Category: Game Recaps

The Blair Blazers defeated Upper Montgomery for the first time in three seasons abruptly ending the Lightning’s 2024 – 2025 varsity hockey season. Blair sophomore forward Mason Boucher scored 19 seconds into overtime to send the Blazers into the Montgomery Hockey Conference Varsity Tournament championship game. Blair will be a decided underdog next week when they play county powerhouse Churchill for the varsity tournament title. Upper Montgomery heads into the offseason needing to digest how to take the next steps to regularly defeat the top five or six teams in the county. Even though the Lightning have advanced up the county rankings over the past few seasons, there is still a sizeable amount of work to be done to qualify for the Maryland Student Hockey League state playoffs. Entering its 17th season of existence next year, the Lightning have never qualified for the state playoffs. Upper Montgomery finished as high as fifth in the county while winning the varsity tournament championship for the first time ever after last season.

All observers thought this game would be a hard fought low scoring contest throughout. They were not wrong. Neither team had more than a one goal lead in the contest which ebbed and flowed all game long. Upper Montgomery seemed to be chasing the game right from the outset as senior center, and the team’s leading scorer entering the game, Henry Honacki was called for a roughing penalty thirty seconds into the contest. The early penalty kill disrupted the flow of the line combinations and defensive pairings taking Upper Montgomery out of its regular rotations. The early powerplay permitted the Blazers to be aggressive from the start as numerous shots were fired toward Upper Montgomery sophomore goalie Ilan Shterenberg. Upper Montgomery’s penalty kill which struggled at times during the regular season stood tall to prevent the Blazers from jumping to an early lead.

Nine minutes into the game Upper Montgomery went to their first extra skater advantage when Blair junior defender Joseph Killebrew was sent to the penalty box for a tripping penalty. Although the Lightning had significant offensive zone time, the first opportunity the Blazers had to clear the defensive zone resulted in a penalty to Lightning senior defender Cole Howerton when he got his stick under the skates of the Blair forward exiting the defensive zone with puck possession. Upper Montgomery’s powerplay was over as the team’s skated for fifty seconds of four on four action. Once Killebrew returned to the ice, Blair went on their second powerplay of the game. While Blair was on the powerplay, Shterenberg made a routine save with Blair senior forward Ari Gardner standing nearby. A known agitator, Gardner started doing his thing. Upper Montgomery senior forward Josh Nadler was having none of it with both skaters ushered to the penalty box for coincidental cross checking penalties.

With two minutes remaining in the first period the Lightning broke through jumping to a 1-0 lead. The Blazers dumped the puck into the Upper Montgomery defensive zone with Shterenberg stopping the puck behind his net. Lightning sophomore defender Avery Evans swooped in to collect the puck. She sent a pass up the right wing boards to Upper Montgomery’s active leading scorer senior forward Nathan Cassel high in the Lightning’s defensive zone. Cassel’s zone exit outlet pass intended for Honacki was deflected. The pass instead found Upper Montgomery junior defender Owen Robbins in the right faceoff circle. Robbins connected with Honacki leading to the defensive zone clear.

Honacki passed the puck to his left for Upper Montgomery forward Philip Shkeda. Shkeda skated to his right before leaving a backhand pass for Cassel on the left wing. Cassel entered the Blair defensive zone against the left wing boards on a quick developing two on one rush with Shkeda after a Blazers defender fell while pivoting to skate backwards. From the outside of the left faceoff circle, Cassel centered the puck to Shkeda alone in the slot. Shkeda had time to position his body into a shooting stance where he roofed a shot into the top of the net over Blair junior goalie Sylvan Vernon’s outstretched left leg pad. It was Shkeda’s seventh goal of the season which gave the Lightning a late first period lead. Shots on goal in the opening period were twelve Blair shots on Shterenberg which were all turned aside and seven for Upper Montgomery with Shkeda’s finish the only shot getting past Vernon.

The tough fought game continued into the second period. It was a period that was very evenly played, but Blair found a way to score twice to jump into the lead. Three and a half minutes into the middle period Killebrew, not known for providing much offense, tallied his second goal of the season to get Blair even. From a faceoff in the right faceoff circle in the Blair defensive zone, Blair center Eva Caron won the draw to the boards. She swept the puck back to Killebrew in the left corner. Killebrew paused to assess the Lightning defensive alignment before heading up the ice with the puck. He went up the middle of the ice into the neutral zone on a solo rush against both Upper Montgomery defenders. He cut to his right where he was pushed by the Upper Montgomery defender wide to a bad shooting angle at the bottom of the right faceoff circle. His backhand shot toward the net somehow squirted between Shterenberg’s legs drawing the Blazers even.

A minute and a half later Blair went on their third powerplay of the evening when Lightning depth forward Siddy Bhasin was called for slashing. It was a very questionable call as there was not much force on the slash to the Blair forward’s pants. The Lightning penalty kill did an excellent job containing the Blazers for most of the powerplay. With twenty seconds remaining in Blair’s extra skater advantage, Honacki was a little overzealous checking a Blazers forward into the boards. The result of the check was a boarding penalty assessed to Honacki putting the Lightning down two skaters for fourteen seconds. Even more detrimental was that a boarding penalty call comes with an automatic ten minute misconduct penalty. Thus, the Lightning’s leading scorer would be out of action for twelve minutes of the game. The Lightning skaters and Shterenberg stood tall to kill off the short two person disadvantage and then the rest of the traditional extra skater Blair powerplay.

Ten seconds after Upper Montgomery returned to even strength, Blair’s leading scorer, Jackson Martindill, scored his seventh goal of the season to give Blair its first lead of the game. The scoring play began with Upper Montgomery sending the puck down the ice with it nestling in behind the Blair net. Blair senior defender Rafi Shore took the puck up the right side of the Blazers defensive zone. He sent the puck to Martindill as he was leaving the defensive zone. Martindill turned up ice skating all the way into the Lightning defensive zone. From the left wing he cut to the high slot. Now in the center of the ice he fired a wrist shot that got past Shterenberg to the stick side. With six minutes remaining in the second period the Lightning suddenly found themselves down in the game. Both Blair goals had been scored on innocent rushes up ice with plenty of Lightning defensive skaters in position defending.

With two and a half minutes left in the period, Howerton and Blair forward Danilo Azcarate got into a skirmish in front of the Upper Montgomery net. Both were assessed coincidental minor penalties for head contact. A penalty for head contact also comes with an automatic ten minute misconduct penalty. Both skaters were parked in the penalty box for the next twelve minutes of the game, only being released deep into the third period with approximately five minutes remaining in regulation time. Shots on goal in the middle frame were similar to the first period, thirteen for Blair with two finding pay dirt. Upper Montgomery countered with eight shots, all of which Vernon turned aside.

