Author: chucklevine

The Upper Montgomery Lightning junior varsity will faceoff against the the combined Northwest / Quince Orchard / Wootton squad on Friday night in the quarterfinal round of the Montgomery Hockey Conference playoffs. The regular season game between the two programs was a wildly entertaining 7-4 victory for the combined team. The game was much closer than the final score would indicate with the Lightning closing the deficit to one goal twice in the third period before Northwest / Quince Orchard / Wootton scored two late goals to salt away the victory. Even though this is the seventh seeded Lightning versus the second seeded combined team, this game comes with a caveat. With the game being played on the opening night of the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday weekend, many travel level student athletes are likely to miss the game as it is an enormously popular travel team tournament weekend. Additionally, families may be leaving town for the long three day weekend. So, maybe the primary key to the contest is which student athletes are actually in town and available to play in the game. In prior seasons, the quarterfinal round has had multiple upsets depending upon which teams had the majority of its squad intact for the quarterfinal round games.

Upper Montgomery enters the game coming off of a 9-1 loss to top ranked BCC on Tuesday evening in the team’s regular season finale. The game was close at 3-1 entering the third period before the wheels fell off in the final fifteen minutes. A complete 45 minute performance will be necessary to remain competitive throughout the game against Northwest / Quince Orchard / Wootton. The combined team has been off for two weeks since a 2-1 victory over Churchill.

In net for the Lightning will be ninth grade goalie George Schickler. Schickler recently won his first ever game at the junior varsity level when the Lightning defeated Walter Johnson 6-5 to qualify for the junior varsity playoff tournament. With both of the Lightning’s other junior varsity playoff eligible goalies out of town with their travel teams, Schickler will have the net for the entire game on Friday night. As with any ninth grade goalie, his play has been at times very good, and at other times he wishes he could have played better.

Northwest / Quince Orchard / Wootton has an interesting dilemma. Which of their goalies will be in town? If both goalies are available, do they split the game? Sophomore 16U Upper A Sean Wyatt has by far the better statistics this season. He has a 3-0 record, a .942 save percentage, and a 1.45 goals against average. The combined team’s other netminder is junior Kevin Yu. Yu is 3-1 on the season, with an .847 save percentage, and a 4.57 goals against average. In the earlier matchup, Upper Montgomery scored all four of their goals against Yu in a little under half of the game.

On defense Friday night, the Lightning will play their two consistent defensive pairings. Sophomore 16U Lower A Matt Rivera (8GP, 4G, 2A) will play with ninth grade defender Dylan Kim. Junior hard nosed defender Max Curtusan will use his big frame to body up the combined team’s forwards. Curtusan will play with smooth skating ninth grade defender Lenny Roth. If any defender struggles or gets into penalty trouble, this may be another game where Upper Montgomery senior captain Jason Woodman (9G, 4A) drops back to play on defense. Rivera has scored each of his four goals on the season off of end to end rushes up ice. He is tied for second on the team with his four goals. The young defenders getting to play significant minutes in the playoff contest will illustrate how much they have improved since the off-ice preseason practices began in August.

For Northwest / Quince Orchard / Wootton, their defense will be up in the air as well. Their top defender, if he dresses for the game, is 16U Upper A Isaac Greene (6GP, 8G, 1A). He scored twice versus Upper Montgomery on Halloween. If he is in uniform, he will easily be the most talented student athlete on the ice. Other Northwest / Quince Orchard / Wootton defenders who will see the majority of action are; Caeden Yi (6GP, 4A) and also George Mason and Evelin Tulchinsky.

When Upper Montgomery has played the upper echelon teams in the county, the Lightning have been heavily outshot in each game. Thus, the team will need to make every offensive opportunity count. The team’s overall focus on defense first hockey is to lighten the need to keep pace offensively and score toe to toe with the top teams. Upper Montgomery has averaged 2.89 goals per game this season. However, if you remove the two games where the Lightning exploded for goals against the weaker teams they played, the goals per game average sinks to an average of only 1.86 goals per game. It is hard to win hockey games averaging less than two goals per game. On the flip side, the team has averaged giving up five goals per game. The goals per game average increases in games that the Lightning’s starting junior varsity goalie, sophomore 16U Lower A Porter Stutsrim-Lyons has not been in net.

Ninth grade forward Tima Zamaray leads the junior varsity in scoring with (9GP, 9G, 3A) and is coming off of a recent four goal game versus Walter Johnson. Zamaray had a personal four game goal streak snapped against BCC Tuesday evening. Junior forward Mason Jagoz (8GP, 4G, 5A) including a hat-trick against the DC Stars and four assists against Walter Johnson is second on the team in points while his five assists lead the Lightning junior varsity. His four goals are tied with Rivera for second on the team. He returns after missing the game against the Barons. Senior team captain Jason Woodman has (9GP, 4A). Ninth grade center Wyatt Ostrander (9GP, 2G, 3A) is still basking in scoring the game winning goal in the final minute against the Wildcats to help push Upper Montgomery into the playoffs. Sophomore 16U Upper A Max Israfilbek (8GP, 3G) scored for the first time against the Wildcats in six games since scoring twice in the season opener.

