Category: Game Previews

On Friday, the Upper Montgomery Lightning junior varsity plays against the Blair Blazers. Game time is 6:30 pm at Cabin John Ice Rink. As with last week’s schedule, the Upper Montgomery varsity plays at 10:00 pm that same evening. With a varsity game later in the evening, the coaching staff will be utilizing roster management tactics to make sure that students playing heavy minutes later in the evening in the varsity game are well rested. With the Blazers off to an 0-4 start to the season and being outscored 32-2, the game against Upper Montgomery will be a miss match. The Blazers have two additional games this week prior to the game against Upper Montgomery and seemingly could be 0-6 by game time.

In goal for the Lightning junior varsity will again be ninth grade netminder Porter Stutsrim-Lyons.  Stutsrim-Lyons plays for the Caps Academy 14U lower A external travel team. He has begun his high school career in excellent style with a 2-1-2 record, a miniscule 1.96 goals against average, and an eye popping .933 save percentage. If Stutsrim-Lyons maintains his current save percentage it would break the junior varsity program record set last season by Ilan Shterenberg (.927). The Blazers will play Crispin Mpoy in goal. Mpoy is playing behind an overmatched roster of skaters in front of him.

On defense the Lightning will sit their more experienced defenders. Anticipate that Cole Howerton and Miles Wendland will not play against the Blazers. Patrick Sell will likely skate with Avery Evans as the top defensive pair. Matt Rivera and Luke Hudson will skate together for much of the game as well. Lillian Robbins will be worked in some but not play regularly as the team will likely rest her for the varsity game later in the evening. Defensively, the Blazers will be hoping to stay out of running clock for as long as possible.

On offense, the Lightning will likely rest Jake Hudson and Aiden Zheng. Anticipate that leading scorer, ninth grade forward Siddy Bhasin (4GP, 3G, 4A) will play along with senior AJ Marks. Rounding out the forward rotation will be sophomore Mason Jagoz, and ninth grade forwards Decklin Hughes and Max Israfilbek. Jackson Schickler remains out with an upper body injury and Jason Woodman is continuing to serve his suspension.

Friday’s game is definitely a miss match and one that should advance the Lightning record to 3-1-2 on the season. It will be a hard game on everyone and should be a day after Halloween destruction. If somehow this game is relatively close, Upper Montgomery will use some of the students that are anticipated to be rested for the game.

#Day After Destruction, #UML, #Bleed Green, #Go Bolts!

The Upper Montgomery Lightning varsity returns to action on Friday night to face the Rockville / Magruder Rams in a game of unbeaten programs. Continuing an early season theme for the Lightning, game time is late night, 10:00 pm at Cabin John Ice Rink. Upper Montgomery successfully kicked of its 2024 – 2025 regular season campaign with the program’s first ever victory over BCC, 4-3. The Rockville / Magruder Rams began the season easing to a 6-2 win over Richard Montgomery. Historically, games between the two programs have been extremely close. Upper Montgomery defeated the Rams 5-4 on Nathan Cassel’s goal in overtime to close out the Montgomery Hockey Conference regular season last winter. The team’s prior meeting was a 3-2 decision in favor of Rockville / Magruder with the game winning goal scored in the final minute of regulation. This game will likely be decided by the presence of Rockville / Magruder senior defender Drew Pfeufer. Pfeufer (10GP, 18G, 9A) last season will be the most talented student athlete on the ice if he plays. The big question will be if he is in town or out-of-town with his AAA external travel team, Team Maryland.

Upper Montgomery’s goaltender, 16U AA Ilan Shterenberg was really good in last week’s win over BCC. Shterenberg made 31 saves, with a .912 save percentage, and did not give up a goal while the Lightning were at even strength. BCC scored two powerplay goals and a goal with the goalie pulled for an extra attacker. Shterenberg will need to be sharp once again for the Lightning to be competitive against the Rams. He will be backed up by ninth grade netminder Porter Stutsrim-Lyons.  Stutsrim-Lyons plays for the Caps Academy 14U Lower A external travel team and has started off his high school career strongly playing for the junior varsity. Stutsrim-Lyons is 1-1-2 on the season with a 2.18 goals against average and a .927 save percentage. He began his high school career with a shutout of Richard Montgomery and followed up that performance with a career high and junior varsity program record 47 saves against Wootton.

In net for Rockville / Magruder will be senior Sean Connelly. Connelly had an impressive outing against the Rockets last week stopping 27 of 29 shots. Last season, Connelly backstopped the Rams to the seventh seed in the county rankings. He has experience playing at the varsity level and is a steady, unspectacular netminder. Upper Montgomery has an advantage in net with Shterenberg.

On defense, the Lightning have most of their backline returning with the exception of junior defender Andrew Botti who chose not to play high school hockey during his season year of high school. Returning are top rising juniors, rugged defensive defender 16U AAA Owen Robbins (14GP, 3A) and smooth skating cool customer 16U AA Brady Berkhammer (21GP, 1G, 12A). They will be joined in the regular defensive rotation by sophomore 16U Lower A Miles Wendland (18GP, 6A) and senior Cole Howerton. Anticipate the Lightning defense to be more offensive minded this season after the defenders scored only five goals in 91 total defensive games played last year. In the season opener, the defense contributed four assists with Wendland involved in two of the scoring plays. Rounding out the defensive corps will be a rotation of junior varsity call ups; 14U AA Lillian Robbins, 14U Lower A Matt Rivera, Patrick Sell, Luke Hudson, and 19U AA Avery Evans. With the loss of so many experienced skaters off last season’s roster, almost every skater in the program is likely to see some some playing for the varsity this season. Rivera and Sell look to be in line to dress out for this game.

With Pfeufer alone the Rams are all set on defense. They will also deploy tough customer senior Aiden Ward, an 18U AA wide body defender who hits like a mack truck. Juniors Max Yuen, 16U Lower A and Lincoln Herrick are entering their third season of varsity competition and they will provide excellent depth on defense. Ninth grade defender 16U Lower A Lukas Aagaard and Senior Calder Wilcox will see game action this week against the Lightning as well. The Rams defense will be much more experienced than what Upper Montgomery faced last week against BCC.

