Author: chucklevine

The Upper Montgomery Lightning’s junior varsity quarterfinal game on Friday night versus the Churchill Bulldogs was unprecedented, the full impact of which will not be resolved for several more days. As the final seconds ticked off the clock cementing Upper Montgomery’s 4-1 victory over Churchill the senior referee assigned to the game was losing his mind waiving his arms wildly at center ice pleading that the final two seconds be run off the clock. In what was the most physical game of the season, the Lightning achieved what had eluded them the previous two seasons, a return trip to the Montgomery Hockey Conference junior varsity semifinals. With the victory, the 5-2-2 Lightning will next face off against the top seeded Wootton Patriots.

Entering the contest Upper Montgomery knew that the best way to stifle the Bulldogs was to smother Churchill’s primary offensive threat, Elias Elhallou. The Lightning excelled in keeping Elhallou off the scoresheet, zero points in the game, and constantly playing the body against him. Several times Elhallou was slow getting up after legal body checks.

The beginning and ending of this contest could not have been more different. From the drop of the opening faceoff, each team had very few quality rushes up the ice. The first seven minutes of action were filled with several big collisions, but neither team seemed to find their groove. Upper Montgomery pressured in the offensive zone but continuously missed the net with their shots or made passes that were just out of reach of open skaters. Meanwhile, Churchill had difficult entering the offensive zone as the Lightning’s forwards backchecked well led by Lightning sophomore forward Aiden Zheng. At the eight minute mark of the opening period, Upper Montgomery ninth grade forward Max Israfilbek was called for a cross checking penalty in the corner. Upper Montgomery’s penalty kill, 87.7% success rate entering the game, was up to the task. The penalty killers kept the Bulldogs from setting up in the offensive zone by flipping the puck down the ice multiple times will shorthanded.

Just after returning to full strength Upper Montgomery took the lead. The Bulldogs cleared the puck to center ice. Lightning senior defender Patrick Sell took possession of the puck along the right wing just outside his defensive blue line. Sell skated to the center ice red line and dumped the puck into the Churchill defensive zone. The puck rimmed hard around the boards behind the net into the left corner. Upper Montgomery senior center AJ Marks rushed in first to the puck. Marks made a nice backhand pass to the slot for Lightning sophomore forward Jackson Schickler. Schickler fired a left handed snap shot to the far side of the goal along the ice. The puck evaded Churchill ninth grade goalie Cooper Glazer’s left toe sneaking just inside the right goal post. For Schickler, it was his first career high school goal and came at a wonderful time staking Upper Montgomery to a 1-0 lead. Finally, some secondary scoring came through that the team had been lacking over the last few games.

As the last five minutes of the first period ticked off the clock, Upper Montgomery continued to assert control of the pace of the contest. There were very few chances being generated by Churchill as evidenced by their paltry five shots on goal. Upper Montgomery’s ninth grade netminder Porter Stutsrim-Lyons had a rocking chair type of first period. While the Lightning only fired seven shots on goal at Glazer, the puck was consistently in and around the Bulldogs net.

The second period contained more of the same. Upper Montgomery carried play and the Bulldogs had very little offensive thrust. Upper Montgomery would outshoot Churchill eight to four in the middle period. The Lightning pressure paid off three minutes into the second period when Churchill defender Cyrus Sawyer was called for a minor penalty for slashing. The powerplay proved to be vital as Upper Montgomery came through with the extra skater advantage to take a 2-0 lead in the game.

Churchill cleared the puck from their defensive zone down the ice to Stutsrim-Lyons. He blocked the puck to the right of the goal. From the right faceoff circle in his defensive zone, Lightning captain, senior defender Cole Howerton sent an outlet pass to Upper Montgomery sophomore center Jake Hudson in the neutral zone. The puck was just out of reach of Hudson as well as the Churchill defender covering him. The puck went through to the left wing where Hudson’s younger bother Luke Hudson was skating up ice. Luke Hudson picked up the puck and headed into the offensive zone. He sent a backhand pass from the left faceoff circle to the slot for his brother. Jake Hudson lined up a wrist shot from the slot and fired through a screen. The puck danced past Glazer stick side to the inside of the right post for his sixth goal of the season.

Forty-five seconds later the Lightning were back on the powerplay after Sawyer was called for another minor penalty, this time for cross checking. With momentum clearly on their side, if Upper Montgomery could light the lamp one more time, the Lightning would be in total control of the game. Although Upper Montgomery had extended time in the offensive zone, the Lightning could not increase their lead while playing with the additional skater.

A minute after Sawyer’s penalty expired, the Lightning were able to pick up that all important third goal of the game. Churchill had the puck in the Upper Montgomery defensive zone. The Bulldogs were putting pressure on the Lightning for one of the few times during the game. Three shots were fired at the net in quick succession, all of which missed the cage going wide of the goal. With the puck along the right wing boards, a Churchill forward sent a blind pass across the ice to no one in particular. Upper Montgomery ninth grade forward Decklin Hughes banged the puck out of the Lightning’s defensive zone to relieve the pressure. Zheng sped in and skated in front of a Churchill defender to get the puck. He pushed the puck past the flat footed defender coming into the offensive zone down the right wing side of the ice. He cut to the net patiently waiting as Glazer went to poke check the puck off of his stick. Zheng then calmly continued around the fallen goaltender and easily deposited a backhander into the open side of the net.

As the second period came towards its conclusion, Schickler was being called for a cross checking minor penalty for retaliating in front of the Churchill net. As play was stopped Elhallou softly directed the puck at Stustrim-Lyons. Upper Montgomery’s varsity goalie, Ilan Shterenberg, took exception and cross checked Elhallou well away from the play. It was an unnecessary and selfish roughing penalty after the whistle had been blown that would wind up hurting Upper Montgomery. The Lightning would be down two skaters having to kill off a five on three Bulldog powerplay for a full two minutes. The penalty kill started off well as the Lightning easily made it through the final 23 seconds of the second period without allowing Churchill to set up in the offensive zone. Upper Montgomery entered the second intermission ahead 3-0 needing only fifteen more minutes of sound defensive hockey to more on and advance to the junior varsity playoff semifinals.

Entering the third period Upper Montgomery still had 1:37 left to kill on the Bulldogs five on three powerplay. With excellent penalty killing by Jake Hudson, Zheng, Howerton, and steady senior defender Patrick Sell, the Lightning came within a whisker of killing off the entire Bulldogs powerplay. With fifteen seconds remaining on the advantage, Churchill capitalized to close the score to 3-1. Off of a faceoff outside their defensive blue line, the Lightning won the faceoff but then were unable to clear the puck out of the defensive zone. Churchill defender Mingshou Chang kept the puck in the offensive zone at the left point. His slapshot reached Stutsrim-Lyons who made a stick save putting the puck into the right corner. Bulldogs forward Victor Levonenko got to the loose puck and sent it back to the center point of the blue line to Chang. Chang had time and space to skate down the slot where he fired a wrist shot high over Stutsrim-Lyons’ right shoulder into the back of the net for his fourth goal of the season.

Twenty seconds later the game went off the rails due to the officiating failures. Lightning ninth grade defender Matt Rivera took a checking from behind penalty crunching Levonenko into the end boards. Levonenko got up aggressively charged after Rivera and tackled him to the ice. The Churchill forward’s actions seemingly negating the upcoming Churchill powerplay with his retaliation. The senior referee acknowledged that Levonenko’s response was a roughing penalty but that he was not going to call a penalty on Churchill because Levonenko had been hit from behind into the boards. The acknowledgement that there would be no penalty called on Levonenko even though he had committed an infraction incensed the Lightning coaching staff. To top off the situation, rather than call the penalty that had occurred, the senior referee called an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty on Upper Montgomery for questioning that decision leading to a second consecutive five on three powerplay for Churchill.

The Lightning once again leaned heavily on Hudson, Zheng, Howerton, and Sell to kill off the Churchill penalty. Halfway through the penalty kill Howerton contacted Elhallou near the Upper Montgomery goal.  The junior official was standing five feet away from the body contact and did not raise his arm signifying a penalty.  The senior official was standing past the red line toward the other end of the ice.  He also did not raise his arm to signal a penalty.  The whistle blew because of Elhallou not immediately getting back to his feet. The junior official stopped play because of the injured Churchill student athlete.  Somehow, mysteriously, after a brief consultation, the senior official called a two minute minor roughing penalty on Howerton.