The Northwest / Quince Orchard / Wootton roster has a formidable offensive attack when playing with a full lineup. Speedy sophomore forward Nathan Tian is second on the team in scoring with (7GP, 5G, 3A). Next is Eric Anderson (4GP, 3G, 3A). Amir Karimov (7GP, 4G) is also dangerous at the junior varsity level. Joseph Davis (3GP, 2G, 1A) scored both of his goals against Upper Montgomery on Halloween. Sophomore Kuba Okrasa (5GP, 1G, 3A) rounds out a deep forward contingent. Without knowing if each student is in town with the travel team tournament schedules, it is incredibly difficult to assess how the game will play out other than the combined team is a heavy favorite entering the playoff matchup with Upper Montgomery. The outcome may literally come down to how many skaters are available for each team or which team has their top end students available.

As has been mentioned over and over this fall and winter, the 2025 – 2026 season was thought to be one where the coaching staff was focused on individual student growth and development. With eight incoming junior varsity students in their first season of high school hockey, the program was looking for all eight of these students to contribute to the program over the next four seasons. The playing time received this season should definitely help each student become better in the years to come when Upper Montgomery is likely to be better positioned to again challenge for the junior varsity championship. The program won the Montgomery Hockey Conference Junior Varsity Championship four years ago during the 2021 – 2022 season. This season, the team may simply be too young and inexperienced to compete on the defensive end of the ice. Friday evening is a terrific opportunity for the Lightning to spring an upset and move on to the semifinal round of the playoffs and equal the performance of last year’s junior varsity team that advanced to the semifinals of the playoffs.

#Advance to Semis, #UML, #Bleed Green, #Go Bolts!

The Upper Montgomery Lightning junior varsity returns to action Tuesday evening wrapping up the regular season with a monster tilt against top ranked BCC. After last week’s thrilling 6-5 victory over Walter Johnson, the Lightning have qualified for the junior varsity playoffs. It took a last minute goal to stave off the winless Wildcats and capture the final playoff berth in the Montgomery Hockey Conference junior varsity playoffs. In a game that was by no means a masterpiece ninth grade center Wyatt Ostrander scored the game winning goal with 34 seconds remaining in the contest. The Lightning will finish anywhere from the sixth seed to the eighth seed depending upon the outcome of Tuesday’s game. BCC enters the game undefeated with a 6-0 record and the number one seed in the upcoming playoffs sewn up. The game has no playoff implications for the Barons. Game time is 5:55pm on Tuesday at the Rockville Ice Arena.

BCC’s junior varsity team has been off for a while. However, with the exception of three skaters, their varsity team is the same as their junior varsity team. The Lightning last played ten days ago in the wild affair with Walter Johnson. In that game, Lightning ninth grade forward Tima Zamaray scored four goals while Lightning junior forward Mason Jagoz added four assists. With several core defenders missing as the game was played before Montgomery County public schools resumed, the Upper Montgomery defense was a combinations of defenders and forwards out of necessity. This led to a high scoring back and forth game before Ostrander netted the game winning goal in the final minute.

Starting in net for Upper Montgomery will likely be sophomore 16U Lower A Porter Stutsrim-Lyons. Stutsrim-Lyons is 1-1 on the season with a .926 save percentage and a 2.52 goals against average. It will be his first start in net at the junior varsity level since beating the DC Stars way back in mid-October. In the interim, Stutsrim-Lyons has started four games for the Upper Montgomery varsity squad. Backing up Stutsrim-Lyons will be ninth grade netminder George Schickler. Schickler authored his first career junior varsity victory in the win over Walter Johnson. For the Barons it looks like primary goalie senior Gabriel Sokol will be in net. Sokol is 4-0 on the season with an .881 save percentage and a 2.00 goals against average. Playing behind a very potent roster that has given up only ten goals in six games, the Barons have clamped down in front of Sokol. The Lightning have seen Sokol in net twice this season at the varsity level. In both games, Upper Montgomery’s top varsity forward line has had no trouble putting pucks past Sokol, but the junior varsity level is very different. Sokol has played well versus the lesser quality junior varsity teams that the Barons have faced.

On defense, the Lightning will have the full compliment of their four defenders available for the game. Expect the regular rotation to remain intact. Sophomore 16U Lower A Matt Rivera (7GP, 3G, 2A) and his defensive partner ninth grade Dylan Kim will pair together. The Lightning’s other defensive pairing of junior Max Curtusan and ninth grade defender Lenny Roth will remain together. BCC’s defense is lead by the Reitz siblings. Sophomore 16U AAA Julia leads the Barons in defensive scoring with (4GP, 3G, 4A). She had a hat-trick as part of her five point game in the season opener versus Richard Montgomery. Her brother 16U Upper A Jacob has (3GP, 2G, 2A). Junior Zachary Leblanc has four assists in six games. Senior Jeronimo Castano-Tellez rounds out the Barons backline. He is a big rig that will make it difficult on the Upper Montgomery forwards to get to the interior of the ice in front of Sokol.

