once again having been called for roughing. In taking his third penalty of the game, Nadler was benched by the coaching staff, not because of the penalties, or his play, but because receiving a fourth penalty in a game results in an automatic one game suspension. To prevent that possibility, the Upper Montgomery program has a policy of sitting student athletes after three penalties received in a given game. With AJ Marks unavailable to play, and with Schickler’s injury early in the game, and now with Nadler out for the remainder of the game, it fell on a shortened bench of Lightning skaters and Shterenberg to play rock solid defense to secure the victory.

It started with the fourth successful Upper Montgomery penalty kill. Then, the Lightning went to four defensive skaters with Roth and Sell playing together as one pairing and Wendland and Evans playing together as the other pairing. Howerton was moved up to play forward. Levine went from playing wing to centering Zheng and Gottesman. Sean Levine centered Howerton and Woodman. The coaching changes and the focus on defensive limited the Rams to only four shots on goal in the third period. A period where they were trying to claw back and tie the game.

Howerton would provide some breathing room with just under eight minutes remaining in the game. After a Rams clear to neutral ice, Woodman tussled with a Rams skater along the left wing boards. Neither skater touched the puck, but the commotion allowed Howerton to grab the puck and re-enter the offensive zone down the left wing. From the left faceoff circle he fired near side, seven hole past Crotzer-Scartascini’s body to provide a small bit of breathing room for the Lightning.

The final minutes of the game saw the Lightning continuously clear the defensive zone, take short shifts to keep up their energy, and focus entirely on shutting off all Rockville offensive thrusts. It was a style similar to the third period of the season opening victory over Whitman. The Lightning’s effort intensified and kept the Rams at bay until the very closing seconds where Sheterenberg made a fine save on Pierson from in close eliminating any final upset gasp by Rockville.

Up next for the Lightning junior varsity is a non-conference matchup against the Urbana Hawks just prior to the Thanksgiving holiday. Upper Montgomery will need to bring a much better effort in order to be victorious over Urbana. Upper Montgomery will be shorthanded for the matchup as the team is dealing with a couple of injuries and a few other medical situations.

Game Notes:

  • The victory over the Rams was the junior varsity’s fourth consecutive victory to start the season.
  • Shots on goal for the game were even, Upper Montgomery with 18 and Rockville with 17.
  • Josh Nadler scored for the fourth consecutive game. He has scored in each game this season.
  • Upper Montgomery went 4-4 on the penalty kill and is now a perfect 13-13 on the season.
  • Upper Montgomery scored a powerplay goal for the second consecutive game and is now 2-13 on the season, 15.4%.
  • Upper Montgomery junior varsity returns to game action on Monday afternoon, November 20th in a non-conference matchup against Urbana. Game time is 4:00 pm at Skate Frederick.

Three Stars of the Game:

First Star—Josh Nadler—Upper Montgomery Center—2 Goals
Second Star—Cole Howerton—Upper Montgomery Defense—2 Goals
Third Star—Rowen Pierson—Rockville Center—1 Goal, 1 Assist