Offensively, Upper Montgomery returns its second and third leading scorers from a season ago. Senior 18U AA forward Nathan Cassel (15GP, 11G, 18A) and junior forward Philip Shkeda (20GP, 13G, 12A). This duo will be relied upon to lead Upper Montgomery offensively and they both will need to produce just like last year after loosing their center for the past two seasons, Chris Hassett to graduation. Cassel has an opportunity score enough goals (17) or hand out enough assists (11) to qualify for induction into the Maryland Student Hockey League Hall of Fame. Senior center, Henry Honacki 18U Upper A (21GP, 7G, 8A) elevated his game last year and if he can increase his scoring production it will help supplement Cassel and Shkeda. With Shkeda missing the game while he is out of town, anticipate that Owen Robbins will again play center this week coming off his career best hat-trick plus an assist performance against the Barons.

After these three students, there is a drop off in production to sophomore 16U Lower A Aiden Zheng (9GP, 3G, 5A) who contributed two assists last time out, and senior Josh Nadler (13GP, 4A). Both Zheng and Nadler will play heavy minutes with the varsity this season and both will need to increase their offensive output. Nadler is the junior varsity’s all-time leading goal scorer with 20 career junior varsity goals. He will miss the game on Friday as he is currently out of the country. Joining them on the varsity roster are forwards; TJ Gottesman, the junior varsity’s career points leader with 32 points, sophomore newcomer Jake Hudson, and ninth grade 14U Lower A forward Siddy Bhasin. Bhasin and Hudson currently lead the junior varsity in scoring so far this season. AJ Marks and his big frame will get a look in varsity competition as well. Other junior varsity student athletes may get called up as the season progresses when the core of the varsity squad is missing due to external travel team out-of-town game conflicts.

The Rams top returning forward scorer is senior Brendyn Iliff (14GP, 7G, 12A). He scored in the Rams’ season opener and he will play plenty with junior Toyin Okunseinde (13GP, 4G, 3A) who scored twice versus the Rockets. Cameron Gifford, a 14U AAA skater, chipped in with two assists in his first varsity game. Rowen Pierson and Ryan Hurley, two 16U Lower A sophomores with a full year of varsity experience last season will be teamed up on the second line. Ninth grade 14U AA Alexander Johnston scored in his first career high school game against Richard Montgomery. Upper Montgomery will have to contend with these talented skaters while at the same time being hyper aware of where Pfeufer is at all times.

The 2024 – 2025 season will be one of growth and development for the green and gold’s younger student athletes.  It should be exciting and rewarding as the younger skaters grow and blossom. How quickly the team develops the defensive habits necessary to lead the program forward will determine if the Lightning can again challenge the upper echelon varsity teams in the county.  Or, is the team simply too young to compete right now this season.  Friday night will give us some additional answers against another quality opponent. Come along for the ride, (if you can stay up that late). It should be an entertaining and close contest between two evenly matched squads.

#UML, #Bleed Green, #Go Bolts!

After a week off the Upper Montgomery Lightning junior varsity returns to action on Friday evening versus the DC Stars. A win would advance the Lightning’s record to 2-1-2 at the likely halfway juncture of the regular season. Game time is 6:30 pm at Cabin John Ice Rink. Upper Montgomery will be looking to replicate the heroic performance displayed against the Churchill Bulldogs where the team scraped out a point by getting to overtime utilizing just seven skaters due to external team out-of-town travel commitments, student illnesses, and injuries. With a varsity game later in the evening, the coaching staff will be utilizing roster management tactics to make sure that students playing heavy minutes later in the evening in the varsity game are well rested.

In goal for the Lightning junior varsity will again be ninth grade netminder Porter Stutsrim-Lyons.  Stutsrim-Lyons plays for the Caps Academy 14U lower A external travel team. He has begun his high school career in excellent style with a fine 22 save shutout performance in the season opening win over Richard Montgomery followed up by making a career high and junior varsity program record 47 saves to keep the team in the game against Wootton. Stutsrim-Lyons also played well against both BCC and Churchill. He has a 1-1-2 record, a very low 2.18 goals against average, and a stout .927 save percentage. If Stutsrim-Lyons maintains his current save percentage, it would tie for the junior varsity program record set last season by Ilan Shterenberg. The DC Stars will have a choice of goalie to start in net. Sophomore 16U Lower A Liam Parkinson started the Stars opening game of the season. Junior Gabriel Sokol has played the Stars’ last two contests. The DC Stars were competitive against both Walter Johnson and Wootton to open the season and then beat Churchill who was playing without their most talented student athlete. Sokol has the better statistics with a 2.50 goals against average and an .894 save percentage.

On defense the Lightning will again play without a full compliment of defenders. With the varsity game later in the evening, anticipate that both Miles Wendland and Cole Howerton will see limited minutes if they play at all. Both may only play on special teams to maximize their rest and help out the team in those key circumstances. Senior alternate captain Patrick Sell will lead a Lightning defense that will contain sophomore Avery Evans and ninth grade defenders Matt Rivera and Luke Hudson. Sell is likely to pair with Evans with the two young ninth graders playing together as they have at times earlier in the season.

The DC Stars back line is solidified by senior defender Samuel Bensky. Bensky connected twice to beat Churchill netminder Nicholas Nelson last time out. Sophomore Upper A Jonathan Lust would normally see significant minutes in the game as will ninth grade defender Alexander Smith. Sophomore Charles Laski and Thatcher Norton along with junior Roman Stoinski round out the Stars defensive unit if all are available to play. Lust played in the DC Stars varsity game last weekend so the Stars may consider sitting him out so he does not play two games in the same evening.