Trailing 2-1 entering the third period, Upper Montgomery had fifteen final minutes to find at least one goal to continue their season. The Lightning pushed the pace of play with defenders starting to join rushes up ice. The Upper Montgomery defenders began holding the offensive blue line pinching down the boards to keep the play alive in the offensive zone. One of the defensive pinches bore fruit when Blair forward Quinn Streaker was called for hooking with nine minutes remaining in the game.

Based upon the flow of the game, this powerplay opportunity appeared to be the chance the Lightning were looking for. It was such an important juncture in the game the Upper Montgomery coaching staff chose to utilize their timeout. The short break allowed all of the students to get a brief rest, refocus on the upcoming powerplay, and coordinate the plan of attack to attempt to knot up the game at two. A minute into the extra skater advantage, Blair cleared the puck all the way down to the Upper Montgomery defensive zone.

Upper Montgomery sophomore defender Miles Wendland took the puck behind his own net continuing into the right faceoff circle where he fired a pass up ice to Cassel in the neutral zone. Cassel stickhandled to center ice where he cut to the left proceeding to enter the offensive zone. He was pinned against the boards by three Blazers defenders. Cassel spiked the puck into the left wing corner. Wendland retrieved the puck passing it out to the front of the net to Shkeda. Shkeda’s shot went just wide to the short side with the puck bouncing off the side of the net. The Blair defense got to the puck first behind their cage while being pursued by Shkeda. A poor clearing pass was cut off up ice by Honacki along the right wing boards. Honacki sent a backhand pass to Robbins at the right point. Robbins skated around Honacki before sending the puck back to Cassel who had moved over to the right point. Cassel’s long range shot was saved by Vernon with Shkeda poking home the rebound on his backhand. Shkeda’s eighth goal of the season tied the game at two with eight minutes remaining. The marker also pushed Shkeda into the Lightning’s overall scoring lead for the season with 22 points.

Eight minutes remained for either team to emerge victorious. Both squads went for it offensively, with each team cognizant of getting back on defense to thwart the other team’s counterpunch rushes up ice. Each team generated one really good scoring chance that was snuffed out by the opposing goaltender. When the final horn sounded ending regulation time, the Lightning had fired a period high of twelve shots at Vernon while Blair was limited to their lowest total of the game with nine.

To open overtime, Upper Montgomery started with three of its top offensive skaters in Cassel, Shkeda, and Robbins playing at the defensive position. Blair countered with Boucher, sophomore forward William Campbell, and Killebrew. Boucher won the opening center ice faceoff to begin overtime. Campbell collected the puck in neutral ice before sending it back to Killebrew on the right side of the ice at his defensive blue line. With Cassel pushing up ice to force play, Killebrew sent the puck to his left along the defensive blue line over to Campbell on the left wing boards. Under pressure from Shkeda, Campbell ragged the puck up the left wing side of the ice. At the Upper Montgomery blue line, he cut inside of Robbins’ defense positioning thus being surrounded by the three Upper Montgomery defenders; Cassel on his right, Shkeda applying back pressure from behind, and Robbins on his left. Campbell sent a perfectly placed backhand pass through the Upper Montgomery defenders to Boucher who was skating hard toward the back right goal post. Clear of Cassel’s reach, Boucher settled the pass before he fired from directly in front of Shterenberg. The puck went past the Lightning goalie’s glove hand side into the back of the net for Boucher’s sixth goal of the season. It was by far the most important tally of his high school career to date. The Blair bench exploded over the boards onto the ice forming a red colored mosh pit in the far offensive corner of the ice. Just like that game over, along with it the Upper Montgomery season. Overtime concluded in only 19 seconds with no Lightning skater touching the puck.

With the loss Upper Montgomery’s season ended abruptly. It was the third straight season that the Lightning advanced at least to the semifinal round of the season ending Montgomery Hockey Conference varsity tournament. It will be a long offseason where the Upper Montgomery coaching staff will need to evaluate each student athlete’s strengths and weaknesses to come up with a style of play that permits the team to succeed against the more talented teams in the county. Each year is another opportunity for the program to end its two long streaks left to demolish, never having beaten Churchill and never having qualified for the Maryland Student Hockey League state playoffs. It will now be up to the 2025 – 2026 squad to make history.

Game Notes:

• Blair outshot Upper Montgomery 35-27 for the game.
• With his two goals junior forward Philip Shkeda finished the season as the Lightning’s top scorer with eight goals and fourteen assists for 22 points.
• Senior center Henry Honacki finished the season leading Upper Montgomery with twelve goals.
• Junior defender Brady Berkhammer finished the season leading Upper Montgomery with fifteen assists.
• Upper Montgomery finished the season with a 7-8-2 record, 6-5-1 in conference play. Both marks are the Lightning’s best winning percentages since the 2018 – 2019 season.
• The Lightning killed off all four Blazers powerplays.
• This was the third consecutive season that Upper Montgomery advanced at least to the Montgomery Hockey Conference varsity tournament semifinals.

Three Stars of the Game:

First Star—Philip Shkeda—Upper Montgomery Forward—2 Goals
Second Star—Ilan Shterenberg—Upper Montgomery Goalie—32 Saves, .914 Save Percentage
Third Star—Mason Boucher—Blair Forward—Game Winning Overtime Goal

For the third time this season the Upper Montgomery Lightning eased past the Northwest / Quince Orchard Jaguars. The final score of Friday’s game was 8-4, with the game not as competitive as the final score indicated. Northwest / Quince Orchard scored two goals in garbage time at the end of the game to make the score look more respectable. Upper Montgomery charged out to a 6-1 lead after two periods of play outshooting the Jaguars badly in building its insurmountable lead. With the victory, Upper Montgomery advances to the semifinals of the Montgomery Hockey Conference varsity tournament. It was a very good win for the Lightning who played without their leading scorer in senior center Henry Honacki (15GP, 12G, 7A) and their leading defensive scorer junior defender Brady Berkhammer (15GP, 4G, 15A). The Lightning also saw the return of sophomore goalie Ilan Shterenberg who missed last week’s playoff game against BCC with an illness.