The third minor penalty created a situation that is referred to as stacked penalties.  In a stacked penalty situation, the student who takes the third minor penalty is ushered to the penalty box. The time of the third penalty does not begin running until one of the initial two penalties expires, either through a powerplay goal scored against, or if the initial five on three powerplay is killed off.  Then, and only then, does the full two minutes of the third penalty begin.  In a stacked penalty situation, if the shorthanded team kills off the five on three powerplay, only one of the students in the penalty box is permitted to leave the penalty box and return to the ice.  If both skaters whose penalties have expired depart the penalty box and step onto the ice, there would be five skaters on the ice and still a minor penalty situation (the third penalty) so that team would then have too many skaters on the ice. 

There was extensive discussion at the Upper Montgomery bench because the parents staffing the penalty box and at the scorer’s area running the Gamesheet tablet are likely unfamiliar with how a stacked penalty situation should be administered.  They happen very infrequently. Upper Montgomery’s penalty killers did a phenomenal job killing off the entire five on three disadvantage. The senior referee skated over to the penalty box area and blocked the Lightning penalty box door from being opened. Thus, he prevented the Upper Montgomery students from leaving the penalty box.  At this point the senior official was making hand gestures and he was screaming across the ice that the Upper Montgomery coaching staff should read the rule book.  This disrespectful behavior from the senior official continued for multiple minutes of game action. His screaming is loud enough that all spectators in the rink were able to clearly hear what he was saying.

What did this disrespectful behavior result from?  It resulted from the senior official NOT KNOWING the rules regarding how stacked penalties work, just the exact message he was screaming over at the Upper Montgomery bench and coaching staff.  The result of the senior official physically blocking the penalty box area was that Upper Montgomery had to kill off an additional 59 seconds of a five on three powerplay with only one penalty running on the penalty clock. The Lightning not only killed off the five on three disadvantage, but suffered through an additional minute of play with only three skaters on the ice due to the officiating malpractice.

Rising to the challenge, the Lightning refused to be knocked off stride by the officiating crew. Upper Montgomery’s quartet of penalty killers kept Churchill from scoring on the super elongated extra skater situation. Once Upper Montgomery returned to full strength nine minutes of game action remained. The senior official continued to scream across the ice for several more minutes at the Upper Montgomery bench imploring the coaching staff to “READ THE RULE BOOK”.  It was actually the senior official that needed to “READ THE RULE BOOK” and become refreshed on how the stacked penalty rule should be implemented.

A minute after the teams were back at even strength, Zheng scored an insurance goal to once again put Upper Montgomery back up by three goals at 4-1. A Churchill shot in the offensive zone went wide of the net to the left corner. Zheng won the puck battle along the right wing boards. He skated up ice on a slow developing two on one rush. Zheng continued down the right wing side going wide around the Churchill defender. Nearing the net, he fired a wrist shot low blocker side past Glazer for the unassisted goal, his team leading eighth goal of the season.

The next six and a half minutes were played with Upper Montgomery holding their breath that the officiating crew would no longer interfere in the game. Luckily, each game is recorded by a Live Barn video feed. The referees seemed to remove themselves from the game knowing that the Upper Montgomery coaching staff was not going to let the misapplication of the stacked penalty rule go without further disciplinary action against the referees. With a minute and a half remaining in the game and the Lightning holding a 4-1 lead, it looked like Upper Montgomery would glide to the game’s finish. At that point Elhallou was called for a roughing penalty out of frustration for needlessly throwing a body check well away from the play. With a three goal lead and a powerplay, the Lightning seemed most assured of advancing to the semifinals.

Upper Montgomery never really looked to try and score on the powerplay. Instead, the Lightning just looked to keep the clock moving. Unfortunately, on the last rush up ice, the game disintegrated into a circumstance that no one really wanted to see. Upper Montgomery sophomore forward Mason Jagoz was bringing the puck up the ice into the Churchill defensive zone along the right wing boards. Again out of frustration, Sawyer threw an unnecessary body check on Jagoz at the blue line. The hit was totally unnecessary with nine seconds remaining in the contest, but within the rules of hockey.

Israfilbek cross checked Sawyer in retaliation.  Churchill defender, Gabriel Li lights up Israfilbek with a pay back body check well away from the play.  Li should have earned a two minute minor penalty for roughing which would have been his first minor penalty of the game.

As the students moved into the far corner of the ice and came together, Li comes up high on Israfilbek and should have be assessed another two minute minor penalty for head contact and the accompanying ten minute misconduct penalty.  This would have brought Li to three total penalties in the game.  Israfilbek engages and pushes back against Li and should have been assessed a two minute minor penalty for roughing.  This would have been his third penalty of the game.

There were no punches thrown and the skirmish broke up before the referees were able to skater over to the corner. As the students were skating away, Li slashes Israfilbek in the mid-section which should have been called a minor penalty for slashing and his fourth penalty of the game.  The fourth penalty comes with an automatic game misconduct penalty and a one game suspension. 

As the students are taken to the penalty box, Sawyer acts in an unsportsmanlike manner toward Israfilbek by screaming at him and fake motioning to attack Israfilbek. Sawyer should have received a two minute minor penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct.  This would have been his third penalty of the game.  The referees should have added a ten minute misconduct penalty for prolonging the incident. The ten minute misconduct penalty would have been Sawyer’s fourth penalty of the game.  The fourth penalty comes with the automatic game misconduct penalty and a one game suspension.  He was not actively involved in the scrum and thus certainly should not be assessed a fighting major. 

In response to Sawyer’s behavior Israfilbek cross checks Sawyer in the chest.  Thus, he should have earned his fourth penalty of the game.  The fourth penalty comes with the automatic game misconduct penalty and a one game suspension.  Since no fight occurred, this should be his only supplemental discipline—a one game suspension for incurring four penalties during a game.

The senior official is quite animated at the game’s end swinging his arms wildly and yelling for the final two seconds to be run off the clock.  He had been emotionally involved the entire third period beginning with his unprovoked yelling at the Upper Montgomery bench.  The Montgomery Hockey Conference chief of discipline, Mark Sangarese, will need to review video of the incident to determine if the actions of any student constitute a fight and an even longer suspension. In order for a fight to occur, punches must be thrown, not pushes or shoves.  Neither the Upper Montgomery program nor the Churchill program were pleased with how the game ended and the behavior of their student athletes.

The Lightning did emerge victorious and advanced to the Montgomery Hockey Conference junior varsity semifinals where they will face top seeded Wootton. The early season matchup between the two teams was a very tight exciting game. After playing each other to a 2-2 tie in regulation, the game moved to overtime where the Patriots scored off an end to end rush to prevail 3-2 over the Lightning. The semifinal game should be another thrilling contest as many in the county believe that the Patriots are the best junior varsity team and Upper Montgomery is the second best junior varsity team in the county.

Game Notes:

• Shots on goal were fairly even for the game with Churchill registering 25 shots on goal and Upper Montgomery countering with 22.
• The Lightning scored more than two goals in a playoff game for the first time in three years since the semifinal playoff game against Rockville / Magruder.
• Upper Montgomery sophomore forward Aiden Zheng scored two goals to take over the team lead in goals with eight.
• Lightning sophomore center Jackson Schickler scored his first career high school goal staking the Lightning to its early lead.
• Lightning ninth grade goalie Porter Stutsrim-Lyons stopped 24 of 25 shots increasing his save percentage for the season to .930. He also has a very miniscule 1.87 goals against average.
• Upper Montgomery ninth grade forward Max Israfilbek will miss the Wootton game while he serves his supplemental discipline for receiving four penalties in a game.
• Lightning Head Coach Todd Hassett will also miss the Wootton game will serving his supplemental discipline for receiving three unsportsmanlike penalties in a season.
• The senior referee is certain to face USA Hockey discipline for his actions during the game.
• Upper Montgomery’s junior varsity next faces top seeded Wootton in the Montgomery Hockey Conference junior varsity semifinals. Game date and time will be released in the coming days. The two teams matched up earlier in the season with Wootton rallying for a tie in regulation and then winning in overtime to defeat the Lightning 3-2.

