Category: Lightning Strike Blog

The calendar has turned to October which means that the Upper Montgomery Lightning varsity squad kicks off its 2025 – 2026 regular season campaign on Friday night when the Lightning travel to the Medstar Iceplex, home of the Washington Capitals practice facility, to face the DC Stars. Game time is 6:40 pm. The team’s annual objective remains the same, advance through the regular season, win the opening round of the Montgomery Hockey Conference playoffs, earning the chance to play for a spot in the Maryland Student Hockey League high school state playoff tournament. This would be an achievement that no other Lightning squad has been able to accomplish. With a relatively young squad, the preseason rankings slotted Upper Montgomery eleventh of the twelve teams in Montgomery County. Having graduated sixteen seniors over the past two seasons, it is easy to understand the outside perspective of Upper Montgomery. With a change in playing style this season, the Lightning will be looking to pound out victories against teams ranked higher in the standings.

Once again this season, it is expected that Churchill and Walter Johnson will be at the top of the conference standings. With the exception of Richard Montgomery (who is anticipated to be by far the worst team in the county), any of the other eight teams can beat each other on any given night. Last season, Upper Montgomery bucked a developing trend that had occurred during the past couple of seasons, very slow starts. Last year, the team began the season 3-1-1 before faltering down the stretch and being upset in the opening round of the Montgomery Hockey Conference playoffs. This season, Upper Montgomery will be looking to catch teams off guard pulling off several upsets.

Upper Montgomery’s primary goaltender will be junior 16U AAA Ilan Shterenberg. Shterenberg took over the reigns last season and played in all of the Lightning’s regular season games. As is typical from underclass students, Shterenberg shined in certain games and struggled in others. He finished the season with a 7-7-2 record, a 4.74 goals against average, and an .877 save percentage. This year, Shterenberg is playing at the AAA external travel level with Palmyra up in Pennsylvania. His availability will be sporadic throughout the season. When he is in town, he will get the nod in net. When Shterenberg is absent, Upper Montgomery’s primary junior varsity goalie, sophomore 16U Lower A Porter Stutsrim-Lyons is ready to step in and shoulder the netminding responsibilities. Stutsrim-Lyons excelled in his emergency start last season during the opening round of the Montgomery Hockey Conference playoffs against BCC stopping 40 of 43 shots to keep Upper Montgomery in the game. He also set the Upper Montgomery all-time junior varsity record for save percentage in a season with a .930 save percentage last year.

On defense, the Lightning will role with four primary defenders. The Lightning’s leading defensive scorer, 18U AA senior Brady Berkhammer returns to lead the Lightning’s backline. Last season, Berkhammer contributed (15GP, 4G, 15A). He led the team in assists with many superb passes leading directly to tap in goals. Berkhammer will need to rely on his defensive partners and play within the Lightning’s new systems to maximize his ice time. Lightning junior 16U Upper A Miles Wendland looks to take on a larger role this season. He logged significant ice time last season and had his best offensive campaign (16GP, 2G, 4A). A steady smooth skating defender, Wendland is rarely caught out of position. A challenge for the lanky defender will be bodying up and playing in the Lightning’s new more physical defensive style. Joining Berkhammer and Wendland will be 16U AA sophomore Lillian Robbins. Robbins (13GP, 5A) will also be asked to play a much more physical defensive style. The coaching staff has had her playing forward on the penalty kill. Her intellect and knowledge of the game makes her ideally suited to snuff out offensive sets and act as a third defender. Matt Rivera, 16U Lower A, will see regular game action on defense this year for the Lightning varsity. He participated in some varsity game action last year both as a defender and as a forward. He has played much more confidently this season in the Lightning’s junior varsity games and during practice. His progression this year into a full time varsity defender will allow the Lightning to play with two full sets of defense. Anticipate the Lightning defense will be instructed to rush up ice and contribute more offensively as the team is short on experienced forwards. If any of the Lightning’s regular defenders is out of town with their external travel team, expect ninth grade defenders Lenny Roth and Dylan Kim to dress and be available for game action.

Offensively, Upper Montgomery returns its first and fifth leading scorers from a season ago. Senior forward Philip Shkeda led the Lightning in points with (15GP, 8G, 14A). Shkeda, a natural left wing, will play almost exclusively with fellow senior 18U AAA center Owen Robbins. Last season, Robbins had several huge offensive games finishing with (12GP, 9G, 8A). When games are close in the final minutes of action, anticipate that the Upper Montgomery coaching staff will use Robbins as an extra defender. Robbins played his first two seasons with Upper Montgomery on defense. This duo will be relied upon to lead Upper Montgomery offensively. They both will need to produce even more offense this season for the Lightning to thrive.