Upper Montgomery controlled play right from the beginning of the game. Having the majority of puck possession time the Lightning were easily able to hold down the Jaguars. Northwest / Quince Orchard never threatened in the offensive zone over the opening three and a half minutes of play. The frustrated Jaguars chased play all over the ice. The only scenario that helped Northwest / Quince Orchard was that Upper Montgomery missed the net on multiple high danger scoring opportunities. The Jaguars frustration eventually boiled over when Jaguars forward Omar Ben Younes received a roughing penalty for throwing a body check away from the play.

On the powerplay, the Lightning turned up the pressure even further. Upper Montgomery 18U AA senior forward, Nathan Cassel cut off a Northwest / Quince Orchard shorthanded advance up ice along the right wing boards. The puck was scooped up by Lightning junior 16U AAA defender Owen Robbins. Robbins curled back into his defensive zone where he passed the puck over to Cassel on the left wing. Cassel entered the offensive zone down the left wing progressing to the bottom of the left faceoff circle. He unleashed a wrist shot top shelf short side above Northwest / Quince Orchard senior goalie Joseph Dean’s blocker. It was Cassel’s eighth goal of his condensed senior season as he missed multiple games at the beginning of the year with an upper body injury.

Upper Montgomery continued to dominate play over the next five minutes of action looking to increase their lead. The Jaguars cleared the puck out of their defensive zone down the ice where Shterenberg stopped the puck. The goalie then handed the puck to Robbins in the right defensive corner. Robbins sent an outlet pass to Lightning forward Philip Shkeda in the neutral zone. Shkeda banked a pass off the boards that was intercepted by Northwest / Quince Orchard. Shkeda followed up the play knocking the puck free to Cassel who then took the puck down the right wing boards. He stickhandled with the puck before sending it back to the right point to Upper Montgomery sophomore defender Miles Wendland. Wendland dumped the puck to the right corner with the puck coming around the boards to Lightning sophomore center Jake Hudson stationed in the left corner. Hudson sent a backhand pass to Shkeda. Shkeda received the pass before curling to the middle of the ice. He stickhandled through several defenders then faked out Dean putting a forehand shot past the goalie’s leg pad. Shkeda’s sixth tally on the year increased Upper Montgomery’s lead to 2-0.

Two minutes after Shkeda’s goal, Upper Montgomery faced its first penalty kill situation of the evening. Lightning depth forward Jason Woodman was called for a roughing penalty for an excellent body check on the Jaguars puck carrier. It was a mystifying penalty call. Not only did Upper Montgomery excel during the penalty kill, the Lightning outplayed the Jaguars with one less skater on the ice. A Northwest / Quince Orchard shot from the left point was blocked by Upper Montgomery senior center Josh Nadler. The puck bounced forward directly to Cassel sending him off on a breakaway down the left wing. Cassel’s shot was saved by Dean’s left leg pad. The rebound was collected by Nadler along the right wing boards. After a short puck battle, Nadler emerged with the puck. He turned sending a pass to Cassel in the slot. This time Cassel’s wrist shot went low past Dean’s glove hand for the shorthanded goal. Cassel’s second goal of the night and ninth of the season gave Upper Montgomery a 3-0 lead entering the first intermission. It was one of the better periods that the Lightning had played in several weeks.

After a small blip, the second period mirrored the first. Three minutes into the second period, the Jaguars got on the scoreboard off of a broken play. Northwest / Quince Orchard leading scorer, junior center Ethan Custodio collected the puck along the right wing boards in his defensive zone. He skated the puck up ice all the way into the offensive zone. He was guarded by Wendland and his defensive partner, Lightning senior defender Cole Howerton. With both defenders shadowing the dangerous Custodio who had the puck, he sent the puck to his left into open ice. The puck came close to the slot where Ben Younes slapped at the puck. Somehow, his slow shot along the ice got past the left leg pad of Shterenberg just inside the right goal post. It was Ben Younes’ first goal of the season bringing the Jaguars within two goals at 3-1.

Twenty five seconds later the Lightning’s lead was back to three goals. Upper Montgomery had considerable offensive zone time. A slap pass by Northwest / Quince Orchard was cut off by Wendland at the center point just inside the blue line. He skated two strides to his left and unloaded a wrist shot high to the far side of the net past Dean’s glove hand. Wendland’s unassisted marker was his second goal on the season eliminating any stress a potential Northwest / Quince Orchard comeback would apply.

The next six minutes of game action saw Upper Montgomery continuously press forward offensively. A fifth goal would likely end the competitive portion of the game putting the Lightning up by four goals. With five minutes left in the middle period, the Jaguars cleared the puck to the Upper Montgomery defensive zone. The puck was retrieved by Upper Montgomery ninth grade defender Matt Rivera. He sent a pass up the middle of the ice to Cassel in the neutral zone. Cassel took the puck down the right wing into the Northwest / Quince Orchard defensive zone. He stickhandled to free himself from the Jaguars defense leaving a drop pass for Shkeda. Shkeda was not expecting the pass but was able to secure possession bringing the puck deeper into the offensive zone along the right wing boards down into the right faceoff circle. He stopped and found Robbins unguarded in the slot. Robbins had time and space to send a slinging wrist shot high over Dean’s glove hand for his eighth goal of the season. It was Robbins first tally since the Richard Montgomery game back in early November.

With under a minute remaining in the second period, Upper Montgomery scored its sixth goal of the evening putting the game well out of reach. From a faceoff in the left faceoff circle in the offensive zone, Nadler won the draw to Robbins in the slot. Robbins fired a backhanded shot that Dean saved with his right leg pad. A Jaguars defender attempted to go around the net with the puck from his left to his right. On the way around the net he was met by Robbins who relieved him of the puck. Robbins left the puck along the right wing boards for Shkeda. Shkeda carried the puck further down the right wing boards into the right corner before giving it up to Robbins who was headed in the other direction up the boards toward the right point. With possession, Robbins pivoted back toward the corner coming at the net on the same side. He sent a backhand pass to Nadler standing just outside the goal crease. Nadler fired a quick shot short side over Dean’s leg pad and under his glove. It was goals in back to back games for Nadler after going the entire regular season without scoring.

With a five goal lead and in complete control of the game, the Upper Montgomery coaching staff pulled Shterenberg and inserted ninth grade goalie Porter Stutsrim-Lyons to handle the netminding duties in the third period. It was a reward for Stutsrim-Lyons whose play last week was excellent in both the varsity playoff game against BCC (40 saves on 43 shots on goal, .930 save percentage) and the junior varsity semifinal playoff game directly after the varsity game (39 saves on 42 shots on goal, .928 save percentage).