Offensively, the Lightning will have available their two leading scorers in ninth grade forward Siddy Bhasin (3GP, 3G, 4A) and sophomore Jake Hudson (3GP, 3G, 2A). With both skating in the varsity game later that evening, it is unknown at this time if either will play in the junior varsity contest. It could also be a special teams only situation for both students. Aiden Zheng will likely dress for the junior varsity game, but his participation will also be a game time decision based upon the junior varsity roster needs as he will receive regular shifts in the varsity game later that evening. Newcomer, sophomore Mason Jagoz has contributed (4GP, 1G, 2A). Senior AJ Marks is stepping up on the offensive end with two goals in four games. He has transitioned to playing a lot of center this season and he is more productive offensively on the wing. Upper Montgomery is without junior forward and alternate captain Jason Woodman who continues to serve his multiple game suspension for penalties he was assessed against BCC. Other Lightning forwards who will return to the lineup after missing the Churchill game are Max Israfilbek and Decklin Hughes. Jackson Schickler remain out long term with an upper body injury.

The DC Stars have been led offensively by sophomore 16U Upper A forward Callum Cochran who has three goals in three games. He scored twice versus Churchill and added an assist. Theo Goldman leads the Stars in assists with two. The rest of the Stars’ lineup has sporadic scoring sprinkled in.

Friday’s game might be a tough one as the Lightning’s roster management decisions may once again lead to a vastly depleted lineup. Let’s see if the available student athletes can once again perform in a trying situation with the odds stacked against them.

#UML, #Bleed Green, #Go Bolts!

The Upper Montgomery Lightning varsity squad kicks off its 2024 – 2025 regular season campaign on Friday night when the Lightning host the BCC Barons. In the sixteen years of its existence, the Upper Montgomery program has never beaten BCC. The Barons have owned Upper Montgomery surrendering only a single tie two years ago on Halloween. Game time is late night, 10:00 pm at Cabin John Ice Rink.  The team will be trying to once again advance through the regular season and the opening round of the Montgomery Hockey Conference playoffs to earn the chance to play for a spot in the Maryland Student Hockey League high school state playoff tournament. BCC qualified for the state playoffs last season, but this season will be a rebuilding year for BCC as they graduated many of their most talented student athletes. The Lightning have never advanced to the state playoffs, and are in the same boat having lost nine seniors and two top juniors from last year’s experienced squad.

This season, it is expected that Churchill, Whitman, and Walter Johnson will again be at the top of the conference standings. With the exception of Northwest/Quince Orchard (who is anticipated to be by far the worst team in the county), the other eight teams are fairly evenly matched. Any of these eight teams could make a run and qualify for the state playoffs. Upper Montgomery will also be focused on bucking a trend that developed over the past couple of seasons, very slow starts. Last year, the team began the season 1-7. In 2022 – 2023, the team began the season 1-4-1. While the Lightning recovered nicely over the middle and second portion of the season, getting off to a better start this season is a must.

Upper Montgomery’s primary goaltender will be sophomore 16U AA Ilan Shterenberg. Shterenberg takes over the reigns from Landon Bernard who graduated. Last season, Shterenberg shined at the junior varsity level setting or tying junior varsity program records for wins in a season (8), lowest goals against average (1.80), and highest save percentage (.927). At the varsity level, Shterenberg got his feet wet last season participating in five games, with four starts. He was 2-1 with a 4.44 goals against average and a .829 save percentage. Shterenberg will be heavily counted upon to keep the young Lightning roster in games all season long. He will be backed up by ninth grade netminder Porter Stutsrim-Lyons.  Stutsrim-Lyons plays for the Caps Academy 14U Lower A external travel team and has started off his high school career strongly playing for the junior varsity. Stutsrim-Lyons is 1-1-2 on the season with a 2.18 goals against average and a .927 save percentage. He began his high school career with a shutout of Richard Montgomery and followed up that performance with a career high and junior varsity program record 47 saves against Wootton.

BCC is expected to start senior 19U AA Vivienne Boyle in net. Last season, Boyle backstopped the Barons to a 7-2 victory over the Lightning in the team’s only meeting. She has the net for the Barons for the first portion of the season as her goaltending partner, Tycho Narrod-Malcolm finishes up the high school football season. Boyle is solid in net and the Lightning will need to work hard to score against her.

On defense, the Lightning have most of their backline returning with the exception of junior defender Andrew Botti who chose not to play high school hockey during his season year of high school. Returning are top rising juniors, rugged defensive defender 16U AAA Owen Robbins (14GP, 3A) and smooth skating cool customer 16U AA Brady Berkhammer (21GP, 1G, 12A). They will be joined in the regular defensive rotation by sophomore 16U Lower A Miles Wendland (18GP, 6A) and senior Cole Howerton. Anticipate the Lightning defense to be more offensive minded this season after the defenders scored only five goals in 91 totals defensive games played last year. Rounding out the defensive corps will be a rotation of junior varsity call ups; 14U AA Lillian Robbins, 14U Lower A Matt Rivera, Patrick Sell, Luke Hudson, and 19U AA Avery Evans. With the loss of so many experienced skaters off last season’s roster, almost every skater in the program is likely to see some some playing for the varsity this season.

BCC will be led on defense by two of their experienced skaters, juniors 18U AA Grady Jiggens (16GP, 6G, 8A) and 16U Upper A Benjamin Lyons (15GP, 4A). Sophomore Nick Sexton is likely to play both varsity and junior varsity for the Barons this season as is 14U Lower A ninth grade defender Jacob Reitz. Both Sexton and Reitz played in the junior varsity game between the two programs two weeks ago. Teams usually do not like to play an entire game with only four defenders, so BCC may use some student athletes that had previously played forward to help out and take some shifts on defense like Jeronimo Castano-Tellez.

Offensively, Upper Montgomery returns its second and third leading scorers from a season ago. Senior 18U AA forward Nathan Cassel (15GP, 11G, 18A) and junior forward Philip Shkeda (20GP, 13G, 12A). This duo will be relied upon to lead Upper Montgomery offensively and they both will need to produce just like last year after loosing their center for the past two seasons, Chris Hassett to graduation. Cassel has an opportunity score enough goals (17) or hand out enough assists (12) to qualify for induction into the Maryland Student Hockey League Hall of Fame. Senior center, Henry Honacki 18U Upper A (21GP, 7G, 8A) elevated his game last year and if he can increase his scoring production it will help supplement Cassel and Shkeda.