Three Stars of the Game:

First Star—Aiden Zheng—Upper Montgomery Forward—2 Goals
Second Star—Porter Stutsrim-Lyons—Upper Montgomery Goalie—Win, 1 GA, 24 Saves, .960 Save Percentage
Third Star—Jake Hudson—Upper Montgomery Forward—1 Goal

The Upper Montgomery Lightning came into Tuesday evening’s contest against the perennial powerhouse Churchill Bulldogs feeling confident. Churchill had struggled this season sitting with a 6-6-1 overall record, having lost four conference games already this year. It has been a season well below the exceptional standard the Bulldogs have set over the past two decades. Upper Montgomery entered the contest having never beating Churchill in sixteen years of the program’s existence. For two periods, Upper Montgomery was optimistic that this would be the year that the long streak would end.

But, in the blink of an eye to start the final period, hope was quickly extinguished when the Bulldogs scored two quick goals to separate from the Lightning. Churchill then cruised home for a 7-2 victory based in large part on the individual play of Bulldogs senior defender Kobe Esko-Himmelfarb. Esko-Himmelfarb scored four goals and added an assist in leading Churchill past Upper Montgomery.

The start of the game resembled one of those carnival games where the contestant throws darts trying to pop a balloon. In the hockey sense, Churchill dominated time of possession in the Upper Montgomery defensive zone teeing off and thumping pucks at Lightning sophomore goalie Ilan Shterenberg. It was a deluge of shots that peppered Upper Montgomery’s young netminder. The one time Upper Montgomery departed the defensive zone with puck possession, that rush up ice turned into a lead for the Lightning.

Halfway through the opening period, Upper Montgomery iced the puck. From the defensive zone faceoff circle to Shterenberg’s right, the Lightning ran a designed faceoff play. Lightning senior center Henry Honacki won the faceoff back to Upper Montgomery junior defender Brady Berkhammer in the left corner. Berkhammer’s outlet pass to the left wing looking for Lightning senior Nathan Cassel found him in stride streaking out of the defensive zone. Cassel corralled the puck at the center red line and was in alone on a breakaway. From the low slot he fired past Churchill’s sophomore goalie MacAllister Glazer low to the right side of the net. Glazer looked confused by Cassel’s move as he did not react at all to Cassel’s shot. For Cassel it was his sixth goal of the season. The marker gave the Lightning a 1-0 lead on their first shot on goal of the game briefly stunning the Bulldogs.

Unfortunately, the Upper Montgomery lead lasted all of 45 seconds. Towards the end of the next shift, Cassel had the puck in his left defensive corner. He made a bad pass across the center of the ice in his defensive zone. The puck went right onto the stick of Esko-Himmelfarb in the high slot. Esko-Himmelfarb said thank you very much cashing in by blasting a wrist shot high over Shterenberg’s blocker for his sixth goal of the season. The unassisted goal evened the score at one with seven minutes remaining in the first period.

Two minutes later Esko-Himmelfarb was at it once again scoring his second goal of the period to put Churchill on top for the first time. He had the puck in the corner to Shterenberg’s right. Esko-Himmerlfarb made a diagonal pass back to the right point to Churchill defender Cyrus Sawyer. Sawyer sent the puck down to the right corner to Esko-Himmelfarb. He skated around the referee coming out of the right corner and stickhandled through several Lightning defenders to the bottom of the right faceoff circle where he snapped another wrist shot high. This time going short-side up over Shterenberg’s glove hand.

As the first period tricked towards conclusion, Churchill defender Michael Dong was assessed a tripping minor with fifteen seconds remaining in the opening period. From the faceoff in the right faceoff circle in the offensive zone Honacki won the faceoff to Berkhammer on the right wing boards. Berkhammer swung the puck over to Cassel at the center point along the blue line. Cassel returned the puck to Berkhammer at the right point. Berkhammer sent the puck down to Honakci at the bottom of the right faceoff circle. With time dwindling in the period, Honacki took the puck hard to the net. His backhand shot hit Glazer in the chest. The puck rebounded straight out into the slot with Glazer scrambling around in his net looking for the loose puck. Sneaking in from his left point position, Upper Montgomery sophomore defender Miles Wendland backhanded the puck into the wide open net for his first career varsity goal. Wendland just beat the buzzer to end the period. His powerplay goal sent the teams to intermission all tied at two. Churchill had massively outshot Upper Montgomery by a margin of eighteen to three. The Lightning should have been ahead but for the bad turnover deep in their defensive zone. Confidence was building that the Lightning could compete with the Bulldogs.

Upper Montgomery did a much better job in the second period of getting the puck out of their defensive zone. Pucks were continuously whacked back to neutral ice. Pucks were flipped in the air back to center ice. When Upper Montgomery exited the defensive zone with possession and reached the center ice red line, pucks were dumped deep into the Churchill defensive zone. The Bulldogs then had to skate up ice through all five Lightning skaters to try and find a good scoring opportunity. The first ten minutes of the second period went exactly how Upper Montgomery wanted to play against Churchill.

Then, with under five minutes remaining in the second period, a lucky bounce benefited the Bulldogs. Churchill entered the offensive zone off the rush. Several long range shots missed the net wide of the goal. The puck eventually came to Churchill defender Youssef Elkousy at the right point. Elkousy cycled the puck down low behind the net to Churchill forward Cash Levenberg. Levenberg was defended well by Upper Montgomery sophomore defender Avery Evans. The puck popped up in the air to the right of Shterenberg. Shterenberg swung his stick in an attempt to knock the puck to the corner. At the same time, Wendland reached over trying to bat the puck away from near the net. The puck bounced off both Lightning student athletes and landed right at the feet of Esko-Himmelfarb. With Shterenberg out of his crease, Esko-Himmelfarb had a wide empty net to push a short backhander across the goal line and give Churchill another one goal lead.

Upper Montgomery went on the powerplay two minutes later with an opportunity to tie up the game. The Lightning had difficulty setting up the puck inside the Bulldog defensive end of the ice and came up empty on their second powerplay of the evening. As the second period came to a close, Upper Montgomery trailed 3-2 and was being outshot by a margin of 29-7. That said, the Lightning were very much in the game trailing by just one goal. Two of the three Churchill strikes were either due to an Upper Montgomery unforced error or a fluky puck bounce.

By the end of the first minute of the third period the game had turned mightily. On the first shift of the period off of the center ice faceoff, Upper Montgomery won the draw. The puck was immediately stolen by Esko-Himmelfarb who took the puck directly into the Upper Montgomery defensive zone. He stickhandled through the traffic of the Upper Montgomery defenders sticks into the right corner while being hooked by Wendland. Esko-Himmelfarb worked his way to the top of the right circle and shot on net. Shterenberg made the stick save. Standing in front of the net, Churchill forward Giorgi Lazarashvili put the rebound high short side over Shterenberg’s glove for his third goal of the season increasing the Bulldogs’s lead to 4-2. Wendland’s delayed penalty was wiped out by the Churchill goal.

On the ensuing shift, a faceoff in the Churchill offensive zone from the left faceoff circle led to the next Bulldogs goal. Upper Montgomery won the faceoff to the left corner. A banked clear off the right wing boards was kept in at the left point by Churchill defender Tyler Long. His wrist shot through traffic went wide of the net to the near side. A perfect bounce off the back end boards sent the puck on an angle directly to Churchill forward Adam Klewans. Shterenberg made an unbelievable skate save coming across the net thwart Klewans’ shot, but standing in the crease to quickly punch in the rebound between Shterenberg’s legs was the Bulldogs leading junior varsity scorer, Elias Elhallou. At five to two, Upper Montgomery now had an incredibly high mountain to climb over the final fourteen minutes of the game.

On the very next shift, Lightning junior center Owen Robbins was whistled for a cross checking penalty. Playing with much more confidence and smelling blood in the water, the Bulldogs once again peppered Shterenberg with rubber. The young goalie shook off the two early third period goals turning aside shot after shot. The Lightning caught a bit of a break as during the powerplay, Churchill forward Liam Naughton was called for a cross checking penalty cutting short the Bulldogs powerplay. After forty seconds of four on four play, Upper Montgomery went on a short powerplay of their own which was unsuccessful. A minute later and just after stepping out of the penalty box Robbins was called for a hit to the head while throwing a body check.