Offensively, Upper Montgomery has struggled to score all season long. But, there were encouraging signs last game as the Lightning found the net six times. Ninth grade forward Tima Zamaray leads the junior varsity in scoring with (8GP, 9G, 3A) and is coming off of a four goal game. Zamaray has now scored in four straight games. Junior forward Mason Jagoz (8GP, 4G, 5A) including a hat-trick against the DC Stars and four assists against Walter Johnson is second on the team in both goals and points while his five assists lead the Lightning junior varsity. Senior team captain Jason Woodman has (8GP, 4A). Ninth grade center Wyatt Ostrander (8GP, 2G, 3A) is coming off of a multi-point game. Sophomore 16U Upper A Max Israfilbek (7GP, 3G) scored for the first time against the Wildcats in six games since scoring twice in the season opener. The team’s overall focus on defense first hockey was implemented to lighten the need to keep pace offensively and score toe to toe with the top teams in the conference.

Conversely, the Barons have averaged 6.17 goals scored per game. They have no shortage of talent at the junior varsity level. BCC is led in scoring by senior David High (6GP, 7G, 1A). Next in line is ninth grade 14U Lower A Bryce Kaminsky (5GP, 7G). Senior Kiran Maltby has found much success over the years at the junior varsity level and is third on the Barons in scoring with (6GP, 5G, 2A). Another senior, Nicholas Mencher, is averaging a point a game with (6GP, 3G, 3A). Little jitterbug ninth grade center 14U Upper A Scott Gertner has put in three goals in five games as has sophomore 16U AA Juliana Langley. Finally, ninth grade 16U Lower A Li Ang Zhang has four assists in four games. This level of scoring depth has made BCC hard to beat even when they are missing several student athletes as the Barons’ scoring is distributed over several forward lines.

After last week’s must win for Upper Montgomery, the team can play freely against BCC knowing that the outcome of the game does not influence the team’s playoff life. Last week it was get the job done. This week the Lightning can go play with a big opportunity to beat the undefeated and top ranked Barons. Getting a winning streak started before the playoffs begin on Friday night would give the team a bolt of confidence to make a long playoff run and return to the semifinals like Upper Montgomery did last season.

#UML, #Finish Strong, #Bleed Green, #Go Bolts!

The Upper Montgomery Lightning host the DC Stars this Friday evening in the program’s annual senior night celebration. The festivities are scheduled to commence at 7:55 pm before the opening puck faceoff scheduled at 8:15 pm at Cabin John Ice Rink. The Lightning’s four seniors (Brady Berkhammer, Owen Robbins, Philip Shkeda, and Jason Woodman) will play together and start the game’s first shift as a further recognition of the students’ commitment and dedication to the Upper Montgomery program.

In addition to the senior night platitudes, the game has immense importance as it pertains to the upcoming Montgomery Hockey Conference playoff seedings. The Lightning are looking to advance up the rankings while the DC Stars are looking at securing a relatively high seeding. Coupled with the Stars seeking revenge against the Lightning for an opening night 8-0 shellacking, the game has the chance to be more combustible than the average Friday night high school hockey game. Friday’s game will also mark only the second time all season that all of Upper Montgomery’s high end travel students will be present on the ice for the team. The other game, the first matchup with the DC Stars. The Stars have changed their playing style since their first two games of the season. They have since rebounded from a disastrous defensive beginning to the season to enter the contest with a 6-4 record, having beaten both Sherwood and Whitman from division one of the Montgomery Hockey Conference.

Upper Montgomery’s primary varsity goaltender junior 16U AAA Ilan Shterenberg will return to face the DC Stars after missing last week’s game versus Walter Johnson while he was out of the country. Shterenberg was excellent in his last start, a 4-2 loss to Rockville / Magruder making 42 saves. He easily was the most impactful student on the ice. Shterenberg made 25 saves in the season opening shutout victory over the DC Stars. He enters the game with a 2-3 record, a .907 save percentage, and a 3.46 goals against average. Opposite Shterenberg in the cage, the DC Stars are expected to start Upper Montgomery nemesis Anton Tracy in net. He did not play in the team’s first matchup. DC Stars backup netminder, Gabriel Sokol took the loss opening night. Tracy’s best games have come against the Lightning. He is 1-0-2 versus the Lightning with a .933 save percentage, and a 2.17 goals against average. Outstanding statistics. Against all other teams, he seems to be beatable finishing last season with a 4.32 goals against average. He is a giant of a student taking up a great portion of the net. His one primary area of weakness is if he has to move quickly from side to side in the crease. Against Upper Montgomery he has made spectacular saves to allow the Stars to come away with standings points game after game. On the season, Tracy has a 3-3 record, an .899 save percentage, and a 2.82 goals against average.

