Author: chucklevine

Honacki’s Record Setting Performance Leads Lightning Junior Varsity Past Bears

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Upper Montgomery sophomore center Henry Honacki single handedly stole the show Tuesday evening in the Lightning’s 7-6 victory over the Carroll County Bears. In what was anticipated to be a friendly winter break non-conference contest against Bears, the game was marred by several ejections and game misconduct penalties. Ultimately, the Lightning had just enough to hold on for the victory and finish the regular season with a 4-4-2 record. The team now looks ahead to the first round of the Montgomery Hockey Conference junior varsity playoffs. The Lightning’s opponent will be determined after the final regular season games conclude in the first week of January.

From the opening faceoff, it looked like Upper Montgomery would run away with this contest. The Lightning would tally three quick goals to jump out to a 3-0 lead. Two of the early goals were scored while Upper Montgomery was shorthanded. It started just two minutes into the game. Lightning center Josh Nadler took a retaliatory roughing penalty behind the action. Off the defensive zone faceoff, Honacki won the draw back to the corner where Jake Roth and a Carroll County forward battled for control of the puck. Roth gained possession and pushed the puck forward to Honacki. Honacki skated the length of the ice weaving around the Bears’ defenders. At the top of the right faceoff circle he avoided the last defender and finished off the end-to-end rush with a backhand shot that beat Carroll County backup netminder Anthony Coronel five hole.

Three minutes later the lead would grow. Honacki dumped the puck from the neutral zone into the Bears defensive zone to the left of the net. TJ Gottesman hustled into the zone and retrieved the puck. He passed the puck back to Honacki in the left circle. Honacki’s wrist shot hit traffic in front and bounced behind the net. Gottesman once again retrieved the puck and this time centered a pass to Callum Hughes at the right post. Hughes whacked the puck past Coronel for his first career high school goal.

Two minutes later tempers flared. After an innocent play behind the net, Carroll County forward Jack Blackford sucker punched Honacki. The referees were all over the play racing in to stop any further fighting. In an attempt to protect Honacki, Upper Montgomery defender Sean Levine skated over to the fracas. Blackford was ejected for fighting for the sucker punch. Levine was ejected for entering the commotion as the third skater involved, and Honacki was assessed a two minute minor for roughing. The outcome of the penalties was that Upper Montgomery was left killing a penalty because Honacki was sucker punched. Levine’s ejection also comes with an automatic one game suspension via the league’s supplemental discipline policy, and he will miss the junior varsity’s first round playoff game.

With Honacki serving his roughing penalty for getting sucker punched, Upper Montgomery would increase their lead. On the penalty kill, the puck was dumped down ice into the Bears defensive zone. Nadler pressured the play and caused a turnover in the Carroll County defensive zone along the left wing boards. The puck squirted into the neutral zone where James Hyman bumped the puck up to Nadler as he was circling out of the offensive zone into neutral ice. Nadler took the puck and circled right back into the offensive zone along the right wing boards. He skated around the left defender at the top of the right wing circle and launched a forehand chip shot up over Coronel’s blocker for the Lightning’s second shorthanded goal of the period.

With Upper Montgomery leading 3-0 with four minutes remaining in the first period, Carroll County bounced back into the game with three quick goals of their own. First, off of a recoil in the neutral zone with Honacki still in the penalty box, Mason Davie passed the puck to Reese Thorne. Thorne skated down the right wing boards and fired a wrist shot from low in the right circle that beat Lightning netminder Chris Hassett wide to the stick side. Then, one minute later, the Bears would be back within one goal. An Upper Montgomery turnover in the defensive zone went directly to Carroll County forward Larry Marks at the top of the right circle. Marks’ wrist shot was blocked. However, the puck went directly to Logan Dandorf alone in the slot. Dandorf lifted a backhand shot over the blocker of a diving Hassett who was changing direction due to the blocked shot. The Bears third goal was the result of another Lightning turnover. Nadler was stripped of the puck in the neutral zone by Dandorf. With the Upper Montgomery skaters heading up ice, Marks took possession of the puck heading in the opposite direction. He scored off the breakaway chance shooting low glove side to tie the game.

A wild first period with six goals, a three goal comeback by the Bears, and two ejections was not complete. As the period wound down, it would become Honacki time. With 32 seconds remaining in the first period, Lightning defender Cole Howerton intercepted a pass in the Lightning defensive zone. He skated up the right wing boards into the Carroll County defensive zone and then around the net. Howerton centered the puck in front to Honacki. Honacki flipped a wrist shot short side above Coronel’s catching glove. The puck landed in the middle of the net for his second goal of the game.