After these three students, there is a drop off in production to sophomore 16U Lower A Aiden Zheng (9GP, 3G, 5A) and senior Josh Nadler (13GP, 4A). Both Zheng and Nadler will play heavy minutes with the varsity this season and both will need to increase their offensive output. Nadler is the junior varsity’s all-time leading goal scorer with 20 career junior varsity goals. Joining them on the varsity roster are forwards; TJ Gottesman, the junior varsity’s career points leader with 32 points, sophomore newcomer Jake Hudson, and ninth grade 14U Lower A forward Siddy Bhasin. Bhasin and Hudson currently lead the junior varsity in scoring so far this season. AJ Marks and his big frame will get a look in varsity competition as well. Other junior varsity student athletes may get called up as the season progresses when the core of the varsity squad is missing due to external travel team out-of-town game conflicts.

BCC top returning scorer is junior forward Peter Lanpher, a point a game producer last year (16GP, 4G, 11A). He was definitely helped by playing with several stud BCC seniors. Senior Evan Williams has always stood out in games played against Upper Montgomery and he finished with (14GP, 8G, 6A). Expect senior Michael Kambouris to see lots of ice time early in the season. Hard hitting sophomore 16U Lower A Brady Page will be noticeable throwing his weight around. From there, the Barons will use a large number of young and inexperienced skaters, 16U AA Leo Alley-Strocher, 16U Lower A Ramin Jacobs who scored a hat-trick against the Lightning junior varsity two weeks ago, and junior Kiran Maltby will be featured throughout the contest against Upper Montgomery.

The 2024 – 2025 season will be one of growth and development for the green and gold’s younger student athletes.  It should be exciting and rewarding as the younger skaters grow and blossom. How quickly the team develops the defensive habits necessary to lead the program forward will determine if the Lightning can again challenge the upper echelon varsity teams in the county.  Or, is the team simply too young to compete right now this season.  Friday night will give us some answers as the season finally gets underway.  Come along for the ride, it should be a fun season!

#Season Opening Win, #UML, #Bleed Green, #Go Bolts!

The Upper Montgomery Lightning junior varsity finds itself in an unfamiliar position. It has been almost two years since the team suffered a regular season defeat. The Upper Montgomery junior varsity program had been 12-0-4 in its prior sixteen games over the past three seasons prior to last Friday’s 4-3 loss to the BCC Barons. The team will look to rebound this upcoming Friday against the Churchill Bulldogs. Game time is 10:00 pm at Cabin John Ice Rink. 

Both teams enter the early season matchup in the middle of the standing having similar results against the same opponents. Churchill lost their opening game of the season against BCC by one goal giving up the game winning goal with 45 seconds remaining in the game. Churchill then beat Richard Montgomery by a score of 11-1. Upper Montgomery had beaten Richard Montgomery 8-0 to open the season and lost to the aforementioned BCC Barons by one goal. In their other contest, the Lightning took last season’s top regular season team, the Wootton Patriots to overtime, before eventually falling 3-2. Churchill was the only junior varsity team not to lose to Upper Montgomery last season as the Bulldogs eeked out a 4-4 overtime tie after being soundly outplayed by the Lightning.

In goal for the Lightning junior varsity will again be ninth grade netminder Porter Stutsrim-Lyons.  Stutsrim-Lyons plays for the Caps Academy 14U lower A external travel team. He has begun his high school career in excellent style with a fine 22 save shutout performance in the season opening win over Richard Montgomery followed up by making a career high and junior varsity program record 47 saves to keep the team in the game against Wootton. Stutsrim-Lyons also played well against BCC last week and currently sports a 2.27 goals against average and a .929 save percentage. Churchill will start a ninth grade goalie of their own, Cooper Glazer. Glazer has allowed three goals in his first two high school hockey games and sports a 1.50 goals against average and a .927 save percentage. The outstanding goalie matchup should lead to a low scoring contest Friday night.

On defense the Lightning will again play without a full compliment of defenders. Missing this week will be a sizeable contingent of the Upper Montgomery defensive corps. Upper Montgomery will dress three core defenders, senior captain Cole Howerton who scored his first goal of the season late in the game against BCC, senior alternate captain Patrick Sell, and ninth grade newcomer Matt Rivera. Missing will be sophomores Miles Wendland (an assist in each game this season), Avery Evans, and Max Curtusan as well as ninth grade defenders Lillian Robbins and Luke Hudson.

Churchill will be led on the back line by junior Samuel Lifsey. Joining Lifsey on the top defensive pairing is expected to be sophomore Andrew Liu. The Bulldogs second defensive pairing will be sophomores Cyrus Sawyer who registered a goal and an assist against Richard Montgomery and Gabriel Li who also found the back of the net against the Rockets.

Offensively, the Lightning will be missing two top scorers in ninth grade forward Siddy Bhasin (3GP, 3G, 4A) and sophomore Jake Hudson (3GP, 3G, 2A). It is expected that Aiden Zheng will return to the lineup after missing the last two games. Zheng scored twice in the season opening win over Richard Montgomery. Newcomer, sophomore Mason Jagoz has contributed (3GP, 1G, 2A). Senior AJ Marks will need to step up on the offensive end. He has transitioned to playing a lot of center the past two games and he is more productive offensively on the wing. Lightning varsity goalie Ilan Shterenberg is likely to skate out and play forward against the Bulldogs. Shterenberg has some experience as a forward having played forward for Upper Montgomery in spring league. Upper Montgomery will be without junior forward and alternate captain Jason Woodman who will begin serving the first game of a multiple game suspension for the game misconduct penalty he was assessed against the Barons. Other Lightning forwards who will miss the Churchill game are Max Israfilbek, Decklin Hughes, and Jackson Schickler.

Churchill has one primary offensive threat. Sophomore Elias Elhallou has scored five goals in two games and he has added four assists. He had eight points against Richard Montgomery last time out and he scored the Bulldogs only goal against BCC in the season opener. Sophomore Rama Allsopp had a three point game versus the Rockets, the beneficiary of Elhallou’s performance.

Friday’s game might be a tough one as the Lightning roster will be vastly depleted. Let’s see how the available student athletes perform in a trying situation with the odds stacked against them.

#UML, #Bleed Green, #Go Bolts!

Late Friday evening, the Upper Montgomery Lightning junior varsity looks to keep the momentum going when the team faces off against the BCC Barons. Game time is 10:00 pm at Cabin John Ice Rink.  Both teams enter the early season matchup looking to separate themselves from the rest of the junior varsity programs in the league. BCC won their opening game 2-1 over Churchill. Upper Montgomery has started the season very strongly after smashing the Richard Montgomery Rockets 8-0 and then taking last season’s top regular season team, the Wootton Patriots to overtime, before eventually falling 3-2. The overtime loss extended the Lightning junior varsity’s undefeated streak to sixteen regular season outings (12-0-4). The Lightning junior varsity has also killed off their past 33 shorthanded situations. The meeting between the two programs will be a rematch of last season’s junior varsity quarterfinal game won by BCC 4-1. Upper Montgomery won the regular season matchup 3-2 early in the season.

In goal for the Lightning junior varsity will again be ninth grade netminder Porter Stutsrim-Lyons.  Stutsrim-Lyons plays for the Caps Academy 14U lower A external travel team. He has begun his high school career in excellent style with a fine 22 save shutout performance in the win over Richard Montgomery followed up by making 47 saves to keep the team in the game against Wootton. He currently sports a 1.43 goals against average and a .958 save percentage. BCC will start a ninth grade goalie of their own, 16U lower A Blake Schoenebeck. Schoenebeck was solid in net for the Barons making 18 saves in their 2-1 victory over Churchill.

On defense look for the Lightning to play a more regular defensive lineup. Playing against both Richard Montgomery and Wootton with only four defenders in the lineup was not ideal. Missing on Friday will be ninth grade defender Lillian Robbins (one goal and one assist versus the Rockets) and sophomore defender Max Curtusan. However, two defenders are expected to return to the Lightning lineup. Senior Cole Howerton and sophomore Avery Evans. Senior Patrick Sell returned to the Lightning lineup against Wootton after having served his one game game suspension for a major game misconduct penalty he received in the third period of last season’s playoff game against these same Barons. Howerton has played some at the varsity level over the past two seasons and will be looked upon to take on a bigger role this season.  At the junior varsity level Howerton (10GP, 5G, 4A) last year will be looked upon for offensive output and to use his smooth skating to assist with defensive zone breakouts.  

Sophomore 16U lower A defender Miles Wendland, the Lightning’s most sound defender, will again likely be paired with ninth grade defender Luke Hudson. Matthew Rivera (two assists against Richard Montgomery) will likely play with Avery Evans. Howerton and Sell will likely play against BCC’s top offensive skaters. BCC will counter with sophomore Nick Sexton and ninth grade defender Jacob Reitz 16U lower A paired together. Junior Jeronimo Castano Tellez (one goal and one assist versus Churchill) will pair with sophomore Zach Leblanc. BCC may also use a rotation of forwards to help out on the blue line.

Offensively, the Lightning have had balanced scoring. Sophomore Jake Hudson and ninth grade forward Siddy Bhasin both lead the junior varsity in scoring (2GP, 2G, 2A). Newcomer, sophomore Mason Jagoz has contributed (2GP, 1G, 2A). Aiden Zheng who only played in the season opening game against Richard Montgomery is the other skater with two goals. All of the Lightning skaters dressed for the game against Richard Montgomery registered at least one point. Senior forward AJ Marks has scored as has ninth grade forward Decklin Hughes. Defenders Wendland and Rivera have both recorded two assists. BCC will employ a nice mix of returning forwards and incoming ninth grade forwards. The experienced forwards are senior Michael Kambouris, juniors Nick Hartnett-Mueller, David High, Kiran Maltby, and Nick Mencher, and sophomores Ramin Jacobs, Brady Page, and Ava Summerfield. They will be joined by a bevy of new student athletes; Camille Boyle, Ryan Duffy, Sam Lane, Juliana Langley, Hannah Moss, and Julia Reitz. Mencher scored with 38 seconds remaining in the contest to record the game winning goal last Friday in BCC’s season opening win against Churchill.

The 2024 – 2025 junior varsity season was thought to be one of growth and development for the green and gold’s younger student athletes.  While those primary expectations remain, the early season success that the Lightning have experienced have somewhat lifted expectations. Upper Montgomery is able to compete with all of the junior varsity teams in the county. The team’s success will come down to how well the team plays in the defensive zone each game and whether the forwards are able to clear the zone getting the puck out of danger. The recent game against the Patriots provided the coaching staff with a tremendous amount of knowledge of what the team will be focusing on to get better as the season progresses. Friday night should be another hard fought close contest that could be won by either team. The winner will likely be assured of a high finish in the regular season league standings when the season concludes several months from now.

#UML, #Bleed Green, #Go Bolts!, #Continue the Streaks

The Upper Montgomery Lightning junior varsity faces off against one of the county’s top junior varsity teams when they face the high powered Wootton Patriots this Wednesday evening. Game time is 6:30 pm at Cabin John Ice Rink.  Both teams enter the early season matchup after coasting to season opening wins. The Lightning smashed the Richard Montgomery Rockets 8-0 while Wootton dismantled the Rockville / Magruder Rams 8-1. Upper Montgomery’s junior varsity brings a couple of long streaks into the game. The Lightning junior varsity is undefeated in its past fifteen regular season outings (12-0-3). The Lightning junior varsity has also killed off their past 31 shorthanded situations.