On defense, the Lightning will have almost their full complement of defenders for the game as junior Max Curtusan will miss the game while serving his supplemental discipline. He received a boarding major penalty and a game misconduct against Walter Johnson last week. Depending upon the DC Stars line combinations, Upper Montgomery may play with their defensive pairings stacked. The Lightning’s leading scorer, also the leading defensive scorer for all of Montgomery County, as well as the second leading defensive scorer throughout the entire Maryland Student Hockey League, senior 18U AA Brady Berkhammer will once again lead the Lightning’s backline. He has been exceedingly good so far this season averaging two and a half points per game with (10GP, 11G, 14A). Berkhammer is also within one point of the lead for the entire Montgomery Hockey Conference in scoring with his 25 points. His eleven goals and 25 total points are both personal single season career highs.

Lightning junior defender 16U Upper A Miles Wendland (9GP, 1G, 2A) will either play up with Berkhammer or with sophomore 16U AA Lillian Robbins. Robbins returns to action after missing last week’s game as she was out of town with her external travel team. She is key to the Lightning’s penalty kill unit which has suffered mightily with her out of the lineup. Her intellect and knowledge of the game makes her ideally suited to snuff out offensive sets and act as a third defender. The more physical she plays, the more her game will stand out. Sophomore 16U Lower A Matt Rivera (8GP, 1G, 4A) has played better as the season has gone along. He has played much more confidently this season in the Lightning’s junior varsity games and during practice. His progression this year into a full time varsity defender has allowed the Lightning to play with two full sets of defense. Anticipate the Lightning defense will be instructed to rush up ice and contribute offensively as the team is short on experienced forwards. Ninth grade defender Lenny Roth has played hard and well in limited action. He will dress for the game and may see shifts along with Berkhammer throughout the evening.

The DC Stars leading returning defender is junior 16U AA Jonathan Lust (10GP, 7G, 2A). Lust is a big stay at home defender who will play the Lightning’s forwards tough in front of the net and in the corners. He has elevated his offense this season making him a more complete defender. Seniors Samuel Bensky and Roman Stoinski will also get substantial duty in the varsity game. They have experience but lack foot speed which may limit their effectiveness. In the season opener, the Lightning’s top line flew past the Stars defenders as if they were not involved in the game. With Upper Montgomery having the last line change as the home team, the Lightning coaching staff will look to get favorable forward line matchups. It will be interesting to see how the Stars handle the rest of their defensive pairings as they have little high end depth. Now that Leo Nyberg, the Stars top defender from a year ago, has graduated, the DC Stars defenders outside of Lust do not provide hardly any offense.

Upper Montgomery’s top line of senior 18U AAA center and team captain Owen Robbins (5GP, 2G, 8A), flanked by fellow senior and last year’s leading scorer Philip Shkeda (4GP, 6G, 4A), paired with ninth grade 16U AA Miles Gleason (6GP, 14G, 5A) has been DOMINANT. The problem has been the Lightning have had this line available only twice this season. Robbins has missed time with his external travel team. Shkeda returns this week after being out long-term with an upper body injury. Gleason just recently returned from his own month long absence due to a medical issue. Gleason has provided instant offense this season with four points or more in three of the six games he has played in during his inaugural season. He had an off game last week with only three points against Walter Johnson. In their absence, junior 16U Upper A forward Aiden Zheng (9GP, 3G, 5A) has stepped up and provided a spark. He has scored in three of the previous five games. His hustle, energy, and defensive backchecking are examples for the younger students who should be watching how Zheng plays away from the puck.

The DC Stars top scorer is senior 18U AA Walter Bernstein (9GP, 8G, 5A). Junior 16U AA Gabriel Schon (5GP, 4G, 2A) recently returned from a lengthy suspension for verbally abusing a referee and other unsportsmanlike conduct actions. The DC Stars have a long roster, with some experienced returning forwards in Harry Fishman (8GP, 3G, 1A), Kai Handy-Kanegis, Ian Cox, Gabriel Ingram, and Patrick Kaufman, to utilize along with ninth grade newcomer 16U Upper A Treysen Shi (9GP, 2G, 2A). If any of the Stars depth forwards can light the lamp on Friday, it may be enough scoring if Tracy’s netminding once again throttles the Lightning.

The 2025 – 2026 season has been one of growth and development for the green and gold’s younger student athletes. Now, with two games remaining in the regular season, it is time for the team to ride a wave of good play leading into the playoffs. If the team will commit to the defensive habits necessary to lead the program forward, the Lightning may be a frightening team to play in a one and done playoff scenario. As the season opener versus the DC Stars showed, if Berkhammer and the top forward line is on, the Lightning can storm through any team in the county. If Upper Montgomery refuses to engage defensively, every game could turn into a long night with the opposition skating through and around the young Lightning skaters. It’s time for the seniors to lead the way and carry the program to several late regular season and playoff wins.