Then, as the first period was ending, Honacki would tally his hat-trick goal to push the Upper Montgomery lead to 5-3 at the conclusion of the first period. Off of a faceoff to the left of Coronel in the Bears defensive zone, Honacki pushed the puck forward off the draw, he then stepped around the Carroll County center and defender. Honacki curled and dragged the puck and pushed a backhand shot into the feet of Coronel. The puck just squirted inside the near goal post with ten seconds remaining on the clock concluding a back and forth wildly entertaining first period of hockey.

The second period was more subdued than the first period. Once again, the Bears fought back to tie the game at five. With 8:30 left in the period, Marks won a faceoff in the right circle in the Lightning defensive zone. The puck was won back to Dandorf at the right point. His wrist shot short side beat Hassett’s glove hand. Then, a minute later, yet another Upper Montgomery turnover led to the tying goal. A misplay at the left point in the Lightning offensive zone led to a Dandorf breakaway from the far blue line. Dandorf skated in all alone and deposited a shot from six feet in front of Hassett blocker side for his hat-trick.

With four minutes remaining in the second period, Honacki would push Upper Montgomery back in front. He skated down the left wing boards into the offensive zone and shot the puck wide of the net. The puck was held in at the right point by Roth. Roth’s shot attempt was blocked and came to Honacki in the slot. Honacki’s backhand shot was saved by Coronel. The rebound went to Hyman low in the right circle. Hyman’s shot was also blocked and went behind the net. Honacki was first to the puck and passed the puck into the slot to Hughes. Hughes’s spinning backhand shot went wide of the net but right to Honacki who shoveled a backhand shot over Coronel’s leg pads and below his blocker for the 6-5 lead. At the conclusion of the second period, Upper Montgomery had thirteen shots on goal and had scored on nearly half their shots.

Upper Montgomery successfully killed off a late second period penalty to Nadler for cross checking and an early third period penalty to Howerton for roughing. A minute after the penalty to Howerton ended, the Bears would strike again to once again tie the game, this time at six. Dandorf recovered the puck in the Bears defensive zone. He skated through two Lightning defenders passing the puck to the left over to Marks. Marks entered the Upper Montgomery defensive zone and jump stopped just to the left of the slot area. He fired a wrist shot low glove side across the grain from the direction he had entered the offensive zone into the wide side of the net.

One minute later it was Honacki time for goal number five on the evening. Off a faceoff to the left of Coronel, Carroll County won possession of the puck deep in the corner. Honacki won a puck battle and shot towards the net from a bad angle behind the goal line to Coronel’s right. The puck went into Coronel’s skates and trickled over the goal line before Gottesman swatted the puck deeper into the net for good measure.

One final penalty kill was needed when Jason Woodman was whistled for tripping with five minutes remaining in the game. Then, after the successful kill, Upper Montgomery navigated the six on five extra skater advantage with Coronel pulled for the extra attacker.

With 23 seconds remaining in the game after an innocent bump to the side of Hassett’s net as the Bears pushed to tie the game Nadler and Marks began throwing punches. Both were given five minute majors for fighting and game misconducts sending both skaters to their locker rooms early. Nadler and Marks play together on their outside club ice hockey team so the fight between them was unexpected. Because of their penalties, expect supplemental discipline for both Marks and Nadler which will impact both teams’ playoff chances.

Game Notes:

  • Honacki’s five goals and six points are Lightning junior varsity program records.
  • Carroll County outshot Upper Montgomery 27-21 for the game.
  • Power play opportunities were uneven, five for Carroll County and Upper Montgomery did not have a single powerplay opportunity.
  • Henry Honacki upped his goal total on the season to twelve and he scored for the fourth game in a row.
  • Callum Hughes contributed his first career goal and multi-point game by also adding an assist.
  • Both Josh Nadler and Sean Levine will face supplemental discipline for their actions against the Bears and will likely both miss the opening round junior varsity playoff game.
  • The Upper Montgomery junior varsity begins defense of their 2021 – 2022 Montgomery Hockey Conference junior varsity championship on Monday, January 16th against an opponent to be determined.