The penalty erased Upper Montgomery’s powerplay opportunity. Even more costly, the head contact minor penalty comes with an automatic ten minute misconduct. Thus, Robbins was done for the evening and the Lightning’s second leading goal scorer was lost for the rest of the night. Churchill again applied offensive zone pressure with the extra skater but was unable to get another shot past Shterenberg.

Halfway through the third period, Churchill extended the score to 6-2. The Bulldogs exited their defensive zone with a passing play. Then, from the left faceoff circle in his defensive zone Naughton skated the puck out of the zone across the blue line. He breezed up ice on the right wing. As he made his way through the neutral zone he chipped the puck to the right wing corner in the Upper Montgomery defensive zone. Naughton raced in after the puck and made a backhand chip of the puck from the end wall into the slot. The puck went directly to Churchill forward Qin Lai, the Bulldogs leading forward scorer. Lai’s shot from four feet in front of the net went through Shterenberg seven hole to the stick side for his eighth goal of the season.

On the shift after Lai’s goal, Evans was called for tripping giving the Bulldogs their third powerplay of the period. This time, Churchill cashed in at the tail end of the extra skater advantage. There was a scrum along the right wing boards inside the Upper Montgomery defensive zone. The puck was pinned against the boards outside of the right faceoff circle. Upper Montgomery freed the puck and rimmed it around the boards behind the goal. At the left point Esko-Himmelfarb kept the puck inside the blue line. He circled into the center of the high slot. Upper Montgomery’s penalty killing forwards were way too wide allowing an opening down the middle of the ice wide enough for a mack truck to drive through. Coming downhill toward the goal, Esko-Himmelfarb had all day to snap a heavy wrist shot from between the faceoff circles high over Shterenberg’s glove hand. It was Esko-Himmelfarb’s fourth goal of the evening and his ninth goal of the season overtaking Lai for the Bulldogs team lead.

The final five minutes of the game played out uneventfully. The Lightning’s third period demons struck once again. After playing Churchill incredibly tough through two periods of action, the final score was not indicative of how close the game really was. The historically long Bulldogs unbeaten streak over the Lightning will continue for another season unless the teams meet again in the Montgomery Hockey Conference playoff tournament. The loss further solidifies Upper Montgomery’s slot in the seventh position in the county rankings and a tougher path in the upcoming post season playoffs. The challenging conclusion to the regular season continues with both highly ranked Whitman and Oakdale to come before the Lightning’s opening round playoff tilt. Even if the squad drops its remaining games, Upper Montgomery will finish with its best mark in conference play since the 2018 – 2019 season when the team only played the other teams in the lower division of the Montgomery Hockey Conference.

Game Notes:

• Upper Montgomery was badly outshot by Churchill 52-13 including 18-3 in the opening period.
• Lightning senior center Henry Honacki saw his five game goal scoring streak end. He did have two assists in the contest and now has a six game point streak (8G, 5A).
• With his four goal explosion, Churchill senior defender Kobe Esko-Himmelfarb nearly doubled his goal total for the season. He had five goals entering the game with Upper Montgomery.
• Lightning sophomore defender Miles Wendland scored his first career varsity goal in the first period.
• With two assists against Churchill, Lightning junior defender Brady Berkhammer broke his career high for assists in a season at fourteen and counting. He has eight points in his last three games and eleven points in his last five games.
• Upper Montgomery senior forward Nathan Cassel has scored in all three games he has played in since his return from a six week absence due to an upper body injury.
• Lightning sophomore goaltender Ilan Shterenberg made 45 saves in the game.
• The Lightning powerplay continues to click. The team was one for three against the Bulldogs and is now 10 for 22 on the season (40%). Last year, the team was incredibly inept with the extra skater going zero for the team’s first 43 powerplay opportunities.
• Upper Montgomery has ten days off over the holiday weekend before the last conference regular season game against Whitman. Game time is at 9:00 pm on Friday, January 24th at Rockville Ice Arena.

Three Stars of the Game:

First Star—Kobe Esko-Himmelfarb—Churchill Defense—4 Goals, 1 Assist
Second Star—Miles Wendland—Upper Montgomery Defense—1 Goal
Third Star—Tyler Long—Churchill Defense—1 Assist

When the Upper Montgomery Lightning faceoff against the Rockville / Magruder Rams it is a contest between the two teams most evenly matched in the Montgomery Hockey Conference. The last three meetings between the programs have ended in a tie, an Upper Montgomery win in overtime, and the Rams prevailing courtesy of a last minute goal. Friday night’s game was no different until two empty net goals scored in the final minute extended the Rockville / Magruder winning margin to 7-4. The game was much closer than the final score would indicate as the Lightning held a 3-2 lead entering the third period. On a night where the Lightning were looking to clinch the sixth seed in the upcoming Montgomery Hockey Conference post season playoffs, it was the Rams who turned the tables and now have the inside track on the coveted sixth seed.

The Rams started fast right from the game’s opening faceoff. Rockville / Magruder pressured throughout the period and made Lightning sophomore goaltender Ilan Shterenberg work hard during the first fifteen minutes of action by firing sixteen shots on goal. In response, Upper Montgomery only put six shots on goal for Rams senior goalie Sean Connelly to handle. Upper Montgomery was back on their heels for most of the period even with Rockville / Magruder missing senior 18U AAA phenom defender Drew Pfeufer. Pfeufer missed the game with a travel team conflict.

At the four and a half minute mark of the opening period, the Rams jumped out in front. The Lightning sent a centering pass in their offensive zone through the slot where it was collected by Rams ninth grade forward Cameron Gifford on the left wing side wall. Gifford made an outlet pass to Rams senior center Brendyn Iliff exiting the defensive zone through the center of the ice. Iliff carried the puck all the way into the Upper Montgomery defensive zone. From the top of the slot he made a backhand pass on a two on one rush with Rockville / Magruder junior forward Toyin Okunseinde. Okunseinde faked a shot and slid the puck back to Iliff now on the left side of an open net. All Iliff had to do was direct the puck into the yawning empty net for his sixth goal of the season.

Three minutes later Upper Montgomery struck back. The Lightning’s leading goal scorer, senior center Henry Honacki found the back of the net for the fifth straight game. Off of a faceoff in the right faceoff circle in the offensive zone, Honacki won the drawn cleanly but back outside the offensive zone past the right point. Lightning ninth grade defender Lillian Robbins retrieved the puck at the red line. She sent the puck up the right wing boards to Lightning senior forward Nathan Cassel. Cassel turned back into the neutral zone where he curled to generate speed before sending a pass to the left wing to Lightning junior forward Philip Shkeda. Shkeda advanced the puck into the offensive zone. From the bottom of the left faceoff circle he sent the puck through the crease to Honacki positioned alone in front of the goal. Honacki wasted no time and buried the puck far side into the back of the net past Connelly for his team leading twelfth goal of the season.

Directly after tying up the game, the Lightning took a too many skaters on the ice penalty. While on the powerplay, the Rams continued to pressure inside the offensive zone. Some impressive saves by Shterenberg kept Rockville / Magruder at bay until the Lightning returned to even strength. The last several minutes of the period saw a bit more back and forth action with each team missing the net on good looks. As the buzzer sounded to end the opening period of play, the Lightning were thrilled to be tied at one having been outplayed in the first period.

The second period started out very similar to the first period. Just over three minutes into the middle frame, Rockville / Magruder would score on a delayed penalty call. Lightning junior defender Brady Berkhammer’s shot from the left point was blocked by Iliff. The puck bounced forward to Gifford just inside his defensive blue line. Gifford skated around Berkhammer who tried to recover his position and prevent Gifford from storming down ice on a breakaway. From the bottom of the left faceoff circle Gifford unleashed a wrist shot that went between Shterenberg’s legs five hole to the back of the net. Berkhammer was called for cross checking Gifford as he scrambled back on defense but the delayed penalty was wiped out by Gifford’s tenth goal of the season.