After these two offensive dynamos, there is a drop off in production to junior 16U Upper A Aiden Zheng (17GP, 3G, 6A). Incoming ninth grade forward Miles Gleason, a 16U AA speed demon, will really help Upper Montgomery. He has highlight reel offensive abilities, but will need to adjust his game to what works against older and bigger students. He will also need to work hard defensively to earn the coaching staff’s trust. After these four forwards, ice time is up for grabs. The coaching staff will be looking for some of the junior varsity forwards to take the next step such as sophomore 16U Upper A Max Israfilbek, junior Max Curtusan who will be used at forward in varsity games, with the ability for him to drop back to his natural defensive position, and Jason Woodman. Woodman has to create havoc in front of the net and get in hard on the forecheck to maximize his effectiveness. Juniors Jackson Schickler, Mason Jagoz, and ninth grade center Wyatt Ostrander will get opportunities to play heavy minutes in varsity action. They must be defensively responsible, get the puck out of the defensive zone, and play physical. Their performance will determine how much playing time each student receives. Time will tell if other junior varsity students progress defensively, playing within the Upper Montgomery systems to force their way into the varsity game day lineup.

The Lightning junior varsity have begun the season with two hard fought games. In the season opener, Upper Montgomery fell to Silver Spring 3-2, with Blazers defender Rodrick Hobbs netting the game winning goal with under two minutes remaining in regulation. Stutsrim-Lyons was excellent in net making 39 saves. Israfilbek scored both Lightning goals on the powerplay with one on a penalty shot. Last week, the team played much better against the Rockville / Magruder Rams. The first half of the game was a great display of physical hockey allowing the Lightning to compete toe to toe with the more talented Rams. Eventually, a few lapses led to the Rams pulling away late.

The 2025 – 2026 season will be one of growth and development for the green and gold’s younger student athletes.  It should be exciting and rewarding as the younger skaters grow and blossom. How quickly the team develops the defensive habits necessary to lead the program forward will determine if the Lightning can again challenge the upper echelon varsity teams in the county.  Or, is the team simply too young to compete right now this season.  Friday night will give us some answers as the season finally gets underway.  Come along for the ride, it should be a fun season!

#UML, #Bleed Green, #Go Bolts!

As the month of September comes to a close, the Upper Montgomery Lightning are itching to begin regular season action. The schedule makers gave the Lightning a bye in week one of the Montgomery Hockey Conference junior varsity schedule, thus the team did not participate in last week’s traditional opening weekend.

To gear up for the competition this season, Upper Montgomery had two scrimmages during the middle of September. The scrimmages were decidedly different. In the first scrimmage against BCC, Upper Montgomery’s student athletes did very little according to the game plan and the new defensive systems being installed during this pre-season’s training camp. The result was BCC’s student athletes skating around at will peppering the Lightning’s younger goalies with way, way too many high quality scoring chances. From the end of that initial scrimmage moving forward, the team’s practices have been more up tempo and physical. The result was a much, much better performance in a 7-3 victory over Richard Montgomery. Two of the Rockets three goals were the direct result of Upper Montgomery’s top experienced defender falling down on the ice allowing breakaway chances.

Upper Montgomery is transitioning from a high scoring offensive team to a smothering defensive structure. This defensive structure has been regularly used by the junior varsity over the past few seasons with significant success; winning the Montgomery Hockey Conference junior varsity championship four seasons ago, going undefeated through the regular season two years ago, and returning to the junior varsity semifinals last year holding a lead with ten minutes left in the game.

While the 2025 – 2026 season is anticipated to be one of development for the green and gold’s many first year high school students, the team does have some very high end and experienced student athletes. Time will tell if these older students are able to take over and control games by themselves. Some of the younger students are showing that they deserve playing time in varsity games this season. The team has only four seniors after graduating sixteen members of the program over the past two seasons. If the Lightning can come together as a true team, playing with grit and tenacity, the coaching staff expects that Upper Montgomery will be more competitive than the rest of the league believes. It should be an exciting and rewarding season for the program as the younger students grow and develop. The goals for the program remain the same, to qualify for the Maryland Student Hockey League state playoffs for the first time in program history. For the junior varsity, to compete for and win the Montgomery Hockey Conference junior varsity championship.

#UML, #Bleed Green, #Go Bolts!

In five short days, the Upper Montgomery Lightning begin off ice practice sessions. My how time flies as the 2025 / 2026 high school ice hockey season is already upon us. It is exciting for the coaching staff to begin installing new systems, teaching the students defensive coverages, faceoff rotations, forechecking, and positioning for defensive zone breakouts. The off ice time is important as the team is just a few short weeks away from evaluation sessions commencing at Cabin John Ice Rink. The first evaluation session is scheduled for Monday evening, September 8.