#Senior Night Victory, #UML, #Bleed Green, #Go Bolts!

The Upper Montgomery Lightning varsity squad will be in for a tough test on Friday night when the team squares off against their toughest opponent of the season, the second ranked Walter Johnson Wildcats. Game time is 10:00 pm at Cabin John Ice Rink. Upper Montgomery is 2-7 on the season and will be looking to jump start the sprint to the finish of the regular season with three conference games remaining. Walter Johnson is riding a five game winning streak into the contest. The last three Wildcat wins have come by way of shutouts. Four games ago, Rockville / Magruder managed to score only once. With the game being played before school resumes, many families will still be out of town on holiday travel. Student availability will be a complicating factor for both teams with several students anticipated to be healthy scratches due to their lack of availability.

Walter Johnson enters the game with a 6-3 record having given up only 19 goals on the season (2.11 goals against per game) which is 37 goals less than Upper Montgomery has let in. Each week, the Lightning have had to cobble together the team’s lineup as upper level students miss playing in the high school games while they are out-of-town with their external travel teams. When the Lightning are playing with less than a full roster, the team’s depth is severely tested as younger students are asked to step into roles that they are unaccustomed to playing. Another one of those weekends is upcoming as the Lightning will be missing several students who will be out of town with their families with Montgomery County public school not slated to resume classes until the Monday after the game.

Upper Montgomery’s primary varsity goaltender junior 16U AAA Ilan Shterenberg will miss the game as he will be out of the country. Shterenberg was excellent last week in the team’s 4-2 loss to Rockville / Magruder making 42 saves. He easily was the most impactful student on the ice. With Shterenberg absent, Upper Montgomery’s primary junior varsity goalie, sophomore 16U Lower A Porter Stutsrim-Lyons will get the start. For Stutsrim-Lyons this will be his fourth start of the season at the varsity level. He will need to play well for the Lightning to have any shot to beat the Wildcats. Depending upon Stutsrim-Lyons performance, the team will have both of its ninth grade backup goalies available if he struggles to stop the puck. Walter Johnson’s primary varsity goalie is junior 18U AA Isaac Russ. Russ has been fantastic this season with a 6-3 record, a 2.11 goals against average, and an .886 goals against average. Provided he is in town, he will get the start in net. If he is unavailable, the Wildcats will be forced to start a position skater in goal which might be senior John Abrams who played goalie years ago as a youngster.

On defense, the Lightning will have four defenders available for the game. Depending upon the Wildcats line combinations, Upper Montgomery may play with their defensive pairings stacked. The Lightning’s leading scorer, also the leading defensive scorer for all of Montgomery County, as well as the second leading defensive scorer throughout the entire Maryland Student Hockey League, senior 18U AA Brady Berkhammer will once again lead the Lightning’s backline. He has been exceedingly good so far this season with (9GP, 11G, 13A). Berkhammer is also tied for the lead for the entire Montgomery Hockey Conference in scoring with his 24 points. His eleven goals and 24 total points are both personal single season career highs.

Berkhammer will need to play a very strong game against Walter Johnson to help contain the Wildcats top offensive threats. He may again be paired with junior 16U Upper A Miles Wendland (8GP, 1G, 2A) who is expected back after missing last week’s game. When this duo played together against Northwest / Quince Orchard they shut down the Jaguars high scoring senior center Ethan Custodio who leads the Montgomery Hockey Conference in goals. Sophomore 16U Lower A Matt Rivera (8GP, 1G, 4A) will be out of action as he will be traveling with his family. Rugged junior defender Max Curtusan will likely be paired with Wendland unless Wendland is playing with Berkhammer. Ninth grade defender Lenny Roth has come a long way since the beginning of the season and he will see game action against Walter Johnson.

The wildcats have a very experienced and mobile defensive corps. Junior 18U AA Matthew Corwin has three years of varsity experience. He is playing this season without his older brother who has graduated, Corwin is still one of he leaders for Walter Johnson (9GP, 3G, 5A). Senior 18U AAA Oliver Curtis has four years of varsity experience (8GP, 4G, 3A). Senior 19U AA Sophie Pyott is a very mobile defender whose skating ability allows her to get to loose pucks first and skate the puck out of danger. Junior 16U Upper A Owen Sievers is seeing more playing time this season and will likely be paired with Corwin or Curtis during the game. The Wildcats also have depth on the back line. Junior 16U Upper A Sebastian Fries and ninth grade 14U AA Kiran Buttazzoni will receive playing time throughout the game.

