Category: Game Recaps

The Upper Montgomery Lightning came into Wednesday’s regular season finale in need of a good effort. After falling to Whitman, the second ranked team in the state, 8-0 last Friday night, the team needed a better performance to prepare for Friday’s opening round Montgomery Hockey Conference playoff game against the BCC Barons. Although the score was the same against Oakdale, the state’s top ranked team, and the shot totals were almost identical 47-8, the Lightning offered a much better effort for most of the game. The score notwithstanding, the Lightning competed harder versus the Bears rarely straying from the defensive game plan. It was just several self inflicted failed defensive zone clears that doomed Upper Montgomery.

Facing a team with a more talented roster, the Lightning were going to have to rely on sophomore goalie Ilan Shterenberg as well as a style of play that would frustrate the Bears. Last season, Upper Montgomery took the Bears down to the wire leading 1-0 with under five minutes remaining in regulation. That was before the Bears scored back to back powerplay goals on a five on three skater advantage and then on the remainder of the five on four powerplay to squeak past Upper Montgomery. Oakdale then went on to win the state championship weeks later.

Even though Oakdale was more prepared for this game, the Lightning’s path to remaining competitive was the same, strong defensive play and continue to pester the Bears into making mistakes. Right from the beginning of the game Upper Montgomery competed harder against Oakdale than the team did in its previous game against Whitman. Even when Oakdale took an early 1-0 lead one minute into the game, the Lightning continued to defend with spirited play. Oakdale’s opening goal was the result of a failed Upper Montgomery defensive zone clear along the right wing boards. The puck was kept in at the left point by Oakdale forward Christian Swanson. Swanson passed the puck down low to Oakdale center Tyler Yuhas in the left corner. Yuhas sent the puck out front to Oakdale forward Mason Macera who quickly fired a one time snap shot high far side over Shterenberg’s blocker. For Macera it was his fifth goal of the season on yet another instance of the Lightning’s season long difficulty in not getting the puck out of their defensive zone.

The balance of the first period settled into a repetitious pattern of Oakdale attacking the Upper Montgomery defensive zone. Upper Montgomery defended and cleared the defensive zone. Or, Shterenberg was there to make a big save and freeze the puck. With six minutes remaining in the opening period, Oakdale forward Gavin Timberlake was called for a slashing minor. Upper Montgomery struggled to gain zone entry on the powerplay while Oakdale was content to wrestle control of the puck and send it down ice making Upper Montgomery rewind and try again to enter the offensive zone. If nothing else, Timberlake’s penalty gave Shterenberg a chance to catch his breath. After the Lightning’s unsuccessful powerplay ended, the teams both reverted to their previous style of play. The first period concluded with the Bears in front 1-0 having held the Lightning to just one shot on goal during the opening fifteen minutes of action. Shterenberg faced eight shots in the opening period.

The first six minutes of the second period resembled the first period. Upper Montgomery continued to do an excellent job defending all over the ice, Shterenberg made save after save, the score remained only 1-0 Oakdale. Then, the Lightning got the break they were looking for. While coming into the offensive zone alone, Upper Montgomery’s active points leader, senior forward Nathan Cassel was slashed from behind by Oakdale’s leading defender senior Timothy Farley. The referees awarded Cassel a penalty shot. Adding to the intrigue, Cassel and the Bears senior goaltender Charles Forino play on the same 18U AA external travel team, as does Farley. Kyle Metzler, Oakdale’s leader scorer who missed this game is also a member of the same 18U AA external travel team. Thus, Cassel would be coming in on his teammate, looking to tie up the game with a successful penalty shot. Cassel came in wide down the right wing. He cut to the net looking to draw Forino across the net from right to left before he shot. Unfortunately, Cassel did not get the shot up high enough as he attempted to beat Forino near side. The goalie made a glove save deflecting the puck out in front of the net.