Three Stars of the Game:

First Star—Henry Honacki—Upper Montgomery Center—5 Goals, 1 Assist
Second Star—Lucas Dandorff—Carroll County Defense—3 Goals, 2 Assists
Third Star—Henry Marks—Carroll County Forward–2 Goals, 2 Assists

Lightning Strike Blog–March 2023

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The 2022 – 2023 high school hockey season has concluded. Congratulations are being sent out to Walter Johnson for winning their first ever Maryland Student Hockey League championship. The thrilling 5-4 victory over Churchill in the state final ended the Bulldogs nine season run as rulers of high school hockey in the Maryland/DC area. With most of their team returning next season, Churchill will by far be anointed as the pre-season number one team in the area.

Walter Johnson made it a two fer by also winning the Montgomery Hockey Conference junior varsity championship.

As Upper Montgomery looks to a very bright future, the program will be graduating five seniors, team captain George Benedick, Ethan Hockey, Andrew Gean, Stephen Shkeda, and Lucas Eyman. A huge thank you to these five student athletes for everything they brought to the program over the past four seasons.  They were the last link to the program that transitioned from Damascus, et al. to the Upper Montgomery Lightning, and they helped so much with the transition and the transformation of the Lightning program over the past four years. 

Congratulations to Nathan Cassel for being named honorable mention Montgomery Hockey Conference Division One forward.

Spring hockey begins next month. There were eleven prospective student athletes who attended the spring season introductory webinar. The team is looking forward to these new student athletes taking the ice just after spring break.

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

Lightning Strike Blog–February 2023

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The 2022 – 2023 high school hockey season was a season of growth and historic firsts for the Upper Montgomery Lightning. Yes, the sting of last week’s division two semifinal loss will be with the team all off-season, but that outcome should not take away from a number of history making firsts for the Lightning/Damascus et al. program.  It was satisfying to see the team succeed after going through some tough times and difficult challenges the past two seasons as the team matured and developed.

The Lightning finished the season ranked 6th in Montgomery County.  The team’s highest finish ever. The team finished ranked 11th out of the public school programs in Maryland and DC, also a program high. The team finished ranked 22nd in all of Maryland/DC high school ice hockey, another milestone finish for the program. Per the rankings system, the Lightning had the 15th toughest schedule in the Maryland/DC area.  This includes the private school league (St. Johns’ top team, Georgetown Prep, etc..) and finished with an overall 8-7-2 record. 

The team won its first ever division one playoff game!  The 2-1 overtime thrilling victory over St. Johns will also be remembered as skate-gate for the craziness of having to play four minutes in the second period without a goalie while the bench scrambled to repair Landon’s skate blade. Hunter Cameron scored the program’s first ever overtime game winning goal.

The team was one goal away from making the state playoff tournament for the first time ever.  The team tied Churchill. The playoff game is recorded as a tie with Churchill advancing 3-2 on penalty shots.  Churchill had not lost a county or state playoff game in nine seasons. The heartbreaking outcome was made more so by how hard the team played and just needing one more either in five on five play, three on three play, or in the skills competition shootout. To put it in perspective, all four MHC teams won their opening round state playoff game and are competing in the state quarterfinals. Upper Montgomery was that close….but earned the team’s first ever points against the Bulldogs.

Upper Montgomery beat Wootton for the first time ever in December just prior to winter break. The 8-2 pounding of the Patriots broke a fourteen year period without a victory against what has been one of the historically top teams in the county. The Lightning proved that the pre-winter break win was no fluke by sweeping the Patriots coming out of the winter break with a 4-2 victory.

The team won against Quince Orchard when Quince Orchard was ranked number two in the county.  The win was the program’s best win in terms of opponent’s ranking in team history.

The team tied BCC–The program’s first ever points earned against the Barons.

Key for the program this season was the maturation of the team’s core group of student athletes. It makes a world of difference to field a roster of experienced student athletes rather than relying on highly talented 9th graders and sophomores. The offensive production this year was more evenly distributed. Last year, the team had only five skaters score five or more goals for the entire season. This year, the team has seven student athletes with five or more goals.

What really helped the Lightning explode up the conference standings and rankings was the team’s defense five on five. Upper Montgomery gave up fewer chances than over the past two seasons. Limiting the opposition’s chances and playing a tighter defensive system made it difficult for teams to score against Upper Montgomery. Not yielding too many goals allowed the offensive firepower to carry the Lightning to victories. The Lightning averaged .6 more goals per game than last season (4.76 to 4.06) playing against a tougher schedule as part of division one.

The Churchill performance has no team looking past Upper Montgomery anymore. The Lightning are no longer going to sneak up on the top echelon programs. The program will be looking to ascend even higher next fall and that will begin with the 2023 spring season.