Upper Montgomery’s top line of senior 18U AAA center and team captain Owen Robbins (4GP, 2G, 8A), flanked by fellow senior and last year’s leading scorer Philip Shkeda (4GP, 6G, 4A), paired with ninth grade 16U AA Miles Gleason (5GP, 12G, 5A) has been DOMINANT. The problem has been the Lightning have had this line available only twice this season. Robbins has missed time with his external travel team. Shkeda is still out until next week with an upper body injury. The good news is that Gleason returned from his own recent month long absence due to a medical issue. In his return, Gleason provided instant offense with two goals and two assists. He now has four points or more in three of the five games he has played in during his inaugural season. Two thirds of the line will be intact against the Wildcats. On January 9th, the Lightning should finally have their full lineup on the ice and ready to play the final two regular season games heading into the playoffs. In their absence, junior 16U Upper A forward Aiden Zheng (8GP, 3G, 5A) has stepped up and provided a spark. He has scored in three of the previous four games. His hustle, energy, and defensive backchecking are examples for the younger students who should be watching how Zheng plays away from the puck.

The Wildcats have offensive weapons but are more focused on playing a strong two way game. They are less potent offensively than in prior years, but have strung together six straight impressive games including their current five game winning streak. Senior 18U AA forward Henry Horwell leads the Wildcats in scoring with (9GP, 5G, 8A). Horwell is a small speedy winger who will fly past defenders not prepared for his speed. Walter Johnson’s second leading scorer is sophomore 16U AA Tyler Pappafotis (8GP, 8G, 4A). He leads the Wildcats with his eight goals. Fellow sophomore 16U AA Lukas Anderson (9GP, 6G, 1A) is second on the team in goals. The Wildcats second line has another sophomore 16U Upper A Finnian Carr (9GP, 5G, 2A) playing with a rotation of depth forwards. The lack of scoring depth is one of the reasons that Walter Johnson has been in so many tight low scoring games this season. If the top line is not on, the Wildcats have difficulty stretching games into running time even against weaker competition.

The only way that Upper Montgomery will consistently win games is by being buttoned up on the defensive end of the ice. The Lightning must suffocate the game by playing a very hard physical defensive game against high powered offensive skaters. Although played on ice, Upper Montgomery needs to make it seem as if the game is being played in mud. If the opposition has to fight for every inch on the ice and does not have time and space to make plays, the Lightning have a great chance at winning. In two of the past three games, Upper Montgomery has been far better defensively, which has kept the team in games. The goaltending also needs to be better. There have been several games recently when a soft goal or two against has deflated the team. Upper Montgomery can certainly remain competitive with Walter Johnson, especially if the Wildcats have several top level students absent from the game. Walter Johnson has proven they will be good defensively. Will Upper Montgomery be able to manage the puck in their own defensive end of the ice and get the required goaltending to give the Lightning a chance at a major upset?

#2nd Half Wins, #UML, #Bleed Green, #Go Bolts!

The Upper Montgomery Lightning junior varsity returns to action after the December holiday break on Friday, January 2nd. The team will face off against the Walter Johnson Wildcats in a game that will determine if the Lightning qualify for the junior varsity playoffs. Game time is 8:15 pm at Cabin John Ice Rink. With the game being played before school resumes, many families will still be out of town on holiday travel. Student availability will be a complicating factor with both teams anticipated to play without several junior varsity eligible student athletes.

In their last game, the Upper Montgomery junior varsity came out flat against non-conference opponent Annapolis / Arundel. The slow start coupled with poor goaltending led to a 6-2 loss, the Lightning’s fourth consecutive defeat. With a record of 1-6 on the season, and 1-4 in conference play, Upper Montgomery needs a win to finish within the top nine teams in the conference. A loss to Walter Johnson will likely spell disaster as the Wildcats will own the tie-breaker over the Lightning. Upper Montgomery will have one final junior varsity game at undefeated and top ranked BCC to finish out the season. Walter Johnson enters the contest winless with six defeats. They are the most inept junior varsity team in the county having scored nine goals while giving up 44. They have scored more than two goals only once. Their defense has been horrible in front of the goal with the team averaging giving up 7.33 goals against per game.

Starting in net for Upper Montgomery will likely be one of the program’s ninth grade goalies Stephen Rickman or George Schickler. Rickman would be making his third start of the season and Schickler his fourth. With starting junior varsity goalie16U Lower A Porter Stutsrim-Lyons slated to play in the varsity game later on Friday evening, it is likely that the young Lightning netminders will handle the goaltending duties in the junior varsity contest. Depending upon the flow of the game, and which goalie is chosen to start, the Lightning’s coaching staff may play the other goalie in the back half of the game. Coincidently, both Rickman and Schickler have seen multiple games of action this fall as Upper Montgomery has been loaning both netminders to Walter Johnson. The Wildcats do not have a junior varsity eligible goalie on their roster. It will be a emergency substitute goalie playing for the Wildcats against Upper Montgomery.

