Author: chucklevine

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

In a pivotal game with home ice implications for the season ending Montgomery Hockey Conference post season playoff tournament, Lightning senior center Henry Honacki scored his second goal of the contest on a four on three powerplay with eleven seconds remaining in overtime to propel the Upper Montgomery Lightning past the DC Stars 3-2. It was an excellent bounce back win after the drubbing the Lightning endured in their prior game versus Wootton. With the victory over the DC Stars, Upper Montgomery has likely wrapped up a top eight seed in the Montgomery Hockey Conference post season tournament and along with that home ice advantage (last line change) in the opening round playoff matchup. The Lightning increased their overall record on the season to 4-3-1 and 4-2-1 in conference play.

A concerted team effort in all three zones allowed Upper Montgomery to emerge victorious while playing without the team’s top three offensive weapons, senior Nathan Cassel and juniors Owen Robbins and Philip Shkeda. With that much offensive firepower out of the lineup, the coaching staff anticipated a low scoring game. Although the DC Stars vastly outshot Upper Montgomery, most of the DC Stars shots on goal were from long range or were harmless shots where Lightning sophomore netminder Ilan Shterenberg had clear sight lines to make a routine save. On the other hand, DC Stars goalie Anton Tracy was largely responsible for keeping Upper Montgomery to only two goals in regulation by making several outstanding saves to redeem the spotty DC Stars defensive performance.

From the outset of the game, the DC Stars made a concerted effort to shoot pucks at the net. As previously mentioned, the Stars were not too concerned with how dangerous the shots were, just that they were pumping rubber at Shterenberg. They succeeded in firing fifteen shots on net during the opening period of play to just six shots for the Lightning. However, it was Upper Montgomery that jumped in front to an early lead.

From a faceoff in the right faceoff circle in the offensive zone, Lightning sophomore center Jake Hudson won the draw cleanly to Upper Montgomery junior defender Brady Berkhammer at the right point. Berkhammer faked past the DC Stars forward coming out to guard him at the point and carried the puck down the right wing boards into the right corner. He proceeded to spin around the DC Stars left defender and sent a goal mouth pass through the crease to the back left goal post. Berkhammer’s pass was right on the money for Lightning ninth grade forward Luke Hudson to bang home the puck past Tracy’s goalie stick and blocker for his first career high school varsity goal. The primary assist was Berkhammer’s sixth assist on the season. The faceoff win credited Jake Hudson with his sixth assist of the season as well.

With two minutes left in the first period, Upper Montgomery took at too many skaters on the ice penalty. The Lightning penalty killers stood tall and prevented the Stars from getting good looks at the net. There was plenty of traffic in front, but most of the Stars shots were blocked by Upper Montgomery’s defense or from bad angles with Shterenberg in good position to make the easy saves.

Entering the second period with a lead and knowing that they could play with a division one opponent, Upper Montgomery began to assert control of play. One offensive thrust a couple of minutes into the period bore fruit when DC Stars forward Reuven Magder was assessed a cross checking penalty wiping out an Upper Montgomery forward standing in the crease setting a screen. The resulting powerplay gave the Lightning an opportunity to extend their lead which was exactly what the Lightning would do.

While shorthanded, the DC Stars sent the puck the length of the ice to Shterenberg in front of the net. The Lightning netminder sent a long outlet pass up the ice to Upper Montgomery ninth grade forward Siddy Bhasin on the left wing at the offensive blue line. Bhasin curled around in center ice and headed into the DC Stars defensive zone down the middle of the ice. Bhasin avoided a big check by the DC Stars top defender, senior 18U AA Leo Nyberg, and dumped the puck into the left corner. Bhasin then attempted to bring the puck toward the net front where he was stick checked by Tracy. Upper Montgomery ninth grade defender Matt Rivera pinched in from his left point position to keep the play alive. The puck went down the left wing boards to Honacki on the side wall. Honacki curled off the boards to the center of the left faceoff circle and sent a rising wrist shot to the far side of the net. Tracy, with bodies screening him in front, picked up the puck too late as the shot zoomed past his catching glove into the top right corner of the net.