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

Semifinal Round Division Two Playoffs—Sherwood Game Preview

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The Upper Montgomery Lightning host the Sherwood Warriors on Wednesday afternoon in the semifinal round of the Montgomery Hockey Conference Division Two playoff tournament. Game time is set for 4:00 pm at Laurel Ice Gardens. The Lightning will be looking to continue their excellent defensive play of late after holding St. Johns and Churchill both to just one goal each, and then holding Blair to only one goal during the competitive portion of last Friday’s division two quarterfinal game. Unlike during the regular season matchup between the two teams in early December, a game won by Upper Montgomery 6-1, Sherwood will have its full roster for this playoff clash.

Sherwood is driven by four highly skilled student athletes. Senior Jeremy Isaacs (18U AA) leads the team with (11GP, 19G, 11A). Junior Grayson Winckler (16U AA) has (12GP, 14G, 11A). Sophomore Noi Jonasson (16U AAA) has (10GP, 12G, 11A), and he scored a ‘michigan goal’ last season against Upper Montgomery. Jonasson may be the purest and most talented skater on the ice in this game. On defense, the Warriors are led by senior Samuel Greenberg (18U AA), (14GP, 11G, 2A). Sherwood tries to win games by outscoring their opponents. As with last week’s game, the Lightning will have to carefully determine when to press forward offensively while these skilled student athletes are on the ice. Keeping the Warriors out of transition attack mode will limit Sherwood’s ability to score goals. All four of these talented student athletes will try and rush the puck up ice fast break style which often times gets the Warriors in trouble off the counter attack. The Warriors are weak defensively and Upper Montgomery should be able to take advantage of the Warriors back line. Sherwood also does not possess a tremendous amount of depth. So, when the Warriors top four are not on the ice, or if they are split up on different lines, the Lightning will have an advantage.

For what seems like the first time in ages, Upper Montgomery will have a full roster dressed in Wednesday’s game. Leading scorer Chris Hassett (15GP, 12G, 18A) will center Nathan Cassel (11GP, 10G, 13A) and Philip Shkeda (13GP, 7G, 5A). On the second line expect Ryan Jacobson to focus on stopping Noi Jonasson while also adding to his offensive production (9GP, 12G, 4A). He will likely center Brandon Bernard (13GP, 9G, 6A) and Henry Honacki, who is coming off a two assist game against Blair. The third line will feature Bradley Cupples (14GP, 3G, 10A), who is coming off of a four point game against Blair, his finest performance this season, centering Hunter Cameron fresh from his three point effort against the Blazers, and Olivia Robbins (10GP, 5G, 5A). Cameron has points in all three playoff games this season. Playing against mostly the second division teams, Sherwood is averaging giving up 5.57 goals per game. If the Lightning play hard, the team should be able to light the lamp on Wednesday afternoon.

The defense will also be fully stocked. Senior George Benedick is the team’s leading defensive scorer with (14GP, 5G, 10A), and he will be looking to extend his high school career by one more game. Sophomore Andrew Botti has provided a steadying presence on the back line. His quick puck moving skills and transition up ice has eliminated many opponents’ offensive chances. Senior Ethan Hockey (14GP, 3G, 7A) has the skating ability to catch and eliminate the Warriors speedy forwards. Ninth grade defender Brady Berkhammer always seems to be in the correct position, or he gets his stick on a forward’s shot to cancel out scoring chances.

In goal, Landon Bernard will be looking to continue his recent stretch of very strong performances. He has been very good in goal the past couple of weeks and played exceptionally well in the shootout loss to nine time state champion Churchill. In the playoffs, he has stopped 79 of 84 shots on goal for a .940 save percentage to go along with his 2-0-1 record, and 1.65 goals against average. Sherwood will start Samuel Hutt in net. Hutt (4-7 record) has been left out to dry by a porous Warriors defense and has a 6.02 goals against average, and a .775 save percentage.

Last week’s victory was a nice start to the division two playoffs. The Lightning can’t be satisfied in just advancing farther than last season. The team needs to be greedy and play excellent team hockey for the full 45 minutes. If Upper Montgomery plays a strong, unselfish, team game like the team did last week against Blair, sharing the puck and pounding it at the net, the Warriors will find it difficult to match up against the Lightning. Upper Montgomery needs to have an attitude and take it right to the Warriors physically from the opening faceoff.