On defense, the Lightning will shuffle all game long as two regular defenders, sophomore 16U Lower A Matt Rivera (7GP, 3G, 2A) and his defensive partner ninth grade Dylan Kim will miss the game. The Lightning’s other defensive pairing of Junior Max Curtusan and ninth grade defender Lenny Roth will remain together. Expect that senior, team captain Jason Woodman will play on defense in the junior varsity game. If Rickman does not play in net, he will likely play on defense with Woodman. Walter Johnson’s defense has provided no offense the entire season. With three listed defenders, it is more of a five person unit on the ice for the Wildcats at any one time. This may be why the Wildcats have been so porous on the back end. Brian Marquardt has played in five games for Walter Johnson on defense and is their most experienced defender. Siblings Everett and Owen Chun are also listed as defenders on the Wildcats roster but have played in only a few game each.

Offensively, Upper Montgomery has struggled to score all season long. Some of the lack of scoring is the youth of the team. Another core reason for the tepid offense is that the Lightning have played the toughest schedule of the junior varsity teams in the county. Recently, unexpected scoring has emerged from junior forward Mason Jagoz (7GP, 4G, 1A) including a hat-trick against the DC Stars. Ninth grade forward Tima Zamaray leads the junior varsity in scoring with (7GP, 5G, 3A). Senior team captain Jason Woodman has (7GP, 3A), sophomore center Decklin Hughes (6GP, 1G, 2A) and ninth grade center Wyatt Ostrander (7GP, 1G, 2A) have all chipped in with three points. Sophomore 16U Upper A Max Israfilbek (6GP, 2G) has gone scoreless in the last five games since scoring twice in the season opener. Junior center Jackson Schickler scored last game as he rounds into shape after missing most of the season due to an upper body injury suffered this fall with Poolesville High School’s football team. The team’s overall focus on defense first hockey was to lighten the need to keep pace offensively and score toe to toe with the top teams in the conference. With only nine goals scored in six games, the Wildcats are not a threat offensively. The only bright spot has been sophomore forward Joshua Taubenkibel (4GP, 3G, 3A). No other Wildcat skater has more than two points on the season.

It is a must win for Upper Montgomery. No excuses. The students that will be missing the game will not show up to help out the team. It must come from the students in the lineup on Friday. Get the job done. Get ahead on the winless Wildcats, take their spirit away, and then close the game without allowing Walter Johnson to think that they have any opportunity to win the game. Some students will be playing every other shift. They must take advantage of the additional ice time to propel the Lightning to the playoffs.

#UML, #Qualify for Playoffs, #Back to Winning, #Bleed Green, #Go Bolts!

The Upper Montgomery Lightning varsity will be looking to rebound on Friday evening when the team faces off against the Rockville / Magruder Rams. Game time is 8:45 pm at Rockville Ice Arena. The Lightning head into the game coming off of a brutal loss to Silver Spring, losing to the Blazers 11-4 last week. Team defensive play and goaltending have consistently contributed to the Lightning’s losses this season. Entering the final game before the December holiday break, the Lightning sit at 2-6 on the season having given up the second most goals in the county. Upper Montgomery averages 6.5 goals against per game through eight games and that includes a shutout in the season opener and a recent game against Northwest / Quince Orchard where the team gave up only two goals.

Rockville / Magruder enters the game with a 3-2-3 record having given up only 23 goals on the season which is 29 goals less than Upper Montgomery. Each week, the Lightning have had to cobble together the team’s lineup as upper level students miss playing in the high school games while they are out-of-town with their external travel teams. When the Lightning are playing with less than a full roster, the team’s depth is severely tested as younger students are asked to step into roles that they are unaccustomed to play. One of those weekends is upcoming as the Lightning will be missing two top forwards once again this week.

Upper Montgomery’s primary varsity goaltender junior 16U AAA Ilan Shterenberg is likely to be available for the game against the Rams after missing last week’s contest. Shterenberg opened the season pitching a 25 save shutout against the DC Stars for the first shutout of his varsity career. With Shterenberg present, goaltending for the Lightning should be solid. Shterenberg enters the contest with a 2-2 record, a .904 save percentage, and a 3.30 goals against average. In the opposing goal, Rockville / Magruder is expected to start ninth grade 16U AA goalie Ethan Rabinovitch. Rabinovitch has started all but one game for the Rams. He carries into the contest against Upper Montgomery a 3-1-2 record, a .915 save percentage, and a 2.89 goals against average. He has good range and quick reflexes which allows him to cover a large portion of the goal.

On defense, the Lightning will finally have their full complement of defenders available for a game. The Lightning’s leading scorer, and also the leading defensive scorer for all of Montgomery County, as well as the leading defensive scorer throughout the entire Maryland Student Hockey League, senior 18U AA Brady Berkhammer will once again lead the Lightning’s backline. He has been exceedingly good so far this season with (8GP, 9G, 13A). Berkhammer also leads the entire Montgomery Hockey Conference in scoring with his 22 points. His nine goals and 22 total points are both personal single season career highs.