Upper Montgomery seemingly had control of the game until an unlucky penalty a minute later put the Stars on their second powerplay of the evening. Bhasin’s stick got stuck under the skates of a DC Stars defender and down he went sending Bhasin to the penalty box for tripping. Upper Montgomery did a fine job on the first minute of the Stars powerplay keeping everything to the outside. An Upper Montgomery clear down ice was stopped in the left faceoff circle by Tracy. Tracy sent a pass up ice to Stars forward Liam Saxon at center ice along the left wing boards. Saxon entered the Lightning defensive zone diagonally to the center of the ice. From just inside the blue line Saxon sent a long distance shot on goal. As with many of the Stars’ shot attempts on the evening, Shterenberg made an easy save. A poor clearing attempt by the Upper Montgomery defense was kept in the offensive zone by Nyberg. Nyberg skated to the top of the right faceoff circle where he unleashed a powerful wrist shot at the net. His shot rose high above Shterenberg’s collarbone and just under the crossbar. The top shelf unassisted powerplay marker brought the Stars to within one.

Right after Nyberg’s goal trimmed the Lightning’s lead, the Stars had an excellent opportunity to quickly tie up the game when Honacki was called for a roughing penalty. Upper Montgomery did an excellent job on the Stars third powerplay opportunity of the evening blocking several shots, getting to loose pucks, and repetitively getting the puck out of the defensive zone. However, after the powerplay concluded, with five minutes remaining in the second period the game was all tied up.

Upper Montgomery dumped the puck into the DC Stars defensive zone behind the goal. The DC Stars zone exit was messy, but the puck eventually came to Stars forward Patrick Kaufmann on the right side of the ice at his defensive blue line. Kaufmann carried the puck through neutral ice and dumped the puck into the Upper Montgomery defensive zone between the right corner and the goal. Two DC Stars skaters outnumbered Lightning senior defender Cole Howerton on the puck. Stars defender Sam Bensky came away with the puck and sent a pass from behind the goal to the slot area. Stars forward Frederick Bao outmuscled the Lightning defense to gain inside position at the top of the crease where he tapped home the puck five hole through Shterenberg’s legs to tie the game at two.

Thirty seconds later the Lightning were on the powerplay again when Stars forward Thomas Quinn was called for cross checking for running over Rivera in the neutral zone. Upper Montgomery controlled the puck in the offensive zone for the entire powerplay. At times, the Lightning skaters did not shoot the puck looking for the perfect shot. Other times, the Lightning had very good looks that Tracy shut down with fine saves to keep the game tied. Then, with a minute left in the period, Bhasin was called for his second penalty of the period, this time for cross checking. The Lightning penalty killers excelled on this shorthanded opportunity to reach the end of the period deadlocked at two even though the Stars outshot the Lightning eleven to four during the period and 26-10 through two periods of play.

The Lightning killed off the remainder of Bhasin’s penalty to begin the third period. Then, the period settled into a mirror image of the opening fifteen minutes of play. The DC Stars entered the Upper Montgomery defensive zone and shot from distance at Shterenberg who made eighteen more saves in the period. While Upper Montgomery was more conservative with their eight shots and generated the better offensive chances. Shterenberg was solid making each save and directing the rebounds out of harm’s way. Tracy was excellent keeping the score tied with several really good saves. As the clocked ticked under five minutes, it seemed as if every rush up ice had the potential to bring the game winning shot with it. Once the clock reached under a minute remaining in regulation time, each team seemed more inclined to just reach overtime to secure the important standings points.

Once overtime began, the DC Stars had possession for the first minute of the extra session with Nyberg testing Shterenberg early on and then Stars forward Kai Handy-Kanegis having a good look from the top of the circles that he fired wide of the net. After that first shift of overtime, Upper Montgomery dominated puck possession. The pressure paid off when Saxon was called for a tripping penalty with two minutes remaining in overtime. But, with running clock the faceoff in the Stars defensive zone did not occur until one minute and thirty one seconds remained in the game.

With the four on three powerplay chance, Honacki won the initial faceoff draw back to Berkhammer at the right point. Berkhammer skated into the slot and sent a low wrist shot to Tracy’s blocker side. The puck went over Tracy’s outstretched leg pad and banged hard off the left goal post. The ricochet bounced directly under Tracy and the puck was quickly frozen. Honacki won the next faceoff too cleanly as the puck went directly out of the offensive zone. Berkhammer brought the puck back into the offensive zone from center ice. He reset the play allowing the Lightning skaters to get into position and set up. He sent a pass from the right point over to the left point to Lightning sophomore defender Miles Wendland. Wendland’s long range wrist shot was saved by Tracy and cleared down ice by the Stars defense.