It seemed that inserting Stutsrim-Lyons into the game signaled to the teams that the competitive portion of the game had ended. Upper Montgomery certainly played the third period similar to a scrimmage with very low intensity. A minute into the final period Lightning sophomore forward Aiden Zheng was called for a tripping penalty for reaching in from behind on a Jaguars skater. It took a minute and a half, but Northwest / Quince Orchard struck while playing with the additional skater. Jaguars senior defender Drew Blurton broke up an Upper Montgomery shorthanded two on one rush. He possessed the puck in his own left defensive corner where he started innocently skating the puck up ice. He wound around the defensive zone then into the neutral zone where he cut left to enter the Upper Montgomery defensive zone. He carried the puck around the net from left to right. As he came around the side of the net heading up into the right faceoff circle, Blurton lifted a backhanded shot toward the goal. The puck clanked off the side of Stutsrim-Lyons helmet backwards into the net for an unassisted powerplay goal, Blurton’s third goal of the season.

A minute later Upper Montgomery stretched the lead back to 7-2. A Northwest / Quince Orchard clear down the ice was retrieved by Wendland. He skated with the puck around his net from right to left. On the right side boards, he swung the puck up the boards to Shkeda in the neutral zone. Shkeda entered the offensive zone down the middle of the ice. With no Jaguars defender converging on him, Shkeda took the puck directly to the net. He faked Dean but the goalie was able to poke check the puck loose from Shkeda’s possession. Robbins collected the puck momentarily but lost possession to the Jaguars defense. The Northwest / Quince Orchard defensive zone clearing attempt was read well by Rivera. He rushed over to stop the puck before it crossed over the defensive blue line. Rivera did what he could with the puck by simply dumping it into open ice on the left side of the offensive zone. Robbins skated hard reaching the puck first due to his effort. He regathered the puck. Once in control of the puck, Robbins spun towards the net and fired a rocket of a wrist shot that beat Dean high to the glove side. The Jaguars’ netminder hardly moved as the puck zoomed past him for Robbins’ second goal of the evening and his ninth on the season.

Five minutes later Nadler scored his second goal of the evening to finish off the Lightning’s goal scoring. It was his third goal in the last two games. From a faceoff in the left faceoff circle in the offensive zone, Nadler won the draw to the right where Robbins stepped forward to grab the puck. Robbins sent a pass over to Cassel at the left point. Cassel’s wrist shot was blocked by the Jaguars defense falling into the slot near Nadler. Nadler fired a quick wrist shot low to the far side of the goal past Dean’s glove hand.

With just over three minutes remaining in the game, Upper Montgomery depth forward Siddy Bhasin was issued an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty for mouthing off to the officials in an 8-2 game. Northwest / Quince Orchard wasted no time at all in tallying their second powerplay goal of the period. Five seconds after Bhasin went into the penalty box, the score closed to 8-3. Off of a faceoff in the left faceoff circle in the offensive zone, the referee dropped the puck before Upper Montgomery was aligned to defend. Custudio won the faceoff forward stretching to nudge the puck to his right. Jaguars ninth grade forward Gabriel Carlos was all alone on the right side of the crease to easily tap in the puck past Stutsrim-Lyons. It was Carlos’ fourth goal of the season and third scored against Upper Montgomery.

Thirty seconds later Custudio scored to close the margin to 8-4 which was as close as the Jaguars would get. An Upper Montgomery turnover in the neutral zone went to Custodio. He turned back up ice blazing down the left side of the offensive zone around the Lightning defense. His initial short side shot was saved by Stutsrim-Lyons with the puck deflecting up in the air. Upper Montgomery ninth grade defender Lillian Robbins saved a goal by clearing the puck off of the goal line. Her clearing swat went all the way to the left point where Blurton kept the puck in the offensive zone. Blurton’s shot bounced around on its way toward the net. It finally settled at the side of the goal directly onto Custodio’s stick for an easy tap in goal.

With the victory, Upper Montgomery moves into the semifinal round of the Montgomery Hockey Conference Varsity Tournament. It is the third straight year that the Lightning have made the semifinals. The team will be looking to advance back to the championship game with an opportunity to defend their championship from last season. Last year’s finals victory was the most impactful championship won in the history of the Upper Montgomery program. Becoming back to back champions would continue to cement the program’s climb into the top tier of Montgomery County hockey programs.

Game Notes:

• Upper Montgomery had a distinct advantage in shots on goal. The Lightning fired 39 shots on Northwest / Quince Orchard senior goalie Joseph Dean. The Jaguars fired 23 shots against the Lightning goalie tandem. Upper Montgomery outshot the Jaguars 26-10 over the first two periods of play in building their 6-1 lead.
• Upper Montgomery had three different students score two goals in the game; senior forward Nathan Cassel, senior center Josh Nadler, and junior defender Owen Robbins.
• All three games Owen Robbins scored in were multi-goal efforts. He authored two, three, and four goal games this season.
• Upper Montgomery played without its leading defensive scorer Brady Berkhammer in the game.
• The Lightning were also without their leading overall scorer, senior center Henry Honacki who missed the game serving his one game supplementary disciplinary suspension for receiving a major penalty for boarding in last week’s playoff game against BCC.
• Jaguars center Ethan Custodio tallied eight points in three games against the Lightning; three goals and five assists.
• Lightning sophomore goalie Ilan Shterenberg increased his varsity win total to seven.
• Upper Montgomery advances on to the Montgomery Hockey Conference Varsity Tournament Semifinals. After a two week break, the Lightning will host the Blair Blazers on Friday, February 21st. Game time is 8:10 pm at Rockville Ice Arena.

Three Stars of the Game:

First Star—Nathan Cassel—Upper Montgomery Forward—2 Goals, 2 Assists
Second Star—Owen Robbins—Upper Montgomery Defense—2 Goals, 3 Assists
Third Star—Josh Nadler—Upper Montgomery Center—2 Goals, 1 Assist

The Upper Montgomery Lightning junior varsity played an outstanding game late Friday night against top seeded Wootton in the semifinals of the Montgomery Hockey Conference junior varsity playoffs. It was an excellent high school hockey game between the top two junior varsity squads in the county. Upper Montgomery controlled the flow and pace of the game against the high flying Patriots holding a 1-0 lead entering the third period. At that point, the effects of playing back to back games became too large of an impediment for Upper Montgomery. Wootton stormed back aided by two early third period powerplay goals to defeat the Lightning 3-1 advancing to the junior varsity championship game against BCC. Wootton is expected to prevail easily against the Barons and take home their first junior varsity title. The loss ends the season for Upper Montgomery completing the year with a 5-3-2 record.