The penalty shot save energized the Bears. A minute later Oakdale forward Chase Layer scored to put Oakdale up 2-0 unleashing the barrage of goals that would shortly follow. An Upper Montgomery pass from behind Shterenberg did not make it out of the defensive zone. Bears forward Charles Overeem stepped around the Upper Montgomery defender who made the original pass and sent the puck behind the net to Macera. Macera wasted no time centering the puck to Layer who chipped the puck over Shterenberg’s glove hand for his third tally on the season. A second Oakdale goal scored against the Lightning as a direct result of an Upper Montgomery defensive zone turnover.

Upper Montgomery recovered well from the defensive miscue and followed by playing six more minutes of sound defensive hockey. Then, the wheels came off as the close game turning into a one sided affair. Upper Montgomery put the puck into the Oakdale defensive zone. Timberlake sent the puck to the right wing boards for fellow forward, Micah Venezie. Venezie curled back while sending an outlet pass to Farley who was in the neutral zone along the right wing boards. Farley skated into the offensive zone, waited, before sending the puck back to the high slot area to an unguarded Timberlake. Timberlake took a few steps forward toward the net before firing a low wrist shot past Shterenberg’s glove hand. With two and a half minutes remaining in the second period, Timberlake’s sixth goal of the season gave Oakdale a 3-0 lead.

A minute later Timberlake tallied again. The game was no longer in doubt. An Upper Montgomery clear down the ice was stopped by Forino who came out of his net to keep the play going ahead of a fast charging Cassel. The puck bounced around neutral ice while Upper Montgomery was in the midst of a poorly timed line change. Farley reached the puck first sending it over to Timberlake at the Upper Montgomery defensive blue line. Timberlake took possession with no Lightning defender near him. He came down the slot on a breakaway. With a forehand shot he beat Shterenberg five hole for his seventh goal of the season. As the second period came to a close shortly thereafter, Oakdale had turned up the shot volume firing 21 shots on Shterenberg. Forino had his most extensive action of the game making six saves including the huge one on Cassel on the penalty shot.

The first six minutes of the third period were dominated by Oakdale which contributed to their eighteen to one shot advantage in the final period. A minute into the period, Upper Montgomery senior center and leading scorer Henry Honacki was called for a slashing penalty. The Bears had excellent puck movement with the extra skater advantage but were unable to score as Shterenberg made several impressive saves to keep the score at 4-0. Then, with nine and a half minutes remaining in the game, the swarm of Oakdale goals arrived.

First, was a shift where Oakdale had extended time in the Upper Montgomery defensive zone. An Upper Montgomery failed clear up the left wing boards was intercepted by Farley at the right point. Farley sent a diagonal pass across the ice to Venezie in the lower left faceoff circle. Venezie sent a shot low along the ice inside of the left goal post near Sheterenberg’s right leg pad. For Venezie it was goal number three on the season.

Then, a minute later the score would bulge to 6-0 bringing the final eight and a half minutes of the game into running clock. Macera banged home his second goal of the game and sixth on the year. Another shift with extended offensive zone time for the Bears after Upper Montgomery failed to clear the zone. This time the puck was kept in the offensive zone at the right point by Swanson. He sent the puck over to Farley in the slot. Farley fired a backhand shot on net that was saved by Shterenberg. The puck caromed near the left corner. Farley reached the puck first setting up Macera out in front of the goal. Macera had slipped behind the Lightning defense where he banged home a short shot into the empty side of the net.

As the game went into running clock, both coaching staff’s began playing students that had not see a lot of ice time during the game. With two and a half minutes remaining, Venezie scored his second goal of the game and fourth of the season to put the Bears in front 7-0. Oakdale entered the offensive zone on the left side of the ice before firing several shots that Shterenberg fended off. Finally, Venezie sent a backhand shot far side from the lower portion of the slot to put the puck over the goal line. Ayden Rowe and Tristan Dockens were credited with assists on Venezie’s goal. Then, with fifty second left, the final Oakdale goal was scored by Overeem. Farley set him up with a cross ice pass at the back right goal post for an easy tap in goal.

Upper Montgomery must now quickly focus on the opening round of the Montgomery Hockey Conference playoffs. The Lightning face the BCC Barons on Friday night. Upper Montgomery won both of the regular season contests with the Barons by one goal. Until this season, Upper Montgomery had never beaten BCC. Beating a team three times in a season is a tough challenge. BCC is sure to come into the game angry having been the squad that lost to Upper Montgomery for the first time. If the Lightning want to again play for an opportunity to make the Maryland Student Hockey League state playoffs, they will need to bring it against the Barons for a full 45 minutes. BCC will not back down. Each team will be looking to advance and face the second seeded Walter Johnson Wildcats with the state playoff birth on the line.

Game Notes:

• Upper Montgomery was once gain badly outshot. Oakdale had the advantage 47-8. It was the second game in a row that the Lightning mustered less than ten shots on goal. Oakdale topped Upper Montgomery 8-1 in the first period, 21-6 in the second period, and 18-1 in the third period.
• It was the third time this season the Lightning have been shutout, and the second game in a row.
• It was the second straight game that the Lightning were awarded a penalty shot. Both attempts were saved.
• Oakdale defender Timothy Farley, Oakdale center Kyle Metzler, Oakdale goalie Charles Forino, and Upper Montgomery forward Nathan Cassel all play together on the same 18U AA external travel team.
• Upper Montgomery next plays their opening round playoff game on Friday night against BCC. This will be the third time that the teams will face each other this year with Upper Montgomery winning one goal decisions in both games during the regular season. Game time is 8:00 pm at Rockville Ice Arena. The winner will play Walter Johnson in the quarterfinals of the Montgomery Hockey Conference playoffs with a chance to advance to the Maryland Student Hockey League state playoffs.

Three Stars of the Game:

First Star—Timothy Farley—Oakdale Defense—5 Assists
Second Star—Mason Macera—Oakdale Forward—2 Goals, 1 Assist
Third Star—Gavin Timberlake—Oakdale Forward—2 Goals

The Upper Montgomery Lightning came into Friday’s regular season conference finale looking to demonstrate that the squad was ready to face tough competition in the upcoming Montgomery Hockey Conference playoffs. The Whitman Vikings illustrated very clearly that the Lightning have a lot of work to do by easily steamrolling past Upper Montgomery 8-0. The game was not competitive right from the opening faceoff. It was Upper Montgomery’s worst performance of the season. The lone bright spot for the Lightning was ninth grade backup goalie Porter Stutrsim-Lyons’ showing in the third period playing during mop up time.

Right from the opening faceoff the Lightning’s top forward line strayed from the game plan. Over the past three seasons, every game that Upper Montgomery has won against Whitman has been tight checking, low scoring, and devoid of offensive chances (1-0, 2-1, 3-2). When the Lightning have lost to Whitman it is because Upper Montgomery attempted to go toe to toe with the Vikings playing up and down the ice trading offensive chances. On Friday night, at the end of the opening shift of the game, Whitman rushed up ice into the Upper Montgomery defensive zone. A shot from the right faceoff circle was stopped by Shterenberg. The rebound was cleared to the right wing side boards. Whitman 18U AA senior center Charlie Ingis picked up the puck and curled back to the right point. Ingis the skated downhill to the top of the right faceoff circle unimpeded. As the Lightning defenders converged on him, Ingis swung the puck over to the left faceoff circle where he found a wide open Trevor Fay, another of the Vikings 18U AA senior forwards. Fay had time to load up a snap shot and he beat Shterenberg short side past his blocker for his eighth goal of the season.

The second shift of the game was not much better. Whitman continued to pressure in the Upper Montgomery defensive zone. Lightning sophomore defender Miles Wendland took a holding penalty putting the Vikings on the powerplay. Thirty seconds later, Ingis scored his 24th goal of the season. The rout was on. Whitman 18U AA senior defender Zachary Kraus sent an outlet pass to Ingis down the right wing. Ingis carried the puck into the offensive zone where he pulled up at the right faceoff circle. He dropped the puck back to the center point along the blue line to Kraus who followed the play into the offensive zone. Kraus drifted left pulling the defense with him before he returned the puck to Ingis in the right faceoff circle. Ingis let loose with a wicked wrist shot that went up over Shterenberg’s right shoulder into the top left corner of the net. Whitman had a 2-0 lead less than two minutes into the contest.

Upper Montgomery faired a bit better over the next several minutes of the game as Whitman played some of their depth forward lines and defensive pairing. Upper Montgomery contained play better along with Shterenberg making saves on several long range shots. As the clock moved under ten minutes remaining in the opening period, Upper Montgomery cleared the puck to center ice. Whitman forward Lucas Giesecke dropped the puck back to senior defender Mark Buckley. Buckley sent the puck up the left wing boards to Lightning killer 18U AA senior forward, Nicholas Huguely. At the blue line entering the offensive zone Huguely tapped a pass to 18U AA senior defender Morrison Cohen who had jumped up into the rush. Cohen dumped the puck into the left corner where Giesecke outraced an Upper Montgomery defender to reach the puck. Giesecke touched the puck as he was falling to the ice. Huguely reversed direction back to the corner and passed the puck to Fay in the middle of the slot. Fay turned back to the left point deking around a Lightning forward. He sent a wrist shot through traffic from the top of the left faceoff circle low past Shterenberg. It was Fay’s second goal of the night and his ninth of the season. The effort from several Upper Montgomery skaters on the scoring sequence was not very good.

A minute later, Upper Montgomery went to the powerplay when Giesecke was called for an interference penalty. Whitman had an easy time of it on the penalty kill as Upper Montgomery had trouble accessing the offensive zone with puck possession. Shterenberg made a really good save on Ingis on a shorthanded break in. As the Lightning powerplay was ending, senior defender Cole Howerton took an interference penalty of his own. Eight seconds later while the teams were skating four on four, Kraus tallied to bring the score to 4-0. Off of a faceoff from the right faceoff circle in the offensive zone, Ingis won the draw back to Huguely at the top of the right faceoff circle. Huguely left the puck for Kraus at the right point. Kraus skated down the right wing boards into the right faceoff circle. He went wide to the outside past the Upper Montgomery defender and cut to the net all alone. He shifted the puck from his backhand to his forehand and put the puck past Shterenberg for his eighth goal of the season.

The goal was scored so quickly that Whitman went immediately to the powerplay. Sensing that the game was getting out of hand, the Whitman coaching staff started the powerplay using skaters who had not yet played very much. Upper Montgomery was able to kill off the penalty to Howerton and escape the balance of the period without giving up any more goals. The teams entered the first intermission with Whitman totally in control up 4-0 having outshot the Lightning by a seventeen to three margin.

The Lightning were admonished by the coaching staff during intermission for straying from the defensive game plan and giving a lacksidasical effort. Upper Montgomery played the first six minutes of the second period as instructed and it paid off. Lightning sophomore forward Aiden Zheng was able to get free behind the pressing Whitman defense forcing Cohen to slash him. While it did not look like a penalty to anyone in the rink, the closest referee called a penalty and awarded Zheng a penalty shot. Zheng came in alone on Whitman sophomore goalie Alexander Minkoff, who was given a surprise start against Upper Montgomery. Zheng elected to shoot from the low slot area. Minkoff was able to make the save. It was a morale boost for the young goalie as everyone had expected 18U AA senior Ryan Graf to start in his final regular season high school conference game.

The penalty shot save seemed to once again energize the Vikings. On the very next shift, Giesecke scored to increase Whitman’s lead to 5-0. In the offensive zone the puck was dug our of the corner by Huguely. He sent the puck back to the left point to Whitman sophomore defender Stephen Mah. Mah sent the puck to his right along the blue line to his defensive partner, Kraus. Kraus stepped in from the right point and fired a wrist shot at Shterenberg. Shterenberg made the initial save with the puck popping up over him. Giesecke pushed the puck the final few feet into the open goal for his fourth goal of the season.

A minute and a half after Giesecke’s goal, Whitman was called for a too many skaters on the ice penalty. Rather than Upper Montgomery taking advantage of the powerplay, the team gave up its first shorthanded goal of the season as Whitman increased its lead to 6-0. Upper Montgomery was under so much pressure in its defensive zone, the team just cleared the defensive end by throwing the puck out to neutral ice. Huguely chased down the puck and curled up ice back toward the offensive zone. He skated through the middle of the ice before making a backhand pass to Cohen cutting down the left side of the ice. Cohen got into the offensive zone and cut to the middle of the slot. Arriving into traffic in the slot, he dished the puck off to Kraus who was on the right side moving into the right faceoff circle. Kraus’ return pass / shot towards the net was deflected by Cohen over Shterenberg as the goalie was moving forward to poke check the puck away. It was Cohen’s ninth goal of the season. Mercifully, the game entered running clock.

A minute later Kraus had his ninth goal of the season and the game was getting laughable with the Vikings leading 7-0. An Upper Montgomery clearing attempt off the glass in the defensive zone was intercepted by Fay. He made a touch pass to Kraus at the point. Kraus took the puck down the left wing boards into the left corner. He made a backhand pass towards the slot that deflected off the nearest Lightning defender though Shterenberg’s five hole.

Another minute later and the score became 8-0 when little used Whitman forward Hugh Golub scored to complete a five and a half minute barrage of four Vikings goals. The puck was kept in the Upper Montgomery offensive zone at the blue line by Lightning ninth grade defender Matthew Rivera. His pass was intercepted by Whitman sophomore forward Grace Luo. She skated down the right wing through the neutral zone into the offensive third of the ice. Entering the right faceoff circle she made a pass to the slot that found Mah. Mah left a drop pass for Golub who popped the puck over Shterenberg for his third goal of the season.

For some reason, at the end of the second period with an 8-0 lead Fay mouthed off to the officials. He was assessed a two minute penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct. After being severely outshot once again, seventeen to four in the second period, the Lightning would begin the third period with the extra skater. During the second intermission the Upper Montgomery coaching staff chose to save Shterenberg and rest him for the third period. This decision was made for three reasons; to rest Shterenberg who had already faced 34 shots in two periods of play, to save Shterenberg as the team in front of him was playing very, very poorly, and then to give ninth grade backup netminder Porter Stustrim-Lyons some varsity game action experience.

The third period was played entirely with running clock. Upper Montgomery failed to score on the period opening powerplay. Whitman pulled back and played their depth skaters more frequently. Still, Stutsrim-Lyons made some incredible saves and other excellent saves to keep the Vikings at bay. In the third period he stopped all thirteen shots he faced while Upper Montgomery countered with two for an entire game total of just nine shots, one more than the number of goals Whitman scored.

The loss locks Upper Montgomery into the seventh slot in the county rankings and a tougher path in the upcoming post season playoffs. First round matchups will be announced early next week with the winner of the opening round game facing highly rated Walter Johnson in the quarterfinals. The Lightning’s challenging conclusion to the regular season continues with a non-conference afternoon game next Wednesday against the state’s top ranked team, Oakdale.

Game Notes:

• Upper Montgomery was badly outshot by Whitman 47-9. The Vikings dominated each period.
• It was the second time the Lightning have been shutout this season.
• Upper Montgomery junior defender Brady Berkhammer’s five game points streak ended.
• Upper Montgomery senior forward Nathan Cassel’s three game goal streak ended.
• The Lightning finished the season with their best mark in conference play (6-5-1) since the 2018 – 2019 season when the team only played the other teams in the lower division of the Montgomery Hockey Conference.
• Whitman defender Zachary Kraus, Whitman center Charlie Ingis, and Upper Montgomery forward Nathan Cassel all play together on the same 18U AA external travel team.
• Upper Montgomery next plays a non-conference game against Oakdale to finish the regular season. Game time on Wednesday afternoon at Rockville Ice Arena is set for 4:40 pm.

Three Stars of the Game:

First Star— Zachary Kraus—Whitman Defense—2 Goals, 3 Assists
Second Star—Trevor Fay—Whitman Forward—2 Goals, 1 Assist
Third Star—Charlie Ingis —Whitman Center—1 Goal, 2 Assists

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Game Notes:

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

Three Stars of the Game:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Game Notes:

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

Three Stars of the Game:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Game Notes:

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

Three Stars of the Game:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Game Notes:

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

Three Stars of the Game:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Game Notes:

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

Three Stars of the Game:

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

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

The Upper Montgomery Lightning entered Friday night’s contest against Richard Montgomery on a two game losing streak. The team knew they needed to bear down and play much better. A connected team effort in all three zones was necessary to prevail against an offensively talented by struggling Rockets squad. Upper Montgomery largely succeeded getting contributions from up and down the lineup to throttle the Rockets by a score of 7-4. Lightning junior center Owen Robbins stole the show by scoring four goals and adding an assist propelling Upper Montgomery to victory.

The win advanced Upper Montgomery’s record in conference play to 3-1-1, and concluded play against the other teams in division two of the Montgomery Hockey Conference right in the thick of the conference standings. Gaining the sixth seed in the year end conference rankings would guarantee that the Lightning would miss playing the top two teams in the county (Walter Johnson and Whitman) during the season ending playoff tournament. Likely, a key second half of the season matchup between Rockville / Magruder and Upper Montgomery will determine which squad finishes in sixth place and which squad finishes in seventh place.

The game started off very shaky for Upper Montgomery. Most of the opening four minutes of play was confined to the Upper Montgomery defensive zone. The Richard Montgomery offensive pressure paid off as the Rockets got on the scoreboard first. A poor clear by the Lightning defense was kept in at the right point by Rockets defender Franklin Karton. Karton sent the puck diagonally across the ice to the left corner where it was corralled by Richard Montgomery forward Connor Rosier. Rosier skated up the left wing boards and flipped the puck back over to Karton at the right point. Karton fired a wrist shot at the net through several skaters bodies and legs. Upper Montgomery sophomore goalie Ilan Shterenberg made the save on Karton’s shot with the rebound caroming out to the right side of the net at a forty five degree angle. Rosier was standing right where the rebound shot out and he was able to deposit the rebound past Shterenberg’s blocker side before the Lightning goalie could slide over to make the save.

The Rockets lead would last all of sixteen seconds. Off the ensuing faceoff at center ice Richard Montgomery controlled the puck in the Upper Montgomery defensive zone. Lightning sophomore forward Jake Hudson chased down the zone entry from behind. After controlling the puck, Hudson skated up the right wing boards fighting through a body check and out of his defensive end. At center ice he fired a pass up to Robbins near the Richard Montgomery defensive blue line. Robbins then sent a cross ice pass over to Hudson’s younger brother, ninth grade forward Luke Hudson entering the offensive zone in on a two on one rush with Robbins. Luke Hudson made an immediate and gorgeous one touch return pass to Robbins on the right wing. Robbins unleashed a snap shot low along the ice, short side just inside the right goal post. Richard Montgomery netminder Blake Schoenebeck never had a chance to come back across the net. The primary assist was Luke Hudson’s first career varsity point.

Halfway through the opening period Upper Montgomery would surge to the lead. From the right point Rockets defender Samir Wang fired a shot wide of the net. The puck was kept in at the left point by Wang’s defensive partner Ryan Jones. Jones’ shot was blocked by Upper Montgomery senior defender Cole Howerton–who played the best game of his Lightning career. Howerton’s defensive partner ninth grade defender Lillian Robbins took possession of the puck behind the Lightning net. She sent the puck up the left wing boards to Upper Montgomery junior forward Philip Shkeda. Shkeda skated the puck out of the defensive zone before sending a cross ice pass to Lightning sophomore forward Aiden Zheng on the right wing. Zheng skated the puck from the red line into the Upper Montgomery offensive zone. From between the top of the right faceoff circle and the blue line he uncorked a wrist shot that went high glove side on Schoenebeck. The puck sizzled past Schoenbeck’s glove before hitting the bottom of the crossbar and deflecting down into the back of the net to put the Lightning in front 2-1.

With five minutes remaining in the first period the Rockets struck back to tie the game at two. Upper Montgomery cleared the defensive zone. Richard Montgomery’s most explosive skater, senior 18U AA center Tom Stone gained possession of the puck inside his own defensive blue line. He sent a cross ice pass to the left wing to Rockets forward Caleb Liu. Upper Montgomery’s defense stood up the play at the blue line separating Liu from the puck. The puck slid over to Richard Montgomery forward Connor Myers who skated into the left faceoff circle. From the faceoff dot he cut to the inside. At the inside edge of the left faceoff circle he fired back across where he had come from. The puck rose to mid goal height and drifted past Shterenberg’s blocker.

With a minute remaining in the opening period Robbins’ second goal of the game provided the Lightning with a 3-2 lead entering the first intermission. Back pressure by Zheng caused a turnover. Robbins, who was jumping onto the ice from the bench during a line change, grabbed the puck in the neutral zone. He skated up ice on the right wing into the offensive zone. From the top of the right faceoff circle, while falling away from the net, Robbins fired a wrist shot that went far side past Schoenebeck’s blocker. It was a perfectly placed shot that snuck just inside the left goal post above the goalie’s right leg pad and below his blocker.

The evenly played period concluded without either team having a powerplay opportunity. Shots on goal were Richard Montgomery with ten and Upper Montgomery with nine. The up and down the ice period was high scoring and very entertaining for the spectators. However, Upper Montgomery’s coaching staff was not pleased with the loosey goosey style of play which allowed Richard Montgomery to have too much time and space in the offensive zone.

Right off the jump in the second period, Upper Montgomery responded to the coaches messaging during the first intermission. A Richard Montgomery forward wiped out in his offensive zone under intense Upper Montgomery defensive pressure. From the right defensive corner Lillian Robbins sent the puck up the right wing boards to Jake Hudson on the half wall. Hudson turned and whipped an outlet pass hitting Shkeda in stride down the left wing side of the ice. Shkeda carried the puck into the offensive zone. His slinging wrist shot from the left faceoff circle went high across the goal to the far side past Schoenebeck’s glove and into the top right corner of the net.

Three minutes later Shkeda would score his second goal of the evening and fourth goal of the season to extend the Lightning’s lead to 5-2 and give the team a bit of breathing room. A Richard Montgomery shot from the right point was blocked by Owen Robbins. Robbins then chipped the puck high off the glass from his defensive zone into neutral ice. Robbins charged after the puck in the neutral zone and arrived just ahead of the Richard Montgomery defender. He poked the puck forward up ice to Shkeda. Shkeda stickhandled around the Rockets defense coming over to the right side of the ice before cutting wide around the backchecking Rockets. As he cleared the Rockets defenders, Shkeda cut toward the net. Shkeda was patient with the puck coming past Schoenebeck from right to left while Schoenebeck reached forward to try and grab the puck. With the puck on his forehand and clear of the netminder, Shkeda fired a lofting shot into the back of the net past the prone goalie’s stick hand side and blocker.

Halfway through the middle period Karton was called for a hooking penalty putting Upper Montgomery on the powerplay for the first time. The Lightning entered the offensive zone with puck possession with Zheng taking the puck wide on the right wing side of the ice. As he took the puck towards the net a scramble ensued with skaters from each team attempting to gain control of the loose puck. Eventually, Shkeda gained control of the puck in the left corner. He sent a backhand pass to Lightning junior defender Brady Berkhammer at the left point. Berkhammer steadied the puck and settled down play. He then sent a defense to defense pass to Owen Robbins at the right point. Robbins was deployed as one of the defenders with the Lightning on the powerplay. His long range wrist shot to the left side of the net went past a screened Schoenebeck to his stick and blocker side. It was Robbins third goal of the game and second hat-trick of the season. The marker was also his team leading sixth goal of the season.

With two minutes remaining in the period Lightning senior center Henry Honacki and Richard Montgomery senior forward Lester Benitez got tangled up. Benitez muscled up Honacki who cross checked him back in response. Both seniors were shown to the penalty box with Richard Montgomery’s frustration beginning to show trailing by a score of 6-2. The dust up did energize the Rockets who scored a minute later to cut the lead to 6-3 heading into the third period.

From an Upper Montgomery shot that was semi-blocked, Stone gathered the puck in his defensive zone. He skated by himself out through the neutral zone and down the right side of the ice into the Upper Montgomery defensive zone. His wrist shot from the right faceoff circle went high over Shterenberg’s blocker into the top left corner of the net for the unassisted goal. Shots on goal in the second period were even once again with Richard Montgomery sending ten pucks at Shterenberg and Upper Montgomery putting eleven shots on Schoenebeck. After two periods of play, each team stood at twenty shots on goal.

Over the third period Upper Montgomery sat back to defend their three goal margin. Five minutes into the period Owen Robbins connected for his team leading seventh goal of the season and fourth goal of the night. Jake Hudson and Owen Robbins teamed up to steal the puck in the neutral zone. Robbins passed the puck to Shkeda on the left wing entering the offensive zone. From the faceoff dot in the left faceoff circle Shkeda sent a wrist shot wide of the goal short side. Jake Hudson got to the puck first on the right side of the ice near the right corner. He sent the puck back from where it came behind the net from right to left. Shkeda coming out of the left corner behind the net had the puck explode off his stick directly back to Hudson. Hudson then returned the puck to Shkeda now in the right corner. Shkeda sent a return pass to Hudson along the right wing half wall. Hudson continued the play sending the puck back to the right point to Lillian Robbins. Her shot from the point was blocked by the on rushing Richard Montgomery forward. Owen Robbins gathered the loose puck and fired an off balance shot high over Schoenebeck’s blocker.

Up 7-3 with ten minutes remaining in the game Upper Montgomery went into somewhat of a defensive shell. This allowed Richard Montgomery to have more offensive zone time. It also resulted in the Rockets outshooting the Lightning by a fifteen to seven margin in the final period. Upper Montgomery’s defense held strong until there were just under three minutes remaining in the game. Rockets defender Wang sent an outlet pass from the right wing of his defensive zone to Rosier just outside the blue line. Rosier skated down the middle of the ice to the Upper Montgomery defensive blue line where Upper Montgomery defenders, senior Patrick Sell and Lillian Robbins interrupted Rosier’s rush up ice. While falling down, Rosier collected the puck in the right faceoff circle. He mustered a weak wrist shot high towards the net. The puck bounced off of Shterenberg’s glove, flittered up over the goalie and bounded into the net. It was fortunate for the Lightning that they had a four goal lead when the weak goal was allowed.

The bad break did not deter the Lightning who continued to play sound defensively. The final three minutes ticked away with Upper Montgomery thwarting the Rockets even when Upper Montgomery senior forward Josh Nadler took at interference penalty in the final minute clearing out a Rockets forward in front of the net. The Lightning now have a little time to appreciate the victory over the Rockets as a rematch against arch rival Wootton is on the horizon in two weeks. Wootton will be looking for revenge after a close game against the Lightning earlier this season and three consecutive Upper Montgomery victories over the past two seasons.

Game Notes:

• Richard Montgomery outshot Upper Montgomery by a 35-28 margin.
• Upper Montgomery junior center Owen Robbins scored a career high four goals and added an assist for a career high five point game.
• Lightning junior forward Philip Shkeda had his second four point game of the season with two goals and two assists.
• Lightning ninth grade defender Lillian Robbins had her first career multi point varsity game with a career high three assists.
• Upper Montgomery forward Jake Hudson had a career high three assist game as well.
• Upper Montgomery ninth grade defender Luke Hudson notched his first career varsity point with a pretty assist on Robbins’ first goal.
• High scoring Richard Montgomery forward Lester Benitez returned to the Rockets lineup after missing the early portion of the season.
• Upper Montgomery returns to action after a week off to face arch rival Wootton. The game will be a rematch of the team’s recent contest won by the Patriots 3-1. Upper Montgomery played well and held Wootton to just three goals which was nine goals below their season average. Game time is 9:00 pm on Friday, November 22nd at Rockville Ice Arena.

Three Stars of the Game:

First Star—Owen Robbins—Upper Montgomery Center—4 Goals, 1 Assist
Second Star—Philip Shkeda—Upper Montgomery Forward—2 Goals, 2 Assists
Third Star—Cole Howerton–Upper Montgomery Defense