Upper Montgomery’s next zone entry saw Berkhammer send in Wendland down the left side of the ice. Wendland entered the offensive zone and shot high and wide of the net to the far side. The puck circled around the boards to Berkhammer along the right wing boards. Berkhammer sent the puck down into the right corner to Upper Montgomery sophomore forward Aiden Zheng. Zheng found Wendland in the mid slot. Wendland’s next wrist shot was an easy save for Tracy with the netminder using his blocker to send the puck to the left corner. Wendland followed up his shot and rushed over gain control of the puck in the left corner.

With twenty-three seconds left in overtime Wendland sent the puck to Honacki at the bottom of the left faceoff circle. Honacki’s weak wrist shot was intercepted by the Stars defense. Berkhammer pressured the tired DC Stars forward who sent the puck to the right wing boards but not out danger. The puck was still in the DC Stars defensive zone and Berkhammer was easily first to the puck. Eighteen seconds remained when Berkhammer curled high in the offensive zone near the blue line. He deked between the Stars penalty killing forwards to the left portion of the slot. With everyone expecting Berkhammer to shot because he had a clear lane to the net, Nyberg came over to try and prevent Berkhammer’s shot.

Instead, Berkhammer made a deft pass over to Honacki on the right side of the goal. With a yawning net with Tracy faced up to Berkhammer and no defender nearby, from two feet in front of the goal Honacki buried the puck into the near side of the net. The buzzer beating goal set off a huge celebratory scrum in the right corner as the entire Lightning team charged over the boards to join in. Honacki’s powerplay tally was his seventh goal of the season tying him for the team lead. The goal officially came with 10.6 seconds remaining in overtime. Berkhammer’s pretty pass was his team leading seventh assist of the season.

The Lightning will look to carry the momentum of this thrilling win into next week’s rematch against BCC. Upper Montgomery will be looking for the season sweep of the Barons and to go three games over .500 on the season in conference play. With Northwest / Quince Orchard the first game after the winter break, the Lightning have an opportunity to finish with their 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. Until the season opening win over BCC, Upper Montgomery had gone winless against the Barons in their first fifteen years of existence.

Game Notes:

• The DC Stars badly outshot Upper Montgomery doubling up the Lightning by a 46-23 margin. Upper Montgomery had the better of play in the overtime session outshooting the DC Stars five to two.
• Honacki’s two goals ties him with junior center Owen Robbins for the team lead with seven goals on the season.
• Upper Montgomery scored on both powerplay chances and is now six for sixteen (37.5%) on the season with the extra skater. Last season, Upper Montgomery scored all of seven powerplay goals the entire year.
• It was Berkhammer’s second two assist game of the season.
• Upper Montgomery returns to action next week to face off against the BCC Barons. Upper Montgomery defeated BCC for the first time in program history in the season opener for both teams. Game time is 8:45 pm next Friday at Rockville Ice Arena.

Three Stars of the Game:

First Star—Henry Honacki—Upper Montgomery Center—2 Goals Including Game Winning Overtime PPG
Second Star—Ilan Shterenberg—Upper Montgomery Goalie—Win, 44 Saves, 2 Goals Against, .957 Save Percentage.
Third Star—Brady Berkhammer–Upper Montgomery Defense—2 Assists

The Upper Montgomery Lightning entered Friday night’s contest against Wootton knowing that they played the Patriots tough three weeks ago in a 3-1 loss. Upper Montgomery held the high scoring Wootton attack to nine goals under their season average. The rematch was entirely one sided with Wootton thumping Upper Montgomery in a very non-competitive contest by a score of 10-1. Upper Montgomery’s one goal was comparable to a soccer own goal because Wootton accidently shot the puck into their own net. It was definitely sweet revenge for Wootton. After never losing to Upper Montgomery in the first fourteen years of Upper Montgomery’s existence, Wootton lost twice to the Lightning two years ago and was embarrassed by the Lightning in last year’s Montgomery Hockey Conference Varsity Tournament Championship game falling 9-1.

Lightning sophomore goaltender Ilan Shterenberg was under siege right from the opening faceoff. Upper Montgomery looked to play a structured defense first game in an attempt to neutralize Wootton’s high powered offense. The Lightning were hoping to mimic their defensive performance from the last game. It never had a chance to work. Wootton was relentless off the opening draw at center ice pressuring the Lightning all over the ice. Upper Montgomery rarely had clean possession of the puck. Many of the Lightning shots on goal were dump ins from center ice or shots from long range along the boards.

In contrast, Wootton peppered Shterenberg with pucks. The Patriots were first to rebounds and kept coming forward in waves. The young Lightning were overwhelmed and buried. Wootton’s all-state senior 18U AA defender Sam Hosier did the most damage scoring four goals and assisting on three other Patriots strikes. The deluge commenced four minutes into the game. Upper Montgomery cleared the puck to neutral ice. In neutral ice Wootton defender Jayden Ahn chipped the puck off the left wing boards with his backhand. The puck banked forward to Wootton senior forward Nathan Tai who was coming out of the Upper Montgomery defensive zone to get back onside. Tai sent a backhand pass across the ice to Hosier on the right wing boards. Hosier circled around the neutral zone to pick up speed before entering the offensive zone on the right side. He drove wide around the Upper Montgomery defense and cut left towards the net. He sent a forehand shot to the back of the net high to the far side over Shterenberg’s blocker and right shoulder.

Sixteen seconds later it was Hosier two goals and Upper Montgomery zero. From a faceoff outside the Lightning defensive zone, Hosier won the draw to the right wing boards. He was first to the puck and once again did his customary curl around the center ice faceoff circle. Then, he rocketed directly up ice into the Lightning defensive zone. High above the faceoff circles from the middle of the offensive zone Hosier fired a wrist shot that bounced off Shterenberg’s glove, popped up into the air, and landed behind the young goalie settling into the net. It was a soft goal to allow and the two goal deficit seemed to further deflate the Lightning.

Upper Montgomery closed the gap to 2-1 with just under nine minutes remaining in the first period. It would be the only positive for the Lightning on this night. Back pressure applied by Lightning ninth grade forward Luke Hudson on the left wing of the neutral zone caused a turnover. Lightning senior center Henry Honacki stole the puck and headed up ice into the Wootton defensive zone. He curled up between the faceoff circle and the side wall and fired a bad angle shot at Wootton goalie Kevin Yu. Yu made an easy pad save with the puck shooting out into the empty slot. Backchecking Wootton defender Jaina Kronforst shot the puck looking to put it out of harm’s way into the right corner. She hooked her attempt slightly left and shot the puck into her own net past Yu. Honacki as the last Lightning skater to touch the puck was awarded the unassisted goal.

The Lightning’s good fortune lasted less than two minutes when Patriots forward Owen Goozh made the score 3-1 Wootton. The puck was in the Upper Montgomery defensive zone in the left corner. The puck was then carried behind the net by the Upper Montgomery defense and cleared up the right wing boards where it was intercepted by Tai. Tai fumbled the puck but was able to send it back to the point to Wootton defender David Oberst. Oberst then lost control of the puck into the high slot where Goozh pivoted and immediately fired a rising shot high through a double screen of Lightning defenders past Shterenberg’s glove. With five and a half minutes remaining in the opening period, Lightning senior forward Josh Nadler was called for a roughing penalty. The Lightning successfully killed off the penalty only because Wootton missed the net on several good looks after repeatedly breaking down the Lightning penalty killers.

Hosier closed out the first period scoring with twelve seconds remaining to put Wootton up 4-1. Goozh had the puck in the neutral zone before he entered the Upper Montgomery defensive zone. He took the puck down to the left corner and continued to stickhandle looking to center a pass to the slot. Goozh sent the puck behind the net to the right defensive corner where it was picked up by Hosier. Hosier sent the puck up the right wing boards to the right point. The puck was dumped back down to the left corner intended for Goozh but went past him to Tai. Tai sent the puck to Goozh at the side of the net. Goozh tried to muscle the puck past Shterenberg to the short side. Shterenberg made the save with the puck coming right back to Goozh. Goozh then made a nice touch pass through the crease to Hosier in the low slot. Hosier had the entire right side of the open net to dump the puck into. Shots on goal in the first period were twenty three for Wootton and eight for Upper Montgomery.

The second period was a mirror image of the first period. Wootton fired eighteen shots on goal, three of which found the net and Upper Montgomery was credited with seven non-threatening shots that Yu saved. Three minutes into the period Ahn was given a checking from behind penalty and ten minute misconduct. The referees also called Nadler for a retaliatory roughing penalty to eliminate the potential Upper Montgomery powerplay.

With six minutes played of the second period Upper Montgomery had somewhat stopped the Wootton barrage. Then, on a shift with extended offensive zone time, Wootton increased the lead to 5-1. The scoring sequence began with a faceoff in the right faceoff circle in the Upper Montgomery defensive zone. Several poor Upper Montgomery defensive clears failed to get the puck to neutral ice. The last bad defensive clear was intercepted by Goozh. With the puck on the left wing side of the ice he dumped the puck behind the Lightning net. A puck battle ensued. Tai came out of the pack with puck possession. He sent a spinning backhand pass through the crease where the puck was kept in at the left point by Wootton defender Drew Kronforst. Kronforst sent the puck at the net where it landed in multiple skater’s feet. The puck bounced loose to Wootton forward Justin Heller who put the puck past Shterenberg short side low past his goalie stick.

Having largely keep Wootton in check during the second period, the Lightning finally faltered when Wootton broke through with under two minutes remaining. Hosier used a poke check to steal the puck at the red line. He went in on a three on two rush with Goozh and Heller. From the outside edge of the left faceoff circle he fired a pass through the crease to Goozh for an easy tap goal in at the back right goal post. Goozh had gotten behind the Upper Montgomery defense to deposit his second goal of the game.

On the next shift the game went into running clock as the score grew to 7-1. Off of a faceoff from the left faceoff circle in the Upper Montgomery defensive zone, the Lightning failed to clear the defensive zone…again. Hosier kept the puck in the offensive zone at the left point. He shoveled the puck with one hand on his stick over to Wootton forward Nathan Geeng. Geeng skated to the inner edge of the left faceoff circle where he fired a wrist shot to the near side post which went past Shterenberg’s goalie stick.

As the third period began, Wootton’s scoring onslaught continued. Geeng scored his second goal of the game on the first shift of the period. After several nice saves by Shterenberg, another bad Upper Montgomery defensive zone clear was grabbed by Hosier using his feet to settle the puck. The play was actually offsides as the puck came out of the defensive zone but the referee who made the call was well out of position. Hosier even stopped for a second or two as he knew the puck had come to center ice. With no whistle for offsides, Hosier then skated around the onrushing Upper Montgomery forward and fired a wrist shot at the net. Shterenberg made the save with his chest protector and the puck fell to the ice. The rebound was knocked in by Geeng standing all alone at the right goal post.

With six minutes mercifully remaining in the contest, Wootton scored again to go up 9-1. An Upper Montgomery shot missed the net. Hosier collected the puck on the left wing in his defensive zone. He skated up ice at full speed and blew past the Upper Montgomery right defender in the neutral zone. He came down the left side of the ice into the Upper Montgomery defensive zone. At the left faceoff circle he cut right at the net and sent a backhand shot far side under Shterenberg’s glove for the unassisted goal, his fourth of the game.

On the next shift, Wootton reached double figures in goals. Geeng came down the left wing into the Lightning defensive zone. He turned, emerging from a puck battle to feed Wootton depth forward Brendan Lau in front. Lau stopped the puck with his forehand. He then moved the puck to his backhand and fired at Shterenberg. The Lightning goalie got most of the puck, however it popped up into the air and just over the goal line.

The Lightning now have a break to wipe away the stink of this performance as they do not play for the next three weeks. When the team returns to action, Upper Montgomery faces a challenge of a cross over game against the DC Stars from division one of the Montgomery Hockey Conference. A win for the Lightning will go a long way toward locking up a home playoff game in the opening round of the Montgomery Hockey Conference season ending post season playoff tournament.

Game Notes:

• Wootton significantly outshot Upper Montgomery 50-19 for the game, including 41-15 over the first two periods of play. It was a similar margin of shots on goal compared with the first game between the two teams, with Wootton doubling up the Lightning in shots 52-26.
• Upper Montgomery has now lost three of its last four games to drag is record down to 3-3-1 on the season after a fast start to the campaign.
• Upper Montgomery did not have a powerplay in the contest.
• Upper Montgomery has scored a total of two goals in its three games against top fifteen teams in the state; 3-1 and 10-1 against Wootton and 7-0 against Urbana.
• Upper Montgomery returns to action after the Thanksgiving break to face division one opponent the DC Stars. Game time on Friday, December 13th is at 8:45 pm at Rockville Ice Arena.

Three Stars of the Game:

First Star—Sam Hosier—Wootton Defense—4 Goals, 3 Assists
Second Star—Owen Goozh—Wootton Forward—2 Goals, 1 Assist
Third Star—Nathan Geeng–Wootton Forward—2 Goals, 1 Assist