In goal for the Lightning junior varsity will again be ninth grade netminder Porter Stutsrim-Lyons.  Stutsrim-Lyons plays for the Caps Academy 14U lower A external travel team and began his high school career with a fine shutout performance in the win over the Rockets this past Friday. He made a terrific save on a breakaway opportunity and was otherwise positionally sound making routine saves along the way to his 22 save shutout. He will need to play even better against the Patriots. Wootton will counter in net with sophomore netminder Kevin Yu. Yu has experience at both the junior varsity and varsity level having been Wootton’s primary goalkeeper last season and again this year. He played very well in the Montgomery Hockey Conference Varsity Tournament championship game against Upper Montgomery even through he surrendered nine goals. He made plenty of highlight worthy saves to keep Wootton from having the score go further off the rails. Upper Montgomery is going to find it much more difficult to score on Wednesday night.

On defense look for the Lightning to play a more regular defensive lineup. Playing against Richard Montgomery with only four defenders in the lineup was not ideal. Missing on Wednesday will be ninth grade defender Lillian Robbins (one goal and one assist versus the Rockets) and sophomore defender Max Curtusan. However, three defenders are expected to return to the Lightning lineup. Senior Cole Howerton, senior Patrick Sell, and sophomore Avery Evans. Sell is eligible to return to the Lightning lineup after having served his one game game suspension for a major game misconduct penalty he received in the third period of last season’s playoff game. Howerton has played some at the varsity level over the past two seasons and will be looked upon to take on a bigger role this season.  At the junior varsity level Howerton (10GP, 5G, 4A) last year will be looked upon for offensive output.  

Sophomore 16U lower A defender Miles Wendland, the Lightning’s most sound defender, will again likely be paired with ninth grade defender Luke Hudson. Matthew Rivera (two assists against Richard Montgomery) will likely play with Avery Evans. Howerton and Sell will likely play against Wootton’s top offensive skaters. Wootton will counter with two pairs of defenders. Junior defender Nicholas Chung will likely play with ninth grader Nathan Tian and ninth grade 14U upper A defender Isaac Greene will likely play with sophomore defender Sam Rubinstein. Chung led the way for the Wootton defense with a goal and an assist against Rockville / Magruder.

All of the Lightning skaters dressed for the game registered at least one point against Richard Montgomery. The team was led by sophomore Jake Hudson who scored twice and also hit the goal post on two other occasions. Sophomore forward Aiden Zheng also potted two goals in addition to a phenomenal backchecking performance. Ninth grade forward Siddy Bhasin added a goal and an assist. Sophomore forward Mason Jagoz contributed two assists. Senior forward AJ Marks scored as did ninth grade forward Decklin Hughes. Wootton will be led by four primary offensive threats; sophomore AAA forward Jaina Kronforst who scored a hat-trick on Friday against Rockville / Magruder. Sophomore forward Jayden Ahn scored twice while fellow sophomore forward Nathan Geeng added a goal and an assist. Senior forward Mitchell Golub brings experience as well as a scoring punch. He also contributed a goal and an assist against the Rams.

The 2024 – 2025 junior varsity season was thought to be one of growth and development for the green and gold’s younger student athletes.  While those primary expectations remain, Wednesday’s contest will help determine how close Upper Montgomery is to the top junior varsity team in the county. How quickly the team develops the defensive habits necessary to lead the program forward will determine if the Lightning can challenge and beat the upper echelon junior varsity teams in the county.  The game against the Patriots will be a measuring stick kind of game providing the coaching staff with a tremendous amount of knowledge of what the team will need to focus on to get better as the season progresses. On Wednesday night join us for a clash of two programs that have become bitter rivals over the past two seasons.

#UML, #Bleed Green, #Go Bolts!

The Upper Montgomery Lightning’s 2024 – 2025 regular season kicks off on Friday night when the junior varsity hosts the Richard Montgomery Rockets.  Game time is 6:30 pm at Rockville Ice Arena.  The team will be trying to duplicate last season’s fine showing culminating with an undefeated regular season record of 9-0-1.  An unfortunate loss in the quarterfinal round of the Montgomery Hockey Conference junior varsity playoffs ended Upper Montgomery’s title hopes.

The junior varsity roster is a good mixture of older students pairing with many new incoming students to the program.  With the graduation of last season’s three seniors, co-captain center Adam Levine (11GP, 3G, 8A) and defenders Sean Levine and Jake Roth, and with three additional students prevented from continuing to participate at the junior varsity level having a designation of impact participant; sophomore goalie Ilan Shterenberg (8 wins, 1.80 GAA, .927 Save %), junior co-captain center Josh Nadler (10GP, 11G, 1A), the junior varsity’s all-time leading goals scorer, and senior forward TJ Gottesman (9GP, 11G, 5A), the junior varsity’s all-time leader in points, there will be plenty of ice time for students to earn.

In net for the Lightning junior varsity all season long will be ninth grade netminder Porter Stutsrim-Lyons.  Stutsrim-Lyons plays for the Caps Academy 14U lower A external travel team.  He will have ginormous shoes to fill as Shterenberg set or tied junior varsity program records for wins in a season (8), lowest goals against average (1.80), and highest save percentage (.927).  Richard Montgomery will counter in net with Thomas Richardson.  Richardson will be making his first ever appearance as a goalie in a high school hockey game.  It would appear on paper that the Lightning have an advantage in net.

On defense Friday night, look for the Lightning to be playing only two pairings as four Upper Montgomery junior varsity defenders will miss the opening game of the season.  Senior Cole Howerton has played some at the varsity level over the past two seasons and will be looked upon to take on a bigger role this season.  At the junior varsity level Howerton (10GP, 5G, 4A) will be looked upon to take a leadership role and assist the many new incoming ninth grade defenders.  He will be out-of-town on travel this weekend.  Senior defensive defender Patrick Sell will miss the game serving his one game suspension for a major game misconduct penalty he received in the third period of last season’s playoff game.  Sophomore Avery Evans will miss the game out-of-town with her external travel team, and sophomore defender Max Curtusan will miss the game recovering from an illness.

Sophomore16U lower A defender Miles Wendland will be the only experienced defender the Lightning will dress on Friday.  He will be joined by three promising ninth graders in 14U AA defender Lillian Robbins, 14U lower A defender Matthew Rivera, and former lower A defender Luke Hudson who has decided to play just high school hockey this season.  Short shifts will be necessary for the defensive corps to remain fresh for the entirety of the game.  The Upper Montgomery coaching staff may also drop back a forward or two at times to give the defense a bit of an extra breather.  It is anticipated that Wendland will pair with Hudson and Robbins will pair with Rivera.  Not much is known about the Richard Montgomery defense except they graduated many junior varsity eligible students this past spring.  Ryan Jones and Samir Wang, a converted forward, are the only Rockets defenders with prior high school hockey experience.

Top returning forwards for the Lightning junior varsity are sophomore 16U lower A forward Aiden Zheng (9GP, 3G, 5A) last season on varsity and (11GP, 4G, 2A) with the junior varsity.  His skating speed should allow him to generate a significant number of offensive chances at the junior varsity level.  The coaching staff will be looking for Zheng to be more responsible defensively and to use the junior varsity games to elevate his game to the next level.  He played better and better as his ninth grade season progressed last year.  Senior AJ Marks is the top scoring junior varsity forward returning for Upper Montgomery with (9GP, 3G, 4A).  If Marks uses his size to his advantage and attacks, he has an opportunity to force his way into the varsity lineup.  The team will be looking for junior Jason Woodman to increase his offensive contributions now that he is in his third season of high school hockey.  Woodman will be one of the leaders of the junior varsity team and his dedication to the program is unparalleled.  Sophomore center Jackson Schickler will begin the season on injured reserve with his return likely at some point during November.  Schickler also missed a large portion of last season with a season ending lower body injury.

The junior varsity will also have a significant number of new faces dressed at forward for game action. Sophomore former Upper A forward Jake Hudson has the size, strength, and speed to be dominant at the junior varsity level.  He will play significant minutes at the varsity level as well.  Incoming ninth grader Siddy Bhasin 14U lower A should be motivated to show he has the all around game to excel at the junior varsity level and compete for varsity playing time.  Other incoming ninth grade forwards are scrappy Decklin Hughes and Max Israfilbek, along with sophomore Mason Jagoz.  Jagoz played high school hockey in Frederick last season.  All of the new forwards in the program will be relied upon to play regular shifts for the junior varsity as they grow and develop to the speed and intensity of high school game action.  Richard Montgomery will field a lineup littered with incoming ninth grade forwards as well.  Bennett Parisi saw game action last season for the Rockets as did Conor Rosier, but most of the Richard Montgomery forwards will be playing in their first ever high school hockey game. 

The 2024 – 2025 season will be one of growth and development for the green and gold’s younger student athletes.  It should be exciting and rewarding as the younger skaters grow and blossom. How quickly the team develops the defensive habits necessary to lead the program forward will determine if the Lightning can again challenge the upper echelon junior varsity teams in the county.  Or, is the team simply too young to compete now.  Friday night will give us some answers as the season finally gets underway.  Come along for the ride, it should be a fun season!

#UML, #Bleed Green, #Go Bolts!

The Upper Montgomery Lightning will face a stiff test in the quarterfinal round of the Montgomery Hockey Conference junior varsity playoffs. Don’t be deceived by the Barons 3-4-1 record. The BCC program has a history of playing its true junior varsity student athletes during the regular season and then supplementing those students with more high end talent once the playoffs begin. Although Upper Montgomery finished the regular season with a program record 9-01- record, many throughout the conference have the Barons favored in the game. Game time on Friday is late night, 10:00 pm puck drop at Cabin John Ice Rink.

The game will be a rematch of an October clash between the two squads won by Upper Montgomery by a score of 3-2. It was a tight checking defensive game that was impacted more by which students did not play in the game rather than those that participated. Both BCC and Upper Montgomery used some roster management decisions in the regular season matchup choosing to scratch certain student athletes.

Friday’s playoff game will be determined in large part by the following factor; which student athletes will be out-of-town with their external travel teams? The Lightning will be missing two primary defenders in Jake Roth and Avery Evans, both of whom will be up north playing with their external travel team in tournaments over the holiday weekend. The Lightning may also be missing leading scorer TJ Gottesman who could be out of town as well. It is unknown if any of the Barons’ student athletes will likewise miss the game.

Ninth grade netminder Ilan Shterenberg who had a superb regular season will need to steal this game. He had fabulous individual statistics in his first high school season. His record was 8-0-1 with three shutouts, a 1.67 goals against average, and a .931 save percentage. He will have to come up huge for Upper Montgomery to prevail over the Barons. With a shortened bench, the Lightning will begin to tire as the game progresses causing the game to tilt toward the Barons over the latter portion of the game. Shterenberg will need to slam the door shut and prevent BCC from scoring. In net for the Barons is expected to be Tycho Narrod-Malcolm. Narrod-Malcolm is a big goalie and tough to score against. Upper Montgomery was able to poke three past him in October and will be looking to do so once again. Narrod-Malcom posted a 1-2-1 record with a 2.25 goals against average and an .895 save percentage. If unavailable, BCC’s other goaltender option would be Lucy Barron who had a 2-1 record, a 3.78 goals against average, and a .750 save percentage.

Upper Montgomery came alive offensively as the season progressed in large part because of a coaching decision. Midway through the season the coaching staff began playing Adam Levine at center separating him off of a line with high scoring center Josh Nadler. The change brought more balance to the lineup and Levine’s faceoff prowess has led directly to seven goals over the past several games. Expect Nadler (9GP, 11G, 1A) to center Jason Woodman (three assists recently against Oakdale) and Sean Levine (10GP, 2G, 5A). If Gottesman (9GP, 11G, 5A) is available for the game, he would play as the other wing with Nadler centering the line. Sean Levine would then drop back and play defense. It is anticipated that the other forward line will have Adam Levine (10GP, 3G, 8A) centering ninth grade forward Aiden Zheng (10GP, 4G, 2A) and AJ Marks (8GP, 3G 4A).