This year’s squad will consist of 24 highly motivated student athletes, four of whom are goalies. Jerseys for new students are in production and should arrive in Mid-September in time for the junior varsity season opener in late September or early October. The Lightning junior varsity should be competitive once again this season with the team looking to return to the junior varsity playoff semifinals. The Lightning defense and goaltending will be solid. The coaching staff is hard at work installing a playing style that will accentuate the strengths of the students keeping the team competitive against the other programs in the county.

The Upper Montgomery varsity will look to be the surprise team in the county. Expectations outside the Lightning program are low with the team being selected to finish near the bottom of the league standings (11th place out of 12 teams). Inside the program, the team believes that it is much more talented. The team’s primary objective will remain looking to qualify for the Maryland Student Hockey League state playoffs for the first time in program history. Montgomery Hockey Conference divisions have been determined for the upcoming season with Upper Montgomery placed in a division with the DC Stars, Northwest / Quince Orchard, Richard Montgomery, Rockville / Magruder, and Silver Spring (new name for Blair’s coop team). The other division has BCC, Churchill, Sherwood, Walter Johnson, Whitman, and Wootton battling it out.

To gear up for the competition this season, Upper Montgomery has two scrimmages lined up for the middle of September against BCC and Richard Montgomery to acclimate the team to the new style of play and to get the younger students into the flow of high school hockey games before the conference schedule begins. The 2025 – 2026 season is anticipated to be one of development for the green and gold. The team will have only four seniors after graduating sixteen members of the program over the past two seasons. The younger students will be counted on to play larger roles sooner than would normally occur, but this early indoctrination will assist with their development down the road. It should be an exciting and rewarding season for the program as the younger students grow and develop.

#UML, #Bleed Green, #Go Bolts!

As we near the start of August, the Upper Montgomery Lightning program is deep in preparations for the upcoming high school hockey season. Many of the team’s student athletes are participating in various camps and clinics to improve their individual skill level. The team is just a few short weeks away from beginning organized dryland workouts. Then, the team will hit the ice for the first evaluation session scheduled for Monday evening, September 8.

With the graduation of seven seniors, the program will endeavor through a natural cycle of younger student athletes receiving ample playing time. The team will sport some extremely high level skilled student athletes coupled with younger students who will be counted on to provide depth at an early age. The Lightning defense and goaltending will be solid. The coaching staff is hard at work installing a playing style that will accentuate the strengths of the students keeping the team competitive against the other programs in the county. It is anticipated that there will be very few students that do not receive varsity playing time.

Different from a couple of years ago when the program had been gearing up for a state playoff birth or a county championship run with a significant number or older and experienced members of the team, the 2025 – 2026 season will be one of development for the green and gold. The team will have only four seniors after graduating sixteen members of the program over the past two seasons. The younger students will be counted on to play large roles sooner than would normally occur, but will assist in their development down the road. It should be exciting and rewarding for the program as the younger students grow and develop.

#UML, #Bleed Green, #Go Bolts!

The month of June is the quietest month of the calendar year for high school ice hockey. Individual team activities have ended. High school seniors are enjoying graduation celebrations with their families. Eighth-grade students are ending their middle school academic years and beginning to enjoy the summer months before high school starts in late August.

At the Montgomery Hockey Conference level, the league’s co-op committee is working on school assignments for the 2026 – 2027 season. Several programs will be short on students for the upcoming academic year. There will be meetings held throughout the month before the MHC teams, and schedules will be finalized.

The conference has also reviewed the junior varsity students to determine which student-athletes will be able to remain at that level. Certain athletes considered impactful will be prevented from playing in junior varsity contests next season. There are no surprises for Upper Montgomery. The Lightning students who are no longer eligible for junior varsity are all juniors who have played A-level external travel hockey or higher.

Next month begins the annual team registration process for the 2026 – 2027 season. Hockey is not too, too far away!

#UML, #Bleed Green, #Go Bolts!

Earlier this month, the Upper Montgomery Lightning concluded the spring 2025 hockey season in which nine new students began their Upper Montgomery high school hockey careers. These nine students became familiar with the speed and intensity of high school hockey, learned and practiced in live game action the Lightning’s systems in the defensive zone and entering the offensive zone. They also had the opportunity to show the coaching staff where they are in their development. The team proceeded to get better and better as the spring season moved toward conclusion. The skills these students learned and practiced now will need to be honed over the summer so that they can hit the ground running in September when Upper Montgomery is next allowed on the ice.

With any new spring season comes the graduation of the program’s seniors. The annual Upper Montgomery Lightning year end team celebration was held at Damascus High School. In early May, the Lightning program recognized the members of the program along with the seven departing seniors.

Siddy Bhasin played his initial high school season with Upper Montgomery. He will finish out his high school hockey career at Wootton as that is his home high school.

Ninth grade goalie Porter Stutsrim-Lyons set a junior varsity program record for highest save percentage (.930) edging out last season’s record setting mark set by Ilan Shterenberg’s (.927). Stutsrim-Lyