Author: chucklevine

After a thrilling shootout victory over the Northwest Jaguars in the quarterfinal round of the junior varsity playoffs, the Upper Montgomery Lightning will host third seeded Rockville/Blair on Wednesday evening at Laurel Ice Gardens. By virtue of its 6-2 victory over Rockville/Blair in mid-January, Upper Montgomery won the tie-break over Rockville/Blair and finished the regular season in second place in the conference standings. The win also determined which team would be the home team if they met in the playoffs. As the home team, the Lightning will have last line change and will be able to create the matchups that the coaching staff believes will give the team an advantage.

Upper Montgomery has been playing its best hockey of the season since the start of January. The team won its last three games of the regular season with convincing victories over Rockville, Northwest, and Churchill. The Lightning then again prevailed over Northwest in a gritty and hard fought defensive smothering in last week’s 2-1 shootout victory in the quarterfinals. Upper Montgomery finished the regular season with a 5-3 conference record and now has a 6-4-2 overall record. The team is guaranteed a final record over .500 when the season concludes, a sharp turnaround from last season’s 1-6-1 record in its first year of existence. But, beware, the talent level in junior varsity is very close and winning games often comes down to which team executes and plays better in that particular game. Wednesday’s semi-final game against Rockville/Blair will be no different.

In net for the Lightning will be Landon Bernard who is in the middle of a stretch where he is playing the best hockey of his high school career. Bernard has a 2.88 goals against average and an .876 save percentage. His individual statistics would be even better if the game versus Landon School was not included. Landon School’s junior varsity team is equivalent to a varsity team.

On defense the Lightning will have a full complement of defenders. George Benedick, Ethan Hockey, and Andrew Gean will play down from varsity to provide experience and to be a stabilizing influence for the Lightning’s two young junior varsity defenders, Patrick Sell and Cole Howerton. The defense will need to shut down the high flying Rockville/Blair offense. In Rockville/Blair’s playoff victory over Walter Johnson, the team was led by Brendyn Iliff with two goals and an assist and George Marcolin with two goals. Over the course of the regular season, Chance Hostletter scored five goals and both Ari Gardner and JJ St. Aubin scored three times in limited action. In net for Rockville/Blair will be Sean Connelly. Connelly stopped 29 of 32 shots he faced against Walter Johnson to grab the playoff win. Goaltending could be an area that determines which team wins this game, and with Landon Bernard playing so well Upper Montgomery would seem to have the advantage between the pipes.

The Lightning’s offense ticked up as the regular season went on. With 20 goals over its last four games, the team finally began getting more balanced scoring to take the pressure off the defense and Landon Bernard. Brandon Bernard leads the team in scoring (11 GP, 5 G, 9 A). Bradley Cupples, coming off several strong games in a row, is next with (8 GP, 5 G, 5 A). Joshua Miller leads the team with six goals in 11 games including several outstanding solo breakaway goals. Josh Nadler has chipped in with five goals in his first high school season. The Upper Montgomery powerplay was downright awful during the regular season (2 for 35, 5.7%), but did score late versus the Jaguars to get the game into overtime before eventually winning the shootout. The penalty kill was excellent this season (39 of 43, 90.7%), but failed in its one shorthanded opportunity versus Northwest. Lately though, the Lightning have owned puck possession during their opponents’ powerplays.

Upper Montgomery is looking to advance to the junior varsity championship game for the first time in program history. The Lightning will need every student athlete to play their best and contribute to a complete team victory. Controlling play throughout the game by pressuring the Rockville/Blair defense into turnovers and special teams play will be the two primary keys to victory. The chase for a championship continues and let’s hope Wednesday evening brings the Lightning one step closer.

The Upper Montgomery junior varsity will host its first ever junior varsity home playoff game on Friday night at Cabin John Ice Rink. Game time is approximately 9:15pm, directly after the conclusion of the Walter Johnson versus Rockville game. The Lightning concluded the regular season in second place in the conference standings finishing behind Richard Montgomery. It is quite an impressive turnaround from last season’s last place finish and early play in game playoff exit.

The Lightning have been playing their best hockey of the season since the start of January and at just the right time. Coming off of three straight convincing victories over Rockville, Northwest, and Churchill, Upper Montgomery is hoping for a long playoff run. Friday’s game will be against the winner of Northwest and Churchill, a game that will be played Thursday afternoon. The team finished the regular season with a 5-3 conference record and a 5-4-2 overall record. Although Upper Montgomery will be favored in Friday night’s game, the talent level in junior varsity is very close and winning games often comes down to which team executes and plays better in that particular game.

In net for the Lightning will be Landon Bernard who is in the middle of a stretch where he is playing the best hockey of his high school career. Bernard finished the regular season with a very respectable 3.08 goals against average and an .876 save percentage. His individual statistics would be even better if the game versus Landon School was not included. Landon School’s junior varsity team is equivalent to a varsity team.

On defense the Lightning will have a full complement of defenders. George Benedick, Andrew Gean, and Stephen Shkeda will play down from varsity to provide experience and to be a stabilizing influence for the Lightning’s two young junior varsity defenders, Patrick Sell and Cole Howerton. The defense will need to shut down Brady Graham if Northwest is the Lightning’s opponent. Graham led the Montgomery Hockey Conference junior varsity in goals with 11 in six games. His 11 goals were 40.7% (27 goals) of the Jaguars offensive production. If the opponent is Churchill, a team Upper Montgomery beat this past week 6-1, the Bulldogs struggle offensively and scored only 10 goals in eight regular season games. Upper Montgomery gave up only one goal each to both Northwest and Churchill, however, Northwest played without Graham in the lineup and his presence on the ice will dramatically change the game.

The Lightning’s offense ticked up as the regular season went on. With 20 goals over its last four games, the team finally began getting more balanced scoring to take the pressure off the defense and Landon Bernard. Brandon Bernard led the team in scoring (10 GP, 5 G, 9 A). Bradley Cupples, coming off two strong games in a row, was next with (7 GP, 5 G, 4 A). Joshua Miller led the team with six goals in 11 games including several outstanding solo breakaway goals. Josh Nadler chipped in and scored four goals in his first high school season. The Upper Montgomery powerplay was downright awful during the regular season (2 for 35, 5.7%) and cost the team in several close losses. The penalty kill was excellent this season (39 of 43, 90.7%) and lately the Lightning have owned puck possession during their opponents’ powerplays.

The Lightning will need every student athlete to play their best and contribute to a complete team victory. Controlling play throughout the game by pressuring the opponent into turnovers and special teams play will be the two primary keys to victory. Upper Montgomery is primed for a deep run in the junior varsity playoffs but will need to play up to its abilities in every game. The chase for a championship is on and let’s hope Friday night is step one with the team advancing to next week’s semifinal round.

The Upper Montgomery Lightning will play their first ever Montgomery Hockey Conference Division One playoff game against Richard Montgomery on Friday night. Game time is 9:20 pm at Rockville Ice Arena. With an overflow crowd expected, it should supercharge the arena and provide an electric atmosphere. Maybe that will be good news for the Lightning who will be looking to end a four game losing streak, which started at the hands of the Rockets last month. Richard Montgomery prevailed 4-1 in mid-January in a game that was tied 1-1 late into the second period.

All of the pressure is squarely on the Rockets who lost in the state championship final game last season. The young Lightning should be able to play free and loose as all of the prognosticators are picking the Rockets to win and advance to play Walter Johnson next week for a spot in the state championship playoff tournament. While Richard Montgomery boasts a more experienced lineup, the Rockets have had an up and down season and at times have given up goals in bunches; nine against Quince Orchard, seven against Blair, six against Churchill, and five each in games against, Wootton, St. Johns, BCC, and Walter Johnson.

The Lightning are expected to start Will Mellen in goal. Mellen made 40 saves in his first start against Richard Montgomery in January, with 19 saves coming in the third period as Upper Montgomery pushed up ice to try and claw back into the game. His season goals against average is 2.36, and his save percentage is exactly .900. He will need to play very well in this game for Upper Montgomery to have a chance for an upset. Mellen certainly has it in him to singlehandedly frustrate the opponent. The longer Upper Montgomery is able to keep Richard Montgomery off the scoreboard, the more pressure the Rockets will face. It is anticipated that Henry Darko will again get the start in net for the Rockets. He has been Richard Montgomery’s main goalie this season and was sharp against the Lightning giving up only one goal on 20 shots, stopping both Chris Hasset and Hunter Cameron on breakaway opportunities.

On defense Upper Montgomery can’t get caught pinching at the blue line and get skated around into odd numbered rushes up ice. The defense will have to quickly pass the puck up to the forwards for quick zone exits. The forwards will have to work hard and play complementary defense coming back into the defensive zone to help negate the Rockets scoring chances. If Upper Montgomery can muck up the game and smother the Rockets, it will even the age and talent difference. The Rockets have five high scoring student athletes; Dylan Goetz a high scoring forward (11 GP, 11 goals and 11 assists), defender Luke Gutmann who plays externally at the 18U AA travel level (8 GP, 15 goals and 5 assists), forward Daniel Martella who also plays externally at the 18U AA travel level (10 GP, 9 goals and 8 assists), defender Mitchell Bobys, (18U AA travel) who has (11 GP, 7 goals and 7 assists), and Zac Bulson (18U AA travel) who has played well in limited action (6 GP, 3 goals and 4 assists).

This time around, the Lightning will have high scoring defender James Botti and forward Nathan Cassel available for the game. Both student athletes missed the tilt in January as they were out of town with their external travel teams. Expect the Lightning defense to play physical against the Rockets and with a full complement of defenders, the coaching staff may shorten the bench and go with the defenders who are playing well in front of Mellen. Although the Upper Montgomery penalty kill has been excellent on the season, (44 of 48, 91.7%), giving the Rockets more than a few powerplay chances would not be the recipe for the Lightning to come out on top.

In three of the last four games, the Lightning’s offense has been non-existent. With the forward lines back together, the hope is that the Lightning are able to get a few more past Darko by pressuring the Rockets into turnovers. The top line will be Chris Hassett (13 GP, 14 goals, 15 assists), Ryan Jacobson (10 GP, 7 goals, 9 assists), and Nathan Cassel (10 GP, 11 goals, 6 assists). The second line will feature Bradley Cupples (13 GP, 1 goal, 11 assists), Hunter Cameron (13 GP, 5 goals, 7 assists), and Olivia Robbins (9 GP, 1 goal, 3 assists). If behind in the game, don’t be surprised to see James Botti elevated from his defensive position to play shifts at forward. On the third line, expect Brandon Bernard to center Stephen Shkeda and Josh Nadler. Depending upon the flow of the game, it is also possible that the first and second lines may get double shifted with a few shifts picked up by other forwards.

An Upper Montgomery win versus Richard Montgomery would be a signature victory for the Lightning program. It would be a major upset and a breakthrough statement to all programs in the Montgomery Hockey Conference. The Lightning hope to continue to play smothering defense on Friday night. A win would move the team one step away from a first ever state championship tournament appearance. Even with a loss the Lightning’s season will not be over. The Montgomery Hockey Conference division two playoff tournament kicks off on Friday, February 18th. We hope to see you on Friday evening rocking the green and gold and cheering on the Lightning.

The Upper Montgomery junior varsity concludes its regular season on Tuesday morning versus the Churchill Bulldogs. With a victory the Lightning will end the regular season in second place in the conference standings. A tie will also secure a home game in the quarterfinal round of the upcoming playoffs. A loss would drop Upper Montgonery to fifth place in the regular season standings. Game time is 11:40 am at Skate Frederick.

The Lightning have begun playing their best hockey of the season at just the right time. Coming off of two straight convincing victories over Rockville and Northwest, Upper Montgomery has played its way into the top half of the Montgomery Hockey Conference junior varsity standings. The team currently has a 4-3 conference record and is 4-4-2 on the season. It is a great turnaround from last season’s 1-6-1 record where the Lightning were continuously outplayed and finished in last place in the junior varsity standings.

Churchill comes into the game in last place in the conference standings with only one win on the season, in its season opener. However, Upper Montgonery should not be overconfident as Churchill has played much better of late. While the Bulldogs have scored the least number of goals in the conference and have given up the most goals in the conference, all of the junior varsity teams are evenly matched. In net for the Bulldogs will be Cameron Shure. Shure is an inexperienced 9th grader and has been let down by the Bulldog defense all season. He comes into the game with a 7.67 goals against average and a .727 save percentage. On Friday night, he played well giving up four goals to a talented Whitman squad.

In net for the Lightning will be Landon Bernard who is coming off of three straight strong performances. Bernard has lowered his season goals against average to 3.28 and his save percentage has climbed to .871. He personal statistics would be a 2.74 goals against average and a .887 save percentage if the game against Landon School was not included.

On defense the Lightning will likely skate with four defenders. Andrew Gean and Stephen Shkeda will play down from varsity to be a stabilizing influence for the young Lightning junior varsity defense of Patrick Sell and Cole Howerton. Against Northwest Gean played by far his best game of the season. Shkeda’s tenacity in defending has been valuable in winning pucks and helping clear the defensive zone. It is anticipated that Josh Nadler, Bradley Cupples, and Brandon Bernard could also skate some shifts on defense rotating out of the center position. The defense will be looking to keep the Bulldogs offense at bay and continue their season long offensive struggles. The leading scorer for Churchill is Allen Huebl who has one goal and three assists on the season.

Offensively, the Lightning’s offense has begun to kick into gear. With fourteen goals in its last three games, the team is finally getting more balanced scoring to take the pressure off the defense. Brandon Bernard leads the team in scoring (9 GP, 5 G, 8 A). Bradley Cupples, coming off a strong game in his most recent game versus Rockville with two goals and an assist, is next with (6 GP, 3 G, 4 A). Joshua Miller leads the team with five goals in ten games including several outstanding solo breakaway goals. Josh Nadler has chipped in and scored three goals so far in his first high school season. Then, the scoring thins considerably. The Lightning need the additional depth scoring to continue if they are going to beat Churchill. Lately, Lucas Eyman, James Hyman, and Henry Honacki have found the back of the net. Controlling play right from the beginning of the game will demoralize the Bulldogs. The longer that Churchill remains in the game, the more confidence they will gain. It will be up to the Lightning to force play and impose their will on the last place Bulldogs.

The Upper Montgomery Lightning play their final regular season game of the 2021-2022 season this coming Friday night versus the St. Johns Cadets. The Cadets are a deep and experienced team and could pose matchup problems for the Lightning. St. Johns comes into the game with a 5-4 record on the season having very tightly played the top teams in the Montgomery Hockey Conference. St. Johns is riding a three game winning streak and has won five of their last six games after a slow start to the season. St. Johns is coming off a come from behind win against Northwest in which they scored three goals in the third period. It will be another stiff challenge for the young Lightning, but one that the team is very much looking forward to as they look to rebound from Monday’s loss in Hagerstown against Washington County.

Will Mellen gets the start in net for the Lightning. He will be looking to bounce back from his toughest two outings of the season. Mellen enters the game with a 4-3-1 record on the season, a 2.13 goals against average, and a .908 save percentage. Prior to his two most recent games, he had been stellar in net. Upper Montgomery will need to play a hard, physical, defensive style to limit St. Johns’ scoring chances and take away time and space so that the Cadets do not control the tempo and pace of the game.

This weekend is a big weekend for travel team tournaments. St. Johns will be missing several key student athletes. When all members of the team are present, the Cadets are led by junior defender John Carney who has seven goals in five games. St. Johns has multiple AAA level travel team student athletes and a bunch of AA level travel team student athletes. After Carney, the Cadets have evenly dispersed scoring depth. In goal for the Cadets is expected to be senior Julian Goodfellow who has played well this year with a 2-2 record, a 2.50 goals against average, and a .884 save percentage.

The Upper Montgomery defense should have a full complement of skaters for the game. With the entire lineup available to the coaching staff, expect the defensive pairings to be shuffled so that different pairing combinations can be evaluated as the team gears up for the playoffs. A constant for the team this season has been an outstanding penalty kill which needs to continue to excel. Upper Montgomery has killed off 28 straight shorthanded situations and has killed off 40 of 43 chances on the season, 93%. The Botti brothers, James and Andrew, George Benedick, Ethan Hockey, and Andrew Gean will need to play aggressively to take away time and space from the Cadets forwards. They must play the body to impede and frustrate the Cadets forwards. However, they will need to be careful not to pinch at the offensive blue line giving the Cadets odd skater rushes up ice. The Lightning forwards will need to help out the defense and bust back defensively to cover open skaters.

Upper Montgomery will be missing two key contributors on offense with Ryan Jacobson and Nathan Cassel both out of the lineup with their travel teams out-of-town. Losing this offensive firepower (Ryan Jacobson ’10 GP, 7 G, 9 A’, and Nathan Cassell ’10 GP, 11 G, 6 A’) will present opportunities for other forwards to grab additional ice time based upon their performance in the early portion of the game. Expect the coaching staff to tinker with the lines to find line combinations that provide chemistry and are effective against the Cadets. The lack of scoring depth this season has hurt the team’s ability to separate in games. With Jacobson and Cassel absent, expect much to be asked of top line center Chris Hassett to lead the way (12 GP, 13 G, 15 A). Hunter Cameron (12 GP, 5 G, 6 A) and Bradley Cupples (12 GP, 1 G, 11 A) will need to shoulder more of the load against St. Johns. Depending upon the flow of the game, James Botti may see shifts at forward if the offense has a hard time getting started and generating chances. Getting offensive contribution from the defense could be the difference in this game as goals may be tough to come by.

With the final conference rankings expected to be released late Monday evening, Upper Montgomery should find out on Tuesday which team it will face in the first round of the division one Montgomery Hockey Conference playoff tournament. The opening round game is anticipated to be played on Friday, February 4th with the time and location to be determined. A win or tie versus the Cadets could change the Upper Montgomery’s ranking enough to avoid having to play one of the top teams in the conference in the opening round of the tournament. Tournament seeding is at stake. Qualifying for the division one playoffs had been the one goal for the team this season and doing so is an accomplishment of which the team is proud of. But now that they have qualified for the playoffs, the team is not satisfied. Going toe to toe with St. Johns will open the eyes of the voters who determine the league’s rankings and will help solidify the team’s reputation as an up and coming team in future seasons.

You are invited to join the Lightning program for Senior Night on Friday where seniors James Botti, Adarsh Nair, and Joshua Miller will be honored. The ceremony will begin at approximately 8:45 pm just before puck drop.

The Upper Montgomery Lightning travel to Hagerstown on Monday night to face off against the Washington County Northstars. Game time is 7:00 pm at the Hagerstown Ice and Sports Complex. The Nortstars are one of the top teams in the Maryland Student Hockey League and come into the game with a 9-0 record overall, and a 7-0 record in the Monocacy Hockey Conference. This season, the Northstars have outscored their opponents by a margin of 61-9, and no team has scored more than two goals in a game against Washington County. It will be an extremely tough challenge for the young Lightning, but one that the team is very much looking forward to.

Coming off two consecutive losses against Richard Montgomery and Sherwood, Upper Montgomery will be looking to break its mini two game losing streak. The game against Washington County was intentionally scheduled to prepare the team for the upcoming Montgomery Hockey Conference division one playoffs where the Lightning will likely face a very high caliber team in the opening round. Washington County’s roster is littered with AAA and AA level travel student athletes and the team is very experienced with five seniors and five juniors likely to play in the game.

The Lightning may share the net minding duties in this non-conference game. Will Mellen who has started a majority of the varsity games in net, may get a break in this game. He had been stellar in net until the last two games where he has given up four and six goals in back-to-back games against higher level competition. In fairness, several of those goals have come off of odd numbered rushes up ice or turnovers directly in front of the goal. Landon Bernard who has played solid in net for the junior varsity may see some action in the game as well. The Northstars are averaging 6.78 goals a game and Upper Montgomery will need to play a hard defensive style to limit Washington County’s scoring chances. Washington County can get up and down the ice in a hurry and the Lightning will need multiple forwards skating hard and helping back on defense. The Lightning will also need to play a physical brand of hockey to take away time and space so that the Washington County student athletes do not have the opportunity to create fancy, dangling scoring opportunities.

Washington County is led on offense by a defender, junior Lucas Karlsson who has lit up the Maryland Student Hockey League. He plays AAA level travel hockey for the Little Caps and has (9 GP, 17 G, 6 A) to lead the Northstars in scoring. Next is Klayton Barr (9 GP, 10 G, 10 A), then Sammy Caesar (7 GP, 9 G, 7 A), Zane Hill (9 GP, 7 G, 9 A), Drew Glines (9 GP, 8 G, 8 A), Tyler Bjerklie (8 GP, 8 G, 5 A), and Ville Schoenborg who also plays AAA level travel hockey for the Little Caps (7 GP, 6 G 4 A). The Lightning will need to do everything possible to limit these high powered student athletes. In goal for the Northstars will be either Zachary Ciucci or Bryce Zeoli-Luisi. With the talent in front of them, it is hard to gauge their ability as the Northstars average only giving up 14 shots on goal and one goal against a game.

The one aspect to keep in mind is that the Northstars play very few good teams so some of their statistics are built up against much weaker competition. The two best teams the Northstars have faced, Oakdale (a 2-1 victory) and Walter Johnson (a 4-0 victory) were competitive games. A fair amount of stat building has occurred against the three teams at the bottom of the Monocacy Hockey Conference.

The Upper Montgomery defense should have a full complement of skaters for the game. With the entire lineup available to the coaching staff, expect the defensive pairings to be shuffled so that different pairing combinations can be evaluated as the team gears up for its final regular season conference game and then the playoffs. A constant for the team this season has been an outstanding penalty kill. Going into the box against the Northstars could be a game changer with the talent that Washington County will put out on their powerplay. The Botti brothers, James and Andrew, George Benedick, Ethan Hockey, and Andrew Gean will need to play aggressively to take away time and space and play the body to impede the Northstars forwards. However, they will need to be careful not to pinch at the offensive blue line and miss and turn the Northstars lose on odd skater rushes. The forwards will need to help out the defense and bust back defensively to cover open skaters. The speed of the Northstars will make things very difficult for the Upper Montgomery defense if Washington County can make the game a back and forth rushing up and down the ice affair.

Key for the Lightning this week will be having all three forward lines contributing. In the game against Sherwood on Friday night, all four goals were produced once again by the top line. The lack of scoring depth this season has hurt the team’s ability to separate in games. Against higher quality opponents in division one, having a full lineup is paramount to being able to match lines and compete with an evenly balanced lineup. Expect the top line to once again lead the way Chris Hassett (11 GP, 12 G, 15 A), playing center between Ryan Jacobson (9 GP, 7 G, 9 A), and Nathan Cassell (10 GP, 11 G, 6 A). The top line has been very effective creating turnovers in the offensive zone and converting those turnovers into high quality scoring chances. The second line will likely be Bradley Cupples (11 GP, 1 G, 10 A) playing center between Hunter Cameron (11 GP, 5 G, 5 A), and Olivia Robbins (8 GP, 1 G, 3 A). Depending upon how the game is progressing, Brandon Bernard and James Botti may also see shifts at forward on the second line as the coaching staff gets creative with line combinations to jump start the team’s offensive production. Getting offensive contribution from the defense by creating turnovers in the neutral zone, making quick, on target breakout passes, and by firing low hard shots on net while in the offensive zone will help generate additional offensive chances.

Upper Montgomery will make the division one Montgomery Hockey Conference playoff tournament. This is a first for the organization and an accomplishment which the team is proud of. But, the team should not be satisfied. Tournament seeding is at stake over the final two games of the season. Gaining the best seeding possible is now the goal. Playing a competitive game against Washington County will open the eyes of the voters who determine the league’s rankings and playoff seedings and will help solidify the team’s reputation as it grows and matures in future seasons.