Entering the contest Upper Montgomery knew that the best way to stifle the Patriots was to play a smothering defensive system that prevented Wootton from getting into their preferred skating game. At times, the Lightning created a ring around the interior of the defensive zone content to let Wootton keep possession of the puck on the exterior. The Patriots were forced to fire long range shots on Upper Montgomery ninth grade goalie Porter Stutsrim-Lyons. When Upper Montgomery did possess the puck, the team sent the puck out to neutral ice or deep into the Patriots defensive zone with multiple students scrambling to the bench for a line change. Upper Montgomery’s plan was to frustrate the Patriots while capitalizing on counter attack rushes up ice. The Lightning skaters blocked shot after shot. The defense cleared rebounds out of harm’s way. Upper Montgomery goaltender Stutsrim-Lyons came through with an outstanding performance after being unexpectedly thrust into playing in back to back games. He had to start the varsity playoff game when the Lightning’s starting varsity goalie, sophomore Ilan Shterenberg came down ill forcing Stutsrim-Lyons into playing both games.

The beginning of the game was unsettling. After the Upper Montgomery varsity game ran late due to a zamboni malfunction, the student athletes that were also playing in the junior varsity game hustled from Rockville Ice Arena over to Cabin John Ice Rink. The Lightning were forced to use their time out at the beginning of the game to allow Stutsrim-Lyons time to complete gearing up. Once game action commenced, the Lightning executed the game plan to a T. Defense, defense, defense, more defense, and then even more defense. Wootton was unable to solve Stutsrim-Lyons. The Lightning rolled forward lines and defensive pairings in an attempt to keep the students playing in their second game of the night as fresh and rested as possible.

Six minutes into the game, Upper Montgomery earned the first powerplay of the night when Wootton’s top line center sophomore Nathan Geeng was called for an interference penalty. While Upper Montgomery did not score or even threaten offensively, it was two more minutes of denying Wootton the ability to play to their core strength, transition offense. After Upper Montgomery’s powerplay fizzled, Lightning sophomore forward Jake Hudson took his first penalty of the season. He was whistled for a minor penalty for hooking. Wootton pressured the entire two minutes in the offensive zone, but could not penetrate Upper Montgomery’s packed in penalty kill. When shots did get through, Stutsrim-Lyons was there to shut the door.

As Wootton’s extra skater advantage concluded unsuccessfully, the Lightning began to exude confidence at keeping Wootton off the scoreboard for more than ten minutes. Upper Montgomery had a burst offensively which ultimately gave the Lightning a 1-0 lead. Upper Montgomery sophomore defender Miles Wendland had the puck at his own defensive blue line along the left wing boards. He sent a diagonal pass which Hudson received at the right wing boards standing at the center red line. Hudson skated the puck into the Wootton defensive zone. He was immediately pressured by the Wootton defense. While falling down, Hudson swept the puck around the net into the left corner. The puck hit the net and was gathered in by the Wootton defense.

The clearing attempt was kept in at the left point by Wendland. His shot on goal was an easy pad save for Wootton’s sophomore goalie Kevin Yu, with the puck directed into the left corner. Lightning ninth grade forward, Luke Hudson, Jake’s brother, retrieved the puck and sent it our front to fellow ninth grade forward Siddy Bhasin. Bhasin’s first shot attempt was blocked by the Wootton defense. His second shot was saved by Yu with the puck bouncing back to Bhasin. The Upper Montgomery forward then took the puck around the back of the net. Moving from left to right he pivoted out from behind the goal line extended and stuffed a backhand wraparound shot between Yu’s left skate and the near goal post. Upper Montgomery had all three of its first period shots in quick succession concluding with Bhasin’s sixth goal of the season.

With two minutes remaining in the opening period Upper Montgomery now had a lead to protect. Then came more penalties. First, Luke Hudson took an interference penalty inside of a minute remaining in the first period. Twenty seconds later Wendland was called for a roughing penalty for a great check in the corner. Definitely not a penalty. The Lightning were down two skaters for a minute and forty seconds bridging the first and second periods. Upper Montgomery’s penalty killers, Jake Hudson, Aiden Zheng, AJ Marks, Patrick Sell, and Cole Howerton did an amazing job getting through both the end of the opening period and the beginning of the second period without giving up a goal. Stutsrim-Lyons did a heck of a job as well maintaining his focus and fighting off shot after shot.

Wootton controlled the territorial advantage throughout the second period as well. Although shots were more even, fourteen for Wootton and nine for Upper Montgomery, several of the Lightning’s shots were defensive zone clears or red line dump ins that happened to be on goal forcing Yu to push the puck aside. Stutsrim-Lyons continued making saves. Upper Montgomery continued defending all over the ice. Wootton kept pressing all while the score remained 1-0 Upper Montgomery as the time passed eleven o’clock in the evening. With just over a minute remaining in the second period, Lightning senior defender and team captain Cole Howerton received a minor penalty for high sticking.

Back to the penalty kill for Upper Montgomery. The team’s passive approach seemed to confuse the Patriots. Rather than work into the interior of the defense, Wootton settled for long range shots or tried to force opportunities that were not available. This allowed Stutsrim-Lyons to swallow shots with no rebounds, Upper Montgomery penalty killers to block shots, Wootton shots flew past the net wide, and the Lightning kept clearing the defensive zone. At the end of two periods of play the Lightning were ahead needing to just hold on for the final fifteen minutes of action. Shots on goal through two periods of play favored Wootton 26-12.

The game was about to enter the danger zone for the Lightning. Could the team keep playing with the same pace and intensity with so many of the students already having played five periods of hockey in the past three hours with travel in between the games. Upper Montgomery was able to make it through the last forty five seconds of Wootton’s fourth powerplay. Fourteen minutes remained…

On the next shift after Howerton returned to the ice surface, Bhasin was issued a slashing penalty for hacking an onrushing Wootton forward. The Lightning admirably killed off the first minute and forty five seconds of the extra attacker advantage. Twelve minutes remained… As Bhasin was getting ready to return from the penalty box, Wootton struck to even the game at one. From a faceoff in the left faceoff circle in the offensive zone, Wootton won the draw and maintained puck possession. Patriots Defender Isaac Greene took the puck to the left corner continuing on around the net from left to right. His shot from the lower right faceoff circle was blocked. The puck ricocheted to the left wing boards. Wootton forward Brendan Lau sent the puck deep into the left corner for Geeng. Geeng sent the puck back to the left point to Greene who had returned to his regular defensive position. Greene’s wrist shot along the ice was saved by Stutsrim-Lyons’s right leg pad. Stutsrim-Lyons steered the rebound back into the left corner. The puck was gathered in by Geeng who skated towards the net drawing the Lightning defensive coverage. Geeng sent a cross ice pass to Wootton forward Drew Kronforst. With Upper Montgomery’s far side forward out of position, Kronforst had time to stop the puck before he lifted a wrist shot high over the Lightning netminder as Stutsrim-Lyons was coming over to face up to the shot. It was Kronforst’s third goal of the season tying up the game with twelve minutes remaining.

The Lightning made it through only twenty seconds before Luke Hudson was called for a roughing penalty. After an initial penalty call made against Wootton, Hudson’s penalty was the sixth consecutive call against Upper Montgomery. The Upper Montgomery coaching staff let the referees hear about the discrepancy in penalties and their thoughts on how weak some of the calls were. Even so, the Lightning were back on the penalty kill yet again. As the second minute of the powerplay got underway, Wootton scored its second powerplay goal in succession to jump into the lead.

A Wootton zone entry dump in was stopped by Stutsrim-Lyons in the left faceoff circle. Kronforst picked up the puck dropping it off the left wing boards back to Geeng who was just entering the offensive zone. Geeng skated to the interior of the left faceoff circle where his snap shot was blocked. The puck caromed over to Lau now covering at the left point. Lau moved around the Upper Montgomery forward coming out to meet him at the point. With inside positioning, Lau traveled to the left faceoff circle where he sent a heavy wrist shot short side high over Stutsrim-Lyons’s right shoulder. With ten minutes left in regulation time, Lau’s seventh goal of the season had put the Patriots on top. Curiously and magically, the stern discussion by the Upper Montgomery coaching staff resulted in no more penalties called against Upper Montgomery for the rest of the game. Humph!

Upper Montgomery had ten minutes to find the equalizer. The team responded by becoming much more offensive. The defenders were instructed to join the rush to try and outnumber the Patriots getting back on defense. The change in strategy once again caught the Patriots by surprise as Upper Montgomery had ten shots on goal in the third period alone. The Wootton powerplays combined with Upper Montgomery taking risks offensively late in the third period resulted in sixteen shot on goal fired against Stutsrim-Lyons. The Lightning were able to generate several good offensive chances over the final ten minutes of the game. Several quality looks were fired wide of the net. A couple hit Yu directly in the center of his chest protector. The tired Lightning gave everything they had with sophomore forward Jackson Schickler firing himself head first diving across the ice to block shots when Wootton countered the Lightning’s offensive push.

With three and a half minutes left in regulation Wootton tallied an insurance goal to put the Lightning behind the eight ball. Wootton entered the Upper Montgomery defensive zone down the left side of the ice. Lau left a drop pass for Geeng at the left faceoff circle. Geeng stepped into a slap shot that sizzled wide of the net to the far side. Lau briefly retrieved the puck in the right corner before he was relieved of the puck by Wendland. Wendland flipped the puck to an Upper Montgomery forward on the right wing boards. Unfortunately, that Upper Montgomery forward fanned on the defensive zone clearing attempt. Geeng shoveled the puck forward to Wootton forward Jayden Ahn. From the low slot, Ahn sent a spinning backhand shot that nestled just inside the left post past Stutsrim-Lyons’s extended right leg for his fifth goal of the season.

With a two goal lead and three and a half minutes remaining, Wootton sat back in a defensive shell. The Patriots were content to flip the puck back to center ice and make the Lightning fight just to gain entry into the offensive zone. The exhausted Upper Montgomery student athletes made a strong effort to try and find another goal, but just simply ran out of gas and time. Upper Montgomery played valiantly. For the first 33 minutes of the game the young Lightning executed the game plan flawlessly. In the later rounds of the playoffs all of the teams are talented. The Lightning gave everything they had pushing Wootton close to the edge before coming up a smidge short of returning to the junior varsity championship game for the first time since 2021 – 2022.

Game Notes:

• Shots on goal were heavily weighted in favor of Wootton 42-22. The Patriots outshot Upper Montgomery twelve to three in the first period in which they were trailing 1-0.
• Lightning ninth grade goalie Porter Stutsrim-Lyons stopped 39 of 42 shots directly after stopping 40 of 43 shots in the Upper Montgomery varsity playoff game played prior to the junior varsity playoff game. It was a combined .929 save percentage with four of the six goals scored against on the opposition’s powerplays.
• Upper Montgomery ninth grade forward Max Israfilbek missed the Wootton game serving his supplemental discipline for receiving four penalties in a game against Churchill in last week’s junior varsity quarterfinal matchup.
• Lightning Head Coach Todd Hassett missed the Wootton game serving his supplemental discipline suspension for receiving three unsportsmanlike conduct penalties in a season.

Three Stars of the Game:

First Star—Porter Stutsrim-Lyons—Upper Montgomery Goalie—39 saves, .928 Save Percentage
Second Star—Nathan Geeng—Wootton Center—3 Assists
Third Star—Drew Kronforst—Wootton Forward—1 Goal, 1 Assist

Friday, January 31, 2025, will go down in the annals of the Upper Montgomery Lightning hockey program as one of the weirdest days in program history. The day resulted in two games with undesirable outcomes. The Upper Montgomery varsity squad was scheduled to face off against the BCC Barons at 8:10 pm in an opening round game of the Montgomery Hockey Conference playoff tournament. Two hours before the drop of the puck Lightning varsity goalie, sophomore 16U AA Ilan Shterenberg became ill. Upper Montgomery’s junior varsity goalie Porter Stutsrim-Lyons would have to step in and make his first ever varsity start in net. Stutsrim-Lyons, a ninth grade 14U Lower A goalie, was already scheduled to play in the Lightning junior varsity’s semifinal playoff game across town at Cabin John Ice Rink at 10:00 pm later in the evening. It is never optimal to have a goaltender play two games in one day and certainly not back-to-back with travel across town in a driving rain storm in between.

Then, as both teams were looking to have the varsity game start as soon as possible (both teams had junior varsity playoff semifinal games directly after the varsity game), the Rockville Ice Arena zamboni driver caused the zamboni to malfunction taking a chunk out of the ice while simultaneously dropping a mound of snow in the far corner of the ice surface. So, rather than beginning the varsity game at 8:10 pm, the game did not begin until 8:35 pm. The twenty-five minute delay wrecking havoc for later in the evening for the student athletes traveling and playing in both games.

Once the game finally began, over the first seven minutes Upper Montgomery adhered to the game plan of defense first, protecting the zone around Stutsrim-Lyons’s net, and getting the puck back to neutral ice at any cost. This style of play best suits Upper Montgomery contributing to a well played first fifteen minutes by the green and gold. At the eight minute mark of the opening period, Upper Montgomery jumped to the lead just after an amazing diving save by Stustrim-Lyons on BCC defender Jacob Reitz.

From an offensive zone faceoff from the right faceoff circle, Upper Montgomery senior center Josh Nadler won the faceoff back to the right point to ninth grade defender Lillian Robbins. Robbins sent the puck to her left along the blue line to her defensive partner, junior Brady Berkhammer. Berkhammer stickhandled around the approaching BCC forward and fired a wrist shot through traffic at the net. This is something that the coaching staff had been working on with Berkhammer all season long, getting more pucks to the front of the net. Berkhammer’s shot was saved by Boyle. The rebound fell to her feet with Nadler standing right where the puck fell. He calmly sent a backhander past Boyle along the ice near post. For Nadler it was his first point on the season which certainly came as a relief. Berkhammer’s primary assist was his fifteenth of the year extended his team lead in helpers. It was necessary depth scoring that the Lightning had been missing for a majority of the season.

A minute after Nadler’s goal, Lightning senior defender Cole Howerton was called for a roughing penalty for standing up an oncoming BCC forward at the blue line. It was a great play by Howerton to thwart the Barons rush up ice. A horrible penalty call by the referees, beginning a theme of the evening. Thankfully, the terrible penalty call did not impact Upper Montgomery as the Lightning penalty killers did an excellent job of clearing out the front of the net to allow Stutsrim-Lyons to see shots clearly. His solid positioning allowed the puck to hit him in the crest of the Lightning logo making several long range stops look easy with no rebounds.

Howerton returned to the ice with five minutes remaining in the first period. A minute later, Upper Montgomery’s active career goals and points leader, senior forward Nathan Cassel increased the Lightning’s lead to 2-0. The Barons dumped the puck down ice into the Upper Montgomery defensive zone. Robbins and BCC forward Ramin Jacobs tied each other up in the corner to Stutsrim-Lyons’s left. Jacobs got loose and passed the puck up the right wing boards to no one. Lightning junior forward Philip Shkeda took possession of the puck skating out of the defensive end of the ice up the right wing toward the BCC goal. Noticing the play developing, Cassel fired up ice to create a two on one rush with Shkeda. Shkeda fired a hard wrist shot from the inner edge of the right faceoff circle. Boyle made the initial save with both her glove and blocker positioned in front of her body. Cassel was there to knock the rebound between her legs five hole to collect his seventh goal of his shortened senior season and his fortieth career tally.

After the goal was scored, at the very beginning of the next shift, Upper Montgomery senior forward TJ Gottesman was called for a charging penalty for boarding a BCC skater along the far wing boards. The Lightning were immediately back on the penalty kill. Gottesman would miss twelve minutes of game action because of the automatic ten minute misconduct penalty that is assessed along with his two minute minor penalty for charging. Upper Montgomery received a bit of a reprieve after only fifty seconds of penalty kill time when BCC’s top defender junior Grady Jiggens was called for tripping in the neutral zone tying to stop a developing two on one rush. Both the Barons and then the Lightning failed to convert on their abbreviated powerplay time.

With under two minutes remaining in the opening period, Nadler was whistled for a hooking penalty. Upper Montgomery led by Stutsrim-Lyons shut the door on BCC to take a 2-0 lead into the first intermission. Nadler’s penalty would carry over into the beginning of the second period by seventeen seconds. Shots on goal in the opening fifteen minutes of action were BCC with twelve and Upper Montgomery with nine. The nine shots on goal were equal to the Lightning’s total for the game against Whitman in their recent regular season conference finale. It was also one more shot on goal than the team’s total earlier in the week against Oakdale in the final regular season contest.

BCC exploded with energy to begin the second period. With the remainder of their powerplay, the Barons pressured in the offensive zone. Stutsrim-Lyons made another key save as Nadler returned to game action. Directly after the Lightning returned to even strength they advanced the puck into the BCC defensive zone. Shkeda sent a pass toward Cassel in the slot that was a fraction behind him. The Barons took possession heading up ice. BCC sophomore forward Brady Page sent the puck to the right wing for Lightning nemesis senior forward Evan Williams. Williams skated into the Upper Montgomery defensive zone where he cut toward the middle of the ice. Williams fired a wrist shot from the high slot that was easily blockered away by Stutsrim-Lyons. Stutsrim-Lyons directed the puck into the left corner out of harm’s way. Page was first in to gather the puck. He sent it back to the left point to Jiggens at the blue line. Jiggens sent the puck over to Williams standing alone in the right faceoff circle. With time and space, Williams unloaded another high wrist shot. This shot went to the far goal post over Stutsrim-Lyons’ blocker into the top left corner of the net. The Barons were back in the game down only 2-1. For Williams it was his thirteenth goal of his final high school season. It was also his seventh and final goal all-time tormenting Upper Montgomery.

BCC carried play for the next several minutes attempting to tally the equalizer. A roughing penalty to Lightning senior center and leading scorer Henry Honacki provided the Barons a prime opportunity. From a faceoff in the right faceoff circle in the offensive zone, Page won the faceoff to the right wing boards. BCC’s leading scorer Leo Alley-Strocher dropped the puck back to Jiggens at the right point. Jiggens sent the puck to his left along the blue line to BCC junior defender Benjamin Lyons. Upper Montgomery’s penalty killers sagged toward the goal allowing Lyons to skate down the slot. As he got closer to the net, he fired a wrist shot past Stutsrim-Lyons to the stick side. Ten seconds into the BCC’s fourth powerplay of the evening the game was tied at two. It was just Lyons’s third goal of the season. With still eleven and a half minutes remaining in the second period the game was tied. BCC had already been awarded four powerplays on the evening. The Lightning had wasted a very well played first period in under four minutes of the second period.

The Upper Montgomery penalties were not done. Ninth grade defender Matt Rivera was penalized for unsportsmanlike conduct for going to the net and stopping near Boyle. No whistle had blown and Rivera was headed in looking for a loose rebound. A penalty never should have been called on the play. Rivera should have been issued at most a warning. It was a terrible officiating decision. Luckily, the fifth BCC powerplay was stymied. The Lightning penalty killers did an excellent job keeping BCC to the exterior. Long range shots were snuffed out by Stutsrim-Lyons with the game remained tied. Seeming to understand their terrible officiating call the referees evened up play with a mysterious hooking call on Page halfway through the BCC extra skater advantage.