BCC will counter with two very good student athletes who both play on BCC’s varsity squad as well. Peter Lanpher led the Barons in scoring with (4GP, 6G, 5A). He is a smooth skater with good playmaking ability. Kiran Maltby has produced as well and was tied for second on the Barons in goals (7GP, 5G, 1A). The Barons have five other forwards with either two or three goals and four to six points.

Junior offensive minded defender Cole Howerton will lead a defensive corps that will likely only have four skaters. Howerton has played very well of late. His offensive contributions (9GP, 5G, 3A) and skating ability are huge assets for a team that has trouble scoring. He will likely pair with hulking defensive defender Patrick Sell. Sell has begun to use his body more to his advantage. His long reach often gets to pucks breaking up plays. Behr Schicker has been a nice surprise this season. Schickler looked more comfortable in his sophomore season. He will be paired with ninth grade defender Miles Wendland. Wendland is a steady defender that uses very good positioning and stick work to derail the opponent’s offensive chances. BCC has a very talented group on their backend. Sophomore standout Ben Lyons (7GP, 5G, 2A) leads the crew with Jeronimo Castano Tellez (8GP, 3G, 3A) and ninth grade defenders, Nick Sexton (8GP, 2G, 2A) and Ava Summerfield (8GP, 2G). A rotation of forwards may pick up some defensive shifts for the Barons or BCC could go with four defenders similar to the Upper Montgomery game plan.

Upper Montgomery has by far the most difficult quarterfinal matchup of the top four seeds. Something that you would not expect for the number two seeded Lightning. If Upper Mongomery wins, the team will almost certainly play Richard Montgomery in the semifinal round. Richard Montgomery should have no trouble getting past Whitman. The other side of the bracket has top seeded Wootton playing the winner of Churchill and Blair while Walter Johnson will host the DC Stars.

The Lightning will need to maintain focus throughout the entire game, something that will be even more critical in the latter stages of the game as the team begins to tire. Upper Montgomery played in so many close tight games this season that pressure should not be an issue. The penalty kill was outstanding during the regular season, 23 killed penalties out of 25 chances, a success rate of 92%. The two powerplay goals given up were in the one game Shterenberg did not play in. Special teams and faceoffs may play a big role in the outcome as they have all season for the Lightning. It is a win to keep playing game. A loss would end the Upper Montgomery season. It would be a shame for the Lightning’s season to end so early in the playoffs after an undefeated regular season.

#Get it Done, #Advance to Semis, #Remain Undefeated, #UML, #Bleed Green, #Go Bolts!

The Upper Montgomery Lightning junior varsity concludes its regular season with a makeup game against the Blair Blazers. Earlier this season, Blair failed to show up for the team’s regularly scheduled game. Thursday’s contest begins at 5:45 pm at Wheaton Ice Rink. A victory over the Blazers will cap an undefeated regular season for the Lightning who enter the game with an 8-0-1 record after Tuesday’s thrashing of non-conference opponent Oakdale.

The path to success for Upper Montgomery every game is to rely on the team’s strengths, its trademark team defense, full out hustle, and playing ugly hockey. The Lightning will have to bring their compete level so that they do not play down to the Blair’s level. Hopefully, setting the junior varsity program record for wins in a season will be plenty of motivation for the squad.

The Blair game marks the return of super talented 9th grade netminder Ilan Shterenberg. Shterenberg missed the Oakdale game with pre-scheduled family travel plans. Junior defender Cole Howerton may also return after missing the game against the Bears dealing with a short-term medical issue. With the Oakdale individual statistical performance yet to be finalized by video review, going into the game against the Bears, Upper Montgomery had been led offensively by junior T.J. Gottesman (7GP, 6G, 3A), senior co-captain Adam Levine (8GP, 2G, 7A), and junior co-captain Josh Nadler (7GP, 7G). Junior AJ Marks (6GP, 2G, 3A) has continued to play well having his best game of the season recently against the Churchill Bulldogs with a goal and two assists. He will be looking to show consistency and that level of production once again. Sean Levine is coming off a pretty backhanded goal to finish off a breakaway in the team’s recent victory over the DC Stars. Ninth grade forward Aiden Zheng is coming on strong and now has (8GP, 3G, 1A). Jason Woodman threw his body around in the Oakdale game and several of his hits dislodged the puck. Avery Evans is the team’s top defender in points with (6GP, 4A) and scored her first career high school goal against Oakdale.

The Blazer may play any one of four students in net during the game. All four goalies have struggled this season with Blair having given up 35 goals in just five games, an average of seven goals against per contest. Conversely, Blair has tallied only twelve goals. Thursday’s game will be the second of back to back contests for the Blazers as Blair also plays late Wednesday night. Blair is led offensively by William Campbell who has five goals in three games. Mason Boucher with two goals is the only other Blazer with more than one goal.

On defense the Lightning will likely have a rotation of Avery Evans paired with Jake Roth and Patrick Sell paired with Miles Wendland. Anticipate that Behr Schickler will see time in the rotation as the fifth defender. Upper Montgomery will need to maintain its defensive focus throughout the entire game. Prior to the Oakdale game with Chris Hassett (a skater playing goalie), the Lightning had been perfect on the penalty kill this season sitting at 21 for 21 while playing a skater short. This unprecedented success has definitely helped in all of the close games Upper Montgomery has been a part of. If shorthanded on Thursday, the Lightning may very well score a shorthanded goal or two against the Blazers.

The Upper Montgomery junior varsity will be looking to extend their unbeaten run to a program record ten straight games to open the season with a victory over the Blazers. The final regular season game is on Thursday evening with a chance at an undefeated campaign. Many student athletes also have long scoring streaks that they would like to continue. Upper Montgomery has grown accustomed to playing in tight games, something that should be of benefit as the season winds down into the Montgomery Hockey Conference junior varsity playoffs which are just ten short days away.

#Finish Strong, #Extend the Streak, #Undefeated, #Our Time, #UML, #Bleed Green, #Go Bolts!