Two minutes later Upper Montgomery found itself on the powerplay as Rams defender Lincoln Herrick was called for a tripping penalty. It took less than a minute for the Lightning to knot up the score at two. The Rams cleared their defensive zone sending the puck all the way down the ice. Shterenberg stopped the puck behind the goal and swept the puck over to Berkhammer in the right faceoff circle. Berkhammer fired a long stretch pass up ice to Cassel entering the offensive zone down the right wing side of the ice. At the right faceoff circle he skated around a Rams forward to the mid-slot. He sent a wrist shot to the left side of the net beating Connelly stick side. For Cassel it was his second goal in as many games since returning from being on long term injured reserve with an upper body injury. In total, it was his fifth goal of the season. Shterenberg’s assist was the goalie’s first career varsity point.

Fifteen seconds after his powerplay goal, Cassel was sent to the sin bin after hooking a Rams skater from behind along the left wing boards. Similar to their first powerplay, Rockville / Magruder worked the puck around the offensive zone and found seams in the Lightning penalty kill. More good saves from Shterenberg kept the game tied. Once Cassel returned to the ice and the Lightning were again at even strength, Upper Montgomery finally started to put some pressure on the Rams defense. A few turnovers in the defensive zone by Rockville / Magruder provided several prime scoring chances for the Lightning to take their first lead of the game. Instead, Gifford was called for a charging penalty with less than two minutes remaining in the period. As important as the upcoming powerplay was for Upper Montgomery, having Gifford off the ice for a minimum of ten minutes and possibly up to twelve minutes was enormously beneficial for the Lightning. Charging minor penalties automatically come with an accompanying ten minute misconduct penalty in high school hockey.

Upper Montgomery wasted no time on this powerplay taking its first lead of the game seventeen seconds later. From a faceoff in the left faceoff circle in the offensive zone, the Rams won the draw back to their left defensive corner. Puck pressure on the Rams defense forced a quick turnover with Shkeda winding up with the puck in the right corner. Shkeda fought through a body check and brought the puck back behind the net from right to left. As he cleared the left goal post he centered the puck to Honacki. Honacki’s shot to the near post was just wide and hit the skirt of the net. The Rams cleared the puck up the left wing boards where the puck was kept in the offensive zone by Berkhammer at the right point. Berkhammer skated to the center of the ice and found Shkeda open on the left side of the ice. From the left faceoff circle, Shkeda slung a wrist shot at the net that went far side beating Connelly over his left shoulder for his fifth goal of the season..

Upper Montgomery had scored the last two goals of the second period while on the powerplay and took a 3-2 lead into the third period. The shots on goal in the second period were much more even with Upper Montgomery credited with sixteen and Shterenberg saving thirteen of the fourteen shot put on him by Rockville / Magruder. The Rams were going to be without Gifford for the first eight and a half minutes of the third period. All the Lightning needed to do was play sound positional defense to grind out an important victory. Unfortunately, everything fell apart for Upper Montgomery in the third period.

Just over three minutes into the period Rockville / Magruder senior defender Aiden Ward tied up the game. An Upper Montgomery offensive rush up the ice was thwarted by Ward at center ice. He dangled the puck around an onrushing Upper Montgomery forward and attacked the offensive zone. He went past a Lightning defender who turned too late shifting the puck forehand to backhand. The deke forced Shterenberg to hesitate, allowing Ward to be able to put the puck past the outstretched right leg pad of the Lightning’s netminder for an unassisted goal, his sixth goal of the season.

Just after Ward’s goal tied the game at three, Lightning senior forward Josh Nadler was whistled for a holding penalty. With two seconds left shorthanded and Nadler standing up at the penalty box door ready to return to the ice, the Rams capitalized and jumped out front 4-3. While shorthanded, Upper Montgomery cleared the defensive zone. Rockville / Magruder ninth grade forward, Alexander Johnston made an outlet pass to defender Ari Solomon skating up ice between his defensive blue line and the center red line. Headed down the left wing boards Solomon brought the puck into the Upper Montgomery defensive zone. He skated around the net from left to right where he sent a pass to Ward standing at the right point. While falling away from the net, Ward sent a wrist shot toward Shterenberg. His shot was intercepted by Rams forward Ryan Hurley on its way to the net. Hurley sent a backhand shot short side past Shterenberg’s glove and right leg pad.

Now trailing, Upper Montgomery began pressing ahead haphazardly. That led to misfortune when Gifford ripped off a Lightning pass at center ice along the left wing. He turned and headed up ice into the Rams offensive zone. From the the inside edge of the right faceoff circle around the middle of the high slot Gifford sent a thundering left handed wrist shot low to Shterenberg’s stick side. The puck flew past the Upper Montgomery netminder into the net for Gifford’s second goal of the game. The goal gave Rockville / Magruder a two goal lead at 5-3 with five minutes remaining in the contest.

Similar to the team’s first game earlier in the season when Upper Montgomery was in front 5-3 with five minutes remaining, the trailing team tallied quickly to close the margin. This time it would be the Lightning making things interesting. Berkhammer brought the puck into the offensive zone on the right wing. When he reached the the mid-point of the offensive zone he curled up and then proceeded to dance with the puck down into the right corner where he was checked by the Rams defense. The puck was cleared up the boards where it was kept in at the right point by Robbins. She pushed the puck back down into the right corner for Shkeda. Shkeda cycled the puck behind the net to Honacki. Honacki reversed the flow back to Shkeda in the right corner. Shkeda tried a near post stuff attempt at the right goal post which was shut down by Connelly. A Rams forward took the puck down into the right corner for some reason rather than just clearing the defensive zone. Shkeda applied pressure which allowed Honacki to dig the puck free. Honacki approached the front of the net where he fired a backhand shot. The puck missed the mark wide, going past Connelly to the back left post. Berkhammer was well positioned on the backside of the play to poke the puck into the open side of the net. It was the junior defender’s career high fourth goal of the season.

With just over two minutes remaining, Rockville / Magruder clung to a 5-4 lead. Upper Montgomery called timeout to rest its top line and coordinate the upcoming likely pulling of Shterenberg for the extra attacker. Upper Montgomery won a faceoff in their offensive zone but Johnston won the race to the puck. Cassel was able to chase down Johnston and take the puck to the left wing boards. Johnston then pick pocketed Cassel to gain possession of the puck. He passed to Gifford just inside the Rams defensive blue line. Gifford pitch forked a backhand high into the air all the way down the ice. The puck landed in the Upper Montgomery defensive zone and rolled just inside the left post with 59 seconds remaining in the game. It was a hat-trick goal for Gifford, his second hat-trick of the season against the Lightning.

With nothing to lose and down two goals Upper Montgomery quickly pulled Shterenberg once again. Gifford closed out the scoring with his second empty net goal giving him thirteen tallies on the season. He collected the puck in the right corner of his defensive zone and skated the puck by himself up ice. He blasted a slap shot into the empty cage from between the offensive blue line and the center red line to cap an important win for the Rams. The victory likely sewing up the all important sixth seed in the upcoming Montgomery Hockey Conference post season playoff tournament for Rockville / Magruder.

Upper Montgomery now faces a challenging conclusion to the regular season. The Lightning finish the 2024 -2025 campaign against three perennial powerhouse programs; Churchill, Whitman, and Oakdale before their opening round playoff tilt. Even if the squad drops its remaining games, Upper Montgomery will finish with its best mark in conference play since the 2018 – 2019 season when the team only played the other teams in the lower division of the Montgomery Hockey Conference. One win against highly regarded Churchill or Whitman would vault the Lightning over the Rams and back into the sixth spot in the rankings. Finishing sixth would tie last season’s best ever regular season finish in program history.