With neither team scoring on their condensed powerplays, the teams returned to full strength with six minutes remaining in the middle frame. Both teams played the remainder of the period penalty free, a welcome respite for Upper Montgomery which had been whistled for five minor penalties over the first half of the game. In return, the Lightning had been granted only two truncated very short fragments with the extra skater advantage. The lack of penalties over the balance of the period allowed both teams to find their skating legs. The up and down the ice rushes had fans on the edge of their seats with each team having glorious scoring chances stonewalled by the netminders, BCC’s Boyle and Upper Montgomery’s Stutsrim-Lyons. BCC fired twelve more shots on the Lightning’s goalie bringing their two period total to 24. Upper Montgomery countered with only six shots on Boyle to sit at a two period total of fifteen. Filling in for Shterenberg, Stutsrim-Lyons’s play had been excellent through two periods of playing giving the Lightning everything they could have hoped for.

The teams went toe to toe to begin the third period. Upper Montgomery had made the mistake of allowing BCC to hang around in the game. After trailing by two goals, the Barons were feeling good being tied at two with ten minutes remaining in the game. A BCC rush into the Upper Montgomery offensive zone ended with Lightning sophomore defender Miles Wendland being called for a tripping penalty. A marginal call at best since there was no real scoring threat on the play. It was a call which should never have been made in the third period of a tied playoff game after having already called so many penalties on the Lightning.

As Wendland’s penalty was expiring, BCC took their first lead of the game. From his own defensive zone, Lyons sent an outlet pass to Alley-Strocher to the Upper Montgomery defensive blue line. Alley-Strocher dumped the puck diagonally from the right wing at the blue line high into the left wing corner. The puck was collected and then skated by BCC junior forward Peter Lanpher up the boards towards the left point. Abruptly, he reversed direction and headed back into the left corner. His shot from along the goal line was blocked by the Upper Montgomery defense with the puck moving through the slot all the way to the right corner. Upper Montgomery was able to gain possession of the puck with Robbins stationed behind the Lightning net. In an unlucky situation, while being forechecked by Page, the puck hit a patch of bad ice. Robbins did not fully connect with the puck on her intended outlet pass. The puck was immediately stolen by Alley-Strocher near the Upper Montgomery goal. Alley-Strocher was stonewalled by Stutsrim-Lyons on his first shot, a stuff attempt. The puck settled right back to Alley-Strocher. This time he was patient, taking a step to his right changing the angle of his next shot attempt which went just past an outstretched Stutsrim-Lyons into the open far side of the net. It was Alley-Strocher’s eighteenth goal of the season, none more important than the lead marker with eight minutes remaining in regulation time.

Upper Montgomery had eight minutes to find the equalizer or their goal of qualifying for the state playoffs would end one round earlier than last year. The task became tougher forty-five seconds later when Shkeda was called for Upper Montgomery’s seventh penalty of the game, a cross checking minor. Fifteen seconds later, the task became nearly impossible as Honacki was called for a boarding major for a crushing and dangerous hit in the Upper Montgomery defensive zone. The BCC forward’s head being driven right into the side dasher board separating the boards from the glass. The major penalty dismissed Honacki from the game and will result in Upper Montgomery’s leading scorer missing the Lightning’s next contest.

Showing fight and desperation, Upper Montgomery killed off the five on three disadvantage preventing the Barons from salting away the game. When Shkeda stepped out of the penalty box onto the ice to make BCC’s powerplay a traditional five on four extra skater advantage, the Lightning still had over three more minutes of penalty kill time remaining. With time dwindling away, Upper Montgomery rushed up ice while shorthanded. Several long range stretch passes were tried in an attempt to pot a shorthanded goal to even up the game. Upper Montgomery’s aggressiveness while playing shorthanded did prevent BCC from fully looking to be offensive on their powerplay.

When the penalty kill ended, just over two minutes remained in the game. Having expended so much energy killing off the eight BCC powerplays on the night, the Lightning’s top offensive skaters were tiring. With the teams back at even strength, Upper Montgomery had difficulty getting puck possession in the offensive zone. BCC was fully packed back playing a prevent defense. It took until 27 seconds remained in the game before the Lightning were able to pull Stutsrim-Lyons for the extra attacker. A couple of poor zone entries later and the Barons surrounded Boyle in a large group celebratory hug. BCC will be moving on to face the Walter Johnson Wildcats in a winnable game to advance to the state playoffs.

Upper Montgomery must now shift focus to the quarterfinal round of the Montgomery Hockey Conference Varsity Tournament. This is a playoff bracket for all of the teams that did not make it to the Maryland Student Hockey League state playoffs. The consolation tournament is akin to the NIT college basketball tournament compared with the NCAA college basketball tournament that crowns the national champion. The seedings for the varsity tournament are due to be released next week after the quarterfinal round of the Montgomery Hockey Conference playoffs conclude. The Lightning will have to wipe away the disappointment of the loss to BCC. The team must refocus to snap out of the current five game losing streak to defend their varsity tournament championship from last year.

Game Notes:

• Upper Montgomery was once gain badly outshot. BCC fired 43 shots on Lightning goalie Porter-Stutsrim Lyons while Upper Montgomery countered with 20 shots on Barons goalie Vivienne Boyle.
• Stutsrim-Lyons was making his first varsity start after Upper Montgomery starting varsity goalie Ilan Shterenberg missed the game unexpectedly with an illness.
• Lightning leading scorer, senior center Henry Honacki will miss the Lightning’s next upcoming game serving the automatic one game supplementary discipline suspension for the boarding major penalty and game misconduct he received in the third period.
• Powerplays awarded during the game were eight for BCC and two shortened extra skater advantages for Upper Montgomery.
• Upper Montgomery will now await the release of the seedings for the Montgomery Hockey Conference Varsity Tournament. The Varsity Tournament is for all teams that do not quality for the Maryland Student Hockey League state playoffs. Quarterfinal round games are anticipated to be played on Friday, February 7 or Friday, February 14th.

Three Stars of the Game:

First Star—Porter Stutsrim Lyons—Upper Montgomery Goalie—40 Saves, .930 Save Percentage
Second Star—Leo Alley-Strocher—BCC Center—Game Winning Goal, 1 Assist
Third Star—Grady Jiggens—BCC Defense—2 Assists

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