Playing good defensive hockey is the key to victory and a spot in the division two championship game on Friday afternoon. Just like during the regular season meeting, the outcome of the game will depend on Upper Montgomery’s ability to keep Sherwood’s top skaters off the scoresheet. Upper Montgomery needs to forget about last week’s game and remain hungry for wins. It is time to play with a swagger and make other teams prove that they can beat Upper Montgomery. Bring it home again this week Lightning. Go Bolts!

Quarterfinal Round Division Two Playoffs—Blair Game Preview

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The Upper Montgomery Lightning return to game action on Friday evening versus the Blair Blazers in the quarterfinal round of the Montgomery Hockey Conference Division Two playoffs. Game time is 9:40 pm at Rockville Ice Arena. Friday’s game will be an intriguing test for the young Lightning roster coming off of last week’s heroic performance and at the same time heartbreaking loss to Churchill in the Division One playoffs. Upper Montgomery nearly pulled off the greatest upset in the history of Maryland high school hockey going toe-to-toe with the mighty Churchill Bulldogs. Churchill has won nine of the past eleven state championships. They have also not lost in the county or state playoffs in nine seasons. The Lightning succumbed by one shot in a five round shootout after playing the perennial powerhouse even through both regulation and overtime.

The biggest question this week will be how the team responds to being so, so close to qualifying for the state playoffs? Can the team put last week’s heartbreak behind them and come out and play with a similar effort? The regular season matchup against Blair (a 9-1 victory) is not a good indicator of how the playoff game will turn out. Blair will have all three of its premier forwards available for Friday’s game. That trio is very dangerous and are able to win games for the Blazers by themselves covering up a lot of the Blazers’ shortcomings.

In goal, Landon Bernard will be looking to build off of his best performance ever for the Lightning. Holding Churchill to only one goal through 50 minutes of action and stopping two shootout attempts by AAA skaters. He was fabulous last week and one of the primary reasons that the Lightning even had an opportunity to win the contest. Upper Montgomery will have a distinct advantage in goal this week. Lily Bendavid will tend the net for Blair. She has won her last two starts fairly easily. Her statistics for the season are rather pedestrian. Her record is three wins and ten losses. She has a 6.92 goals against average and a .760 save percentage. In contrast, Bernard’s record is 7-6-2. He has a 3.53 goals against average and an .868 save percentage. In Upper Montgomery’s two playoff games his statistics are an eye popping 0.96 goals against average and a .966 save percentage, stopping 56 of 58 shots on goal.

Blair has three very high-end forwards, Chris Birchard (11GP, 13G, 7A), Alex Birchard (12GP, 7G, 11A), and Michael Humphreys (6GP, 10G, 3A). These three seniors all play 18U AA travel hockey and are very offensive minded. They will be hard to miss on the ice. Their speed and singular focus on offense can be hard for opponents to play against. Upper Montgomery will have to carefully determine when to press forward offensively while these three student athletes are on the ice. Their counter attack style of play often leads to multiple odd skater rushes each game. The Lightning defense will need to recognize which student athletes are on the ice and adjust quickly or else the Blazers will burn them in transition and score goals.

Upper Montgomery’s offense should be able to find the net against Blair. The core of the Lightning’s offense will be on the ice Friday led by junior center Chris Hassett, the team’s leading scorer (13GP, 10G, 17A). Joining Hassett on the top line is likely to be Hunter Cameron with a rotation on left wing. Cameron scored in overtime against St. Johns two weeks ago to provide Upper Montgomery with the team’s first ever Division One playoff victory. Centering the second line will be Ryan Jacobson (8GP, 10G, 3A). He is likely to play with Brandon Bernard (12GP, 8G, 3A) with another rotation on right wing. Bradley Cupples will center the third line as well as taking some shifts at wing on the top two lines. Expect Henry Honacki, Josh Nadler, and Adam Levine to receive periodic playing time throughout the game as well.

On defense, Upper Montgomery will have its top two defenders log a significant amount of ice time. Senior captain George Benedick (13GP, 5G, 8A) will be looking to extend his Lightning career if Upper Montgomery is able to secure the win. Andrew Botti (12GP, 3G, 4A) will likely pair with Benedick whenever Blair’s big three forwards are on the ice. Stephen Shkeda will hope to extend his career games played record. Shkeda has played in the most career games of any Upper Montgomery student athlete. He will play in his 80th career game on Friday evening. His scrappy, energetic play will be a boost to the defensive corps.