Game Notes:

• Upper Montgomery was outshot by Rockville / Magruder 45-30 including 15-8 in the decisive third period.
• Lightning senior center Henry Honacki scored in his fifth straight game. He has eight goals during his consecutive game goal scoring streak.
• In two games against the Lightning, Rams ninth grade forward Cameron Gifford scored seven goals and added an assist.
• The loss ended the Lightning’s three game winning streak and dropped Upper Montgomery’s overall record to 6-4-1, and 6-3-1 in conference play.
• With his assist on Shkeda goal, Lightning defender Brady Berkhammer tied his career high for assists in a season with twelve. Adding in his personal career high four goals this season, Berkhammer has set new offensive personal bests. He had three points in a game for the second consecutive outing.
• The Lightning scored on both of their powerplay opportunities and increased their powerplay success rate to 40.9% (9 for 22). Last year, the team was incredibly inept with the extra skater going zero for the team’s first 43 powerplay opportunities.
• Upper Montgomery sophomore goalie Ilan Shterenberg’s assist was his first career varsity point.
• Upper Montgomery has a critical matchup on Tuesday evening when the Lightning tries to defeat the Churchill Bulldogs for the first time in team history. Churchill is not as talented this year as they have been in their incredibly successful history. Faceoff is at 5:50 pm on on Tuesday, January 14th at Rockville Ice Arena.

Three Stars of the Game:

First Star—Cameron Gifford—Rockville / Magruder Forward —4 Goals, 1 Assist
Second Star—Philip Shkeda—Upper Montgomery Forward—1 Goal, 2 Assists
Third Star—Aiden Ward—Rockville / Magruder Defense—1 Goal, 1 Assist

On a night when the Lightning’s seven seniors were celebrated for all they have contributed to the program over the past four seasons, the celebratory mood was almost spoiled by last place Northwest / Quince Orchard. A frenetic final five minutes of action saw a comfortable Upper Montgomery lead evaporate into a nail biting, heart pounding final two minutes of play. A couple of signature plays by Upper Montgomery’s senior leadership saved the day. The Lightning are now assured of finishing the regular season with a winning record in conference play. It was a win that leaves a lot of room for improvement heading into the final three regular season conference games which will be played against much tougher competition.

Upper Montgomery started the game with a bang. Sophomore center Jake Hudson scored his first career high school goal less than two minutes into the opening period. Hudson started the scoring sequence with a clean win of a faceoff to the right of Northwest / Quince Orchard senior goaltender Joseph Dean. The win of the draw was so clean that the puck shot back into the neutral zone where Lightning junior defender Brady Berkhammer took possession of the puck. From his defensive blue line Berkhammer sent a diagonal pass cross ice to Lightning forward Philip Shkeda on the left wing entering the offensive zone. Shkeda sent a pass back across the ice to sophomore forward Aiden Zheng. From the left side of the ice, Zheng skated the puck to the middle of the high slot where he passed the puck over to Berkhammer in the right faceoff circle. Berkhammer fired a bad angle shot from the lower portion of the right faceoff circle that was saved by Dean. The puck rebounded back directly to Berkhammer. He then proceeded to take the puck around the net from right to left before passing the puck to Hudson in the left faceoff circle. Hudson took two strides to his right toward the slot where he unleashed a wicked wrist shot high over Dean’s glove hand to the back of the net.

Upper Montgomery played with its 1-0 lead for twelve minutes. The Lightning began looking to make perfect plays rather than just getting pucks toward the net. The lack of aggression kept the Jaguars in the game. With just over a minute left in the opening period, Northwest / Quince Orchard wound up tying the game on a goal that never should have happened. A faceoff outside the Upper Montgomery defensive zone was won by Upper Montgomery with the puck brought back into the Lightning’s defensive zone by an Upper Montgomery forward. A turnover occurred just inside the defensive blue line and Northwest / Quince Orchard forward Gabriel Carlos sent a weak long range shot toward the goal. Lightning sophomore netminder Ilan Shterenberg placed his catching glove over the puck which should have resulted in a whistle and a stoppage in play. The out-of-position referees did not see Shterenberg clamp down on the puck. The Jaguars’ most dangerous skater, center Ethan Custudio charged the net and pushed his stick under Shterenberg’s glove shoving the puck loose and over the goal line to tie the game.

The Lightning finished the period on the powerplay when Northwest / Quince Orchard defender Drew Blurton was called for tripping with less than a minute remaining in the period. Upper Montgomery was unable to cash in on either the portion of the powerplay that ended the first period or the carry over powerplay time which began the second period. The first period concluded with the score tied at one apiece and Upper Montgomery having nearly doubled up the Jaguars in shots on net eleven to six.

Upper Montgomery’s coaching staff expressed great displeasure at the lack of urgency shown by the team in the first period. The Lightning seemed to take notice because the team came out much sharper in the middle period outshooting the Jaguars by a huge 21 to six margin. Three and a half minutes into the second period, the Lightning jumped back out in front. With extended pressure in the Northwest / Quince Orchard defensive zone the puck was dumped up the boards to Berkhammer at the right point. He skated around an onrushing Jaguars forward and down the boards. While on the move, Berkhammer sent a cross ice ice pass from outside the right faceoff circle to Lightning senior forward Nathan Cassel in the left faceoff circle. Cassel whipped a feed to the front of the net looking for Lightning senior center Henry Honacki. Honacki’s tap in shot was saved by Dean’s left leg pad. The rebound shot out into the slot where Berkhammer placed a left handed wrist shot past Dean’s glove close in by his body.

Having the lead once again further energized the Lightning. Five minutes later Upper Montgomery’s lead grew to 3-1 after Hudson scored his second goal of the evening. Hudson won the draw from the right faceoff circle in the Upper Montgomery offensive zone. Lightning forward Siddy Bhasin pushed the puck back to the right point to senior defender Cole Howerton. Howerton’s snap shot toward the net hit Hudson’s skates. Hudson collected the puck and sent it into the right faceoff circle to Bhasin. Bhasin returned the puck to Hudson who was now standing at the inner edge of the right faceoff circle. Hudson’s turnaround push shot deflected off of a Northwest / Quince Orchard defender’s skate and caromed past Dean low blocker side along the ice.

Upper Montgomery kept up the pressure. Two and a half minutes later Honacki scored his team leading tenth goal of the season to put Upper Montgomery ahead by three goals. Off of a faceoff from the right faceoff circle in the offensive zone, the Jaguars won the faceoff back to the left corner. Shkeda sped in and got to the puck first. He sent the puck lower into the left corner to Honacki. Fighting through a body check, Honacki cycled to the lower portion of the left faceoff circle where he dropped the puck down to Cassel. Cassel skated the puck to the top of the left faceoff circle near the left wing boards where he threw the puck to open ice in the right corner. Once again, Shkeda was first to the puck. He sent the puck back across the ice to Cassel who was standing alone in the left faceoff circle. Cassel found Honacki cutting down the slot toward the crease with a deft pass. All Honacki had to do was pound the puck home from a few feet out in front.

Just before the period ended, Northwest / Quince Orchard forward Omar Ben Younes took a tripping penalty. Upper Montgomery had a great opportunity up three goals entering the third period to put a stranglehold on the game by scoring a powerplay goal. Instead, the Lightning began looking for perfect highlight real chances rather than pressuring the net and swarming the crease area. After not converting on the powerplay, Upper Montgomery went on the penalty kill when Cassel was called for a cross checking penalty. The Lightning penalty killers and Shterenberg faced pressure while shorthanded with Upper Montgomery’s goalie coming through with several key saves to keep the Lightning in front by three.

With just over six minutes left in the third period, Lightning senior forward Josh Nadler took an unnecessary cross checking penalty behind the play. Northwest / Quince Orchard took advantage and scored on the resulting powerplay to close the score to 4-2 with just under five minutes to play. Off of a faceoff outside the Upper Montgomery defensive zone, there was a tie up off the draw. Custudio took possession of the puck and went into the offensive zone wide along the right wing. Getting around the Upper Montgomery defender, he ripped a forehand snapshot from the lower portion of the right faceoff circle. Shterenberg took the puck off his chest protector with the puck bounding off of him to the backside of the crease. Carlos outhustled the Upper Montgomery weak side defender and pushed the puck home into the wide open left side of the net.

A minute and twenty seconds later the Lightning answered back to reclaim their three goal lead. Upper Montgomery dumped the puck out of their defensive zone to neutral ice. Having to create offense, the Jaguars turned the play back towards the Upper Montgomery defensive zone. Standing up just inside the blue line, senior defender Patrick Sell deflected the puck breaking up the Jaguars offensive zone entry. The puck deflected over to Cassel at the red line. Cassel circled back into the Lightning defensive zone and fired up the ice to the Upper Montgomery offensive zone. He cut to his right and brought the puck down the right wing side of the ice. Sensing the Jaguars defenders converging, he stickhandled to the inside at the right faceoff circle. His move evaded the left Northwest / Quince Orchard defender. When the right Northwest / Quince Orchard defender came across the ice to assist and support the play, Cassel slid the puck to his left past both defenders and right on the stick of Zheng. From inside the crease, Zheng punched the puck past Dean’s blocker and goalie stick along the ice at the far side of the net.

Being up 5-2 with three and a half minutes left should have sewn up the game. Maybe that is what the Lightning student athletes thought as well because they stopped competing. Shterenberg made multiple close in saves in rapid succession, first the initial shot, then the second chance, and even a third rebound jam shot. His number of saves shot up dramatically. Then, with under two minutes to play, Carlos scored again to make the score 5-3. With the puck and control in the offensive zone Shkeda collided with Lightning ninth grade defender Lillian Robbins. The puck was scooped up by Blurton along the left wing boards in his defensive zone. He sent an outlet pass into neutral ice to Custudio sending the speedy center in on a breakaway with Lightning sophomore defender Miles Wendland applying back pressure. Shterenberg made a save with his leg pads when Custudio attempted to beat him five hole. The rebound popped out into the slot where Northwest / Quince Orchard defender Andrew Isaacson fired. Shterenberg made a blocker save on the rebound attempt with the puck sliding over to the side of the net. Carlos sent a backhanded chip shot toward the net. His short side shot was just out of the reach of Shterenberg as he lunged over to the other goal post attempting to make a third excellent save in succession.

Off the center ice faceoff, all of the Lightning skaters fell asleep. Cassel turned the puck over in the neutral zone after a face off win by Honacki. At the faceoff dot outside the Lightning defensive zone Isaacson had the puck on the left wing. He moved over the blue line into the Upper Montgomery defensive zone. From the outside edge of the left faceoff circle, his wrist shot went to the far side of the net, past Shterenberg’s glove hand into the top right corner of the net.

While the Jaguars were still celebrating cutting the Lightning’s lead to 5-4 with 1:35 remaining in the game, the Upper Montgomery coaching staff had already called for a timeout. In a strategic move, Lightning junior center Owen Robbins was moved back to defense to provide a bigger body for the anticipated Northwest / Quince Orchard six on five pulled goalie attack.

Fortunately, Upper Montgomery kept the puck out of the Jaguars possession. After a Northwest / Quince Orchard dump in to their offensive zone Berkhammer settled the play behind his own net. Berkhammer then sent a defensive zone breakout pass to Shkeda up the left wing boards. Shkeda sent the puck high off the defensive zone glass up the boards and out of the defensive zone. The puck sailed over the head of Northwest / Quince Orchard senior defender Roman Martin who jumped up in an attempt to catch the puck. The puck deflected off of Martin’s glove hand negating any potential icing call. Honacki raced down the ice and beat the weak side Jaguars defender to the puck in the left wing of the Northwest / Quince Orchard defensive zone. Breaking free, Honacki cut toward the net as he was in all alone. He shot towards the left side of the goal, back from where he had just skated. The puck whizzed past the right arm and body of Dean going past him seven hole into the back of the net. The score provided a brief respite as Upper Montgomery was now ahead 6-4 with 56 seconds remaining in the game.

The same five Lightning skaters lined up at center ice for the ensuing faceoff as the team continued to defend the last minute of the game. Off the ensuing center ice faceoff, the Lightning dumped the puck into the Northwest / Quince Orchard end of the ice. Using his speed, Shkeda raced in to gain possession of the puck on the half wall on the left wing side of the ice. He was instantly converged on by two Jaguars defensive skaters. From the top of the left faceoff circle, Shkeda managed to get the puck over to Honakci in the slot. Honacki backhanded the puck wide of the net and into the left defensive corner. Cassel arrived on the puck first and took the puck deeper along the curve of the corner sending a pass to Shkeda almost behind the net. Shkeda sent a short return pass to Cassel who had turned into the left faceoff circle. Cassel fired a short side wrist shot past Dean’s blocker to salt away the game with 37 seconds remaining in regulation.

While fighting off the spirited Jaguars upset bid, the Lightning know that they will need to play much, much better to stay competitive with the three remaining teams on their conference schedule; Rockville / Magruder, Churchill, and Whitman. The seniors were able to celebrate a win on senior night, but the game was anything but easy against last place Northwest / Quince Orchard. The Lightning have momentum by virtue of a three game winning streak. Upper Montgomery will finish with its best mark in conference play since the 2018 – 2019 season when the team only played the other teams in the lower division of the Montgomery Hockey Conference. One more win over the final three conference games likely clinches the all important sixth seed in the upcoming post season playoffs. Finishing sixth would tie last season’s best ever regular season finish in program history.

Game Notes:

• Upper Montgomery outshot the Jaguars 43-30 including a huge 32-12 margin over the first two periods of play.
• Lightning sophomore center Jake Hudson scored his first career varsity goal and followed that marker up with another strike.
• Lightning senior center Henry Honacki scored two goals for the third consecutive game.
• The victory was Upper Montgomery’s third consecutive league win pushing the team’s record to 6-3-1 overall, and 6-2-1 in conference play.
• The two teams combined for six goals in the final five minutes of the third period.
• With his assist on Honakci’s second goal, Lightning defender Brady Berkhammer tied his career high in points in a season with thirteen. He had three points in the game with a goal and two assists.
• Lightning senior forward Nathan Cassel had a four point game with a goal and three assists.
• Upper Montgomery has a critical matchup next Friday night when the team returns to Rockville Ice Arena to take on the Rockville / Magruder Rams. It is a game that will more than likely determine the sixth and seventh seeds in the season ending Montgomery Hockey Conference post season playoff tournament. Faceoff is at 9:00 pm on Friday, January 10th.

Three Stars of the Game:

First Star—Jake Hudson—Upper Montgomery Center —2 Goals
Second Star—Henry Honacki—Upper Montgomery Center—2 Goals, 2 Assists
Third Star—Nathan Cassel—Upper Montgomery Forward—1 Goal, 3 Assists

Another week, another pivotal game for the Upper Montgomery Lightning. In defeating the BCC Barons in the season opener for both squads, the Lightning earned the program’s first ever victory over the perennial Montgomery County powerhouse program. Friday night the Lightning earned another hard fought victory over the Barons to sweep the season series. The game played out just as predicted. It was a very heavy game with lots of contact and hard hits. There was very little room to maneuver around the ice. Stellar goaltending kept the game low scoring. Behind a second consecutive two goal game from Upper Montgomery senior center Henry Honacki, the Lightning left the ice exhausted but in a celebratory mood.

The 3-2 triumph increased Upper Montgomery’s record on the season to 5-2-1 in conference play and 5-3-1 overall. With bottom feeder Northwest / Quince Orchard up next after winter break, the Lightning have an ideal opportunity to move four games over .500 in conference play. Upper Montgomery has likely already clinched a top eight seed in the season ending Montgomery Hockey Conference post season playoff tournament. This is key as the home team has the last line change and is able to match up forward lines and defensive pairings against their opening round playoff opponent. It was a well earned victory for the Lightning in light of how the game started.

On the opening shift of the game BCC’s leading scorer Leo Alley-Strocher scored an unassisted goal to punch Upper Montgomery right in the nose thirty seconds into the game. A BCC zone entry was stopped by the Upper Montgomery defense. The puck was sent around the back of the net to the right corner. An attempted defensive zone clear by the Lightning defense banking the puck off the side boards was blocked by the Barons. The puck caromed into the center of the right faceoff circle. Without his stick, Honacki attempted to kick the puck back to the Upper Montgomery defense. He missed the puck with Alley-Strocher standing right there. Alley-Strocher was thus in alone in front of the net. He first stickhandled around Lightning sophomore goaltender Ilan Shterenberg and then lifted a backhander to the far side of the net past Shterenberg’s goalie stick and blocker.

The early BCC goal did not deter the Lightning. Upper Montgomery’s response was excellent. The Lightning went on to outshoot the Barons by a lopsided nineteen to four margin over the opening fifteen minutes of action. Only Barons senior goalie Tycho Narrod-Malcolm kept BCC from getting blown out of the rink making superior save after superior save to continuously thwart the Lightning. It was a testament to Upper Montgomery’s student athletes that they were not deterred by how well Narrod-Malcolm was playing. The Lightning kept attacking and swarming inside the BCC defensive zone.

Four minutes after Alley-Strocher’s goal, Upper Montgomery found the tying score. The Barons defense had control of the puck inside the BCC defensive zone. Lightning junior center and team captain Owen Robbins stick checked the puck. The puck slid over to the other Barons defender. Honacki checked the Barons defender separating the skater from the puck. Upper Montgomery ninth grade forward Siddy Bhasin took possession of the loose puck. From the bottom of the left faceoff circle Bhasin made an unselfish pass over to Honakci in the crease. The Lightning’s senior center slammed the puck past Narrod-Malcolm’s glove into the open side of the net for his eighth goal of the season.

The rest of the period was played in the BCC defensive zone. There was enormous pressure put on the Narrod-Malcolm who stood tall in net. There was also substantial play along the boards and in the corners with both teams playing a physical rough and tumble style of game. Eventually, the first period came to a close with the score tied at one. BCC immensely needed the intermission break as they looked to recover and change the complexion of the game.

It would take some time as just over a minute into the second period BCC defender Benjamin Lyons was called for a tripping penalty. The Lightning powerplay had been smoking hot of late but was unable to capitalize this time as Narrod-Malcolm kept the puck out of the net. The rough and tumble play continued with each team feeling as if the referees missed a call or two. But, BCC was able to begin to convert defensive zone exits into offensive opportunities. Play in the second period was much more even with each team firing ten shots on goal. After the early goal against, Shterenberg settled in and stopped the next thirteen shots he faced through two periods of play.

With three and a half minutes remaining in the middle period Upper Montgomery jumped out to their first lead of the game. From a faceoff in the defensive zone to the left of Shterenberg, the draw was won back to Lightning junior defender Brady Berkhammer in the right corner. Berkhammer took the puck behind his net and then sent an outlet pass to Robbins in the neutral zone. Robbins’ attempted backhand pass hit a BCC defender’s skate and came right back to him. He then entered the offensive zone on a two on two rush with Bhasin. Robbins went wide and sent a backhand pass across the ice which was just out of reach of the BCC defense. Bhasin skated into the pass. From the inside edge in the lower part of the right faceoff circle he fired a wrist shot on goal. The puck went seven hole between Narrod-Malcolm’s body and blocker to the far side of the net. It was Bhasin’s first career varsity goal.

With a minute remaining in the middle period Lightning senior defender Cole Howerton was whistled for a tripping penalty. Upper Montgomery successfully killed off the second period portion of BCC’s extra skater advantage to preserve its one goal lead entering the third period.

BCC played with much more urgency in the third period. The wrap around portion of Howerton’s penalty saw BCC begin to generate more offensive chances and penetrate to the interior of the Upper Montgomery penalty kill. Shterenberg made several strong saves to keep the Barons off the scoreboard. BCC was back on the powerplay once again with ten minutes remaining in regulation when Robbins was called for cross checking in front of the Barons goal. It was a terrible call as Robbins leaned on a smaller skater who fell down. Upper Montgomery scrambled through the second Barons’ powerplay but with Sheterenberg making several more point blank saves as part of his fifteen in the period BCC remained trailing 2-1.

With five minutes remaining in the game, Lyons was assessed his second penalty of the night. It was another poor officiating call by the same official that called Robbins penalty five minutes prior. Unlike BCC, the Lightning took advantage of Lyons’ slashing penalty to extend the lead to 3-1. Off of a faceoff in the right faceoff circle in the BCC defensive zone the Barons won the draw. However, Lightning sophomore forward Aiden Zheng outraced the Barons defense to the puck in the right corner. Zheng sent a backhand pass off one of the BCC defenders to Honacki in the slot. Honacki’s backhand shot went wide of the net far side and into the left corner. Lightning junior forward Philip Shkeda won the race to the puck along the left wing side wall. He dropped the puck back to Berkhammer at the left point. Berkhammer sent a long range wrist shot at the net while falling away from the goal. Berkhammer’s shot was deflected by Honacki on net. Narrod-Malcolm made the pad save. Honacki and Zheng banged away at the rebound. The puck fired off Narrod-Malcolm’s pads up the slot to Shkeda. Shkeda faked a shot, hesitated, and made a backhand pass down to Honacki at the left post. Honacki controlled the pass and quickly fired over Narrod-Malcolm’s right leg pad under his blocker for the powerplay goal. It was his team leading fourth powerplay goal and ninth goal of the season.

With a two goal deficit, BCC pulled Narrod-Malcolm for an extra skater extremely early with 3:20 left in the game. Upper Montgomery played strong defense over the next minute. An icing call brought the faceoff back into the Upper Montgomery defensive zone in the left faceoff circle. Upper Montgomery won the ensuing faceoff. Poor communication by the Upper Montgomery defenders coupled with a poor defensive zone clear sent the puck to Barons forward Kiran Maltby. His bad angle shot from the bottom of the left faceoff circle was easily saved by Shterenberg’s blocker. Howerton cleared the puck out of the crease. Maltby picked up the loose puck in the left corner and took the puck around the back of the net from left to right. His centering pass to the slot was lodged in a tangle of bodies and skates in front of Shterenberg. The puck squirted out of the pile of skaters to BCC forward Peter Lanpher at the back left goal post. Lanpher’s forehand shot to the backside of the net trickled through Shterenberg who was coming across the net and just over the goal line.

With 2:27 remaining in the game Upper Montgomery was ahead by just one, 3-2. Five seconds after the puck drop at center ice, Narrod-Malcolm was back on the bench in favor of the extra skater. The Upper Montgomery coaches kept the same set of skaters on the ice to try and prevent BCC from tying up the game. Robbins, Berkhammer, Zheng, Honacki, and ninth grade defender Lillian Robbins gutted through the remainder of the game fighting in the corners and along the boards to clear the puck back to center ice or into the Barons end of the ice. As the puck came to center ice one final time with under five seconds remaining in the game, the Lightning had secured a second consecutive victory over BCC.

The Lightning will look to carry the momentum from this important victory into the final four regular season conference games. With Northwest / Quince Orchard the first game after winter break, the Lightning have an opportunity to continue to climb up the conference standings. Upper Montgomery can finish with its best mark in conference play since the 2018 – 2019 season when the team only played the other teams in the lower division of the Montgomery Hockey Conference. Two wins over the final four conference games likely clinches the all important sixth seed in the upcoming post season playoffs. Finishing sixth would tie last season’s best ever finish in program history.

Game Notes:

• Upper Montgomery outshot the Barons 39-30 including a huge nineteen to four margin in the opening period.
• Lightning senior center Henry Honacki scored two goals for the second consecutive game. He also scored the game winning powerplay goal in each of the last two games.
• Honacki now leads the Lightning with nine goals.
• The six on five pulled goalie goal scored by BCC was the third such pulled goalie goal scored by the Lightning’s opposition in nine games. The Lightning won two of the games and tied the third.
• Upper Montgomery scored on the powerplay again. The team is now seven for eighteen (38.9%) on the season with the extra skater. Last season, Upper Montgomery scored all of seven powerplay goals the entire year.
• Upper Montgomery swept the season series from the Barons. It is the first season in its sixteen years of existence that Upper Montgomery has defeated BCC.
• The only Montgomery County high school program that the Lightning have never beaten is the Churchill Bulldogs.
• Upper Montgomery returns to action after the winter break with the team’s annual senior night celebration. The Lightning will honor its seven seniors before the team takes on last place Northwest / Quince Orchard. Faceoff is at 8:10 pm on Friday, January 3rd at Rockville Ice Arena.

Three Stars of the Game:

First Star—Tycho Narrod-Malcolm—BCC Goalie—36 Saves, .923 Save Percentage
Second Star—Henry Honacki—Upper Montgomery Center—2 Goals Including Game Winning PPG
Third Star—Ilan Shterenberg–Upper Montgomery Goalie—Win, 2 Goals Against, 28 Saves, .933 Save Percentage