Berkhammer will need to play a very strong game against the Rams to help contain the Rams top two offensive dynamos. Sophomore 16U Lower A Matt Rivera (7GP, 1G, 3A) returns to action this week after serving his one game suspension for a farce of a penalty called against him two weeks ago. It was a game in which he scored his first career varsity goal then was later assessed a boarding major and game misconduct. The league reviewed the hit and confirmed that the contact was not even worthy of a penalty, much less a major penalty. Unfortunately, a stupid USA Hockey rule prevents the referees from overturning the call once the game is uploaded and finalized in the scoring system. Look for Berkhammer and Rivera to partner up against the Rams.

Lightning junior 16U Upper A Miles Wendland (7GP, 1G, 2A) has taken on a larger role this season. He played his best game of the season recently against Northwest / Quince Orchard. The Upper Montgomery coaching staff changed up the defensive pairings and played Wendland with Berkhammer in an attempt to throttle the county’s leading goal scorer, Ethan Custodio. The strategy worked with both Berkhammer and Wendland shining in the Lightning’s victory! Rugged junior defender Max Curtusan will likely be paired with Wendland. Sophomore 16U AA defender Lillian Robbins returned last week from several weeks away playing with her external travel team. She will likely slide in and play both defense and shifts at forward against the Rams. The Lightning’s two young ninth grade defenders may dress for the game. If they do, it is unlikely that they will play much, if at all. Dylan Kim and Lenny Roth have both gained valuable experience over these past few weeks playing in varsity games which will help them in future years as they grow and develop.

One of the largest changes for the Rams this season is on defense where star senior defenders 18U AAA Andrew Pfeufer and 18U AA Aiden Ward no longer patrol the backline.. The Rams leading returning defender is senior 18U Upper A Max Yuen. Yuen is a wide bodied defender that the Lightning can take advantage of with team speed down the wings. Sophomore 16U Lower A Lukas Aagaard has a lot of varsity experience for playing in just his second year of high school hockey. He will likely play a significant amount paired with Rams senior defender 18U Upper A Lincoln Herrick. Sophomore 16U AA Evelyn May, and juniors David Schanzer and Carder Wilcox are expected to see action spread throughout the game. None of the Rams defenders have contributed more than two points of offense this season.

Upper Montgomery’s top line of senior 18U AAA center and team captain Owen Robbins (3GP, 2G, 7A), flanked by fellow senior and last year’s leading scorer Philip Shkeda (4GP, 6G, 4A), paired with ninth grade 16U AA Miles Gleason (5GP, 12G, 5A) have been DOMINANT. The problem has been the Lightning have seen this line play together only twice this season. Robbins has missed time with his external travel team. Shkeda is still out for the next three weeks with an upper body injury. The good news was that Gleason returned from his own recent month long absence due to a medical issue. In his return Gleason provided instant offense with two goals and two assists. He now has four points or more in three of the four games he has played in. But, he will miss the game against the Rams. On January 9th, the Lightning should finally have their full lineup back and be ready to play the final two regular season games heading into the playoffs. In their absence, junior 16U Upper A forward Aiden Zheng (7GP, 2G, 3A) has stepped up and provided a spark. He has scored in two of the previous three games. His hustle, energy, and playmaking are an example to the younger students who should be watching how Zheng plays away from the puck.

The Rams are like Northwest / Quince Orchard where super talented forwards have produced the bulk of their offense. Sophomore 16U AA Alexander Johnston scored four goals against Upper Montgomery in the early November meeting with the Lightning. He now has (6GP, 9G). Fellow Sophomore 16U AAA Cameron Gifford missed the beginning of the season and has had a slow first half of the season with (5GP, 1G, 4A). Three of his four assists came against Upper Montgomery. Taking out the Rams earlier contest against the Lightning, they are averaging only three goals per game. This bodes well for the game being close throughout as Rockville / Magruder does not possess an explosive offense outside of their two dynamic sophomores. If one is missing with their external travel team, the game should be a real dog fight. However, Gifford has the ability to be a game wrecker. He hurt Upper Montgomery in both games played last season. He had a four point game with a hat-trick and an assist in the first game. Gifford scored with one second left in regulation with the goalie pulled to allow Rockville / Magruder to scrape away with a tie. In the rematch, he scored four goals to help propel the Rams third period comeback victory over the Lightning. The only other Rams forwards with more than five points on the season is senior Ari Salomon who has (5GP, 3G, 3A).

The only way that Upper Montgomery will consistently win games is by being buttoned up on the defensive end of the ice. The Lightning must suffocate the game by playing a very hard physical defensive game against high powered offensive skaters. Although played on ice, Upper Montgomery needs to make it seem as if the game is being played in mud. If the opposition has to fight for every inch on the ice and does not have time and space to make plays, the Lighting have a great chance at winning. The goaltending also needs to be better. There have been several games recently when a soft goal or two against has deflated the team. Upper Montgomery can certainly beat Rockville / Magruder. It will come down to which team is better able to manage the puck in their own defensive end of the ice to limit the other offense from getting good looks.

#2nd Half Wins, #UML, #Bleed Green, #Go Bolts!