To advance to the semifinals of the Montgomery Hockey Conference Division Two playoffs, Upper Montgomery needs to play a complete game and not give up too many high quality scoring chances to the Blazers. If Upper Montgomery is able to limit Blair’s offensive production, the Lightning should be able to find the net enough to come away with the victory. In the playoffs, the games are almost always lower scoring, tight checking affairs. If Upper Montgomery completes and plays its guts out like the team did last week, the Lightning should be able to book a spot in next week’s Division Two semifinal against Sherwood. A win would also advance the team farther this year than last season when the Lightning lost in the quarterfinal round of the Division Two playoffs. Go Bolts!

Division One Playoffs Round Two – Churchill Game Preview

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Breaking News: Upper Montgomery Wins First Ever Playoff Game. Cameron Scores Thrilling Overtime Game Winning Goal.

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In thrilling fashion, the Upper Montgomery Lightning won its first ever division one varsity playoff game late Friday night with a come from behind 2-1 overtime victory against the St. Johns Cadets at Rockville Ice Arena. With the win, Upper Montgomery advances to face long-time perennial powerhouse Churchill in round two of the division one playoffs. The winner of next Friday’s game will advance to the Maryland state high school playoff tournament. The Churchill game will be Upper Montgomery’s first ever chance at a state playoff berth.

In Upper Montgomery’s first ever overtime game, Hunter Cameron finished off a two on one rush with a forehand snapshot into a wide open net. The play originated deep in the Lightning defensive zone. Lightning center Chris Hassett swung the puck from behind the Upper Montgomery goal up the right wing boards to George Benedick. Benedick protected the puck with his body. While shielding the puck from the St. Johns’ attacking skater, he placed a neat little spinning backhand pass into open ice toward Cameron in the center of the defensive zone.  Behind the net, Hassett collided with the St. Johns’ defender who dropped his stick behind the goal. Hassett beat the St. Johns’ skater up ice to create the two on one play. 

As they entered the offensive zone, the lone remaining defender closed in on Cameron who made the correct read and sent the puck over to Hassett coming down the off wing on the left side.  Cameron’s pass was an aerial pass, knee high, and Hassett did an excellent job knocking the puck out of mid-air while controlling the puck. In doing so, he was wide of the net with a poor angle to shoot on his backhand. Instead, with St. Johns’ goalie Jack Faricy committing to Hassett and a likely shot on goal, Hassett backhand passed the puck across the ice to Cameron who was wide open in front of the net at the right post. Cameron buried the cross ice return pass into the net from three feet out and two feet outside the right post sending the jubilant Lightning bench pouring over the boards and into a mob pile along the far boards surrounding Cameron. For Cameron, it was a memorable way to score his first goal of the season and send the Upper Montgomery spectators into a wild celebration.

In a gritty and tightly contested game, Upper Montgomery defended all over the ice and limited the Cadets scoring opportunities. St. Johns managed just 23 shots on goal for the game and went a long stretch of the second and third period with zero shots. This included a four minute span of the second period where the Lightning were forced to play with six skaters on the ice as Upper Montgomery’s goalie Landon Bernard lost a skate blade that needed to be replaced on the bench.

From the outset it was clear that Upper Montgomery was the better team, even while missing two important forwards, Nathan Cassell and Ryan Jacobson. The Lightning earned eight powerplays during the game, but were unable to mount much pressure with the extra skater. When Upper Montgomery was able to tilt the ice, St. Johns netminder, Jack Faricy was there to make the timely saves.

With two and a half minutes remaining in the first period, St. Johns would jump in front with leading scorer Teddy Kurowski scoring a shorthanded goal. Unfortunately for the Lightning, the play was two feet offside, a call that was missed by both referees. The St. Johns lead would hold until the five minute mark of the second period when Philip Shkeda scored off of a two on one pass from Brandon Bernard. The play was set up by a fine defensive play and pass up ice by Lightning forward Olivia Robbins who sprung her linemates on the two on one odd skater rush. The score would remain even at one for the final 25 minutes of regulation setting up the climatic three on three overtime session.

The remaining teams alive in the Montgomery Hockey Conference varsity division one playoffs are:

Wootton (9) versus Walter Johnson (1)

Upper Montgomery (7) versus Churchill (2)

Richard Montgomery (6) versus Quince Orchard (3)

Whitman (5) versus BCC (4)

St. Johns Game Preview–First Round of the Division One Playoffs

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

BCC Game Preview

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Richard Montgomery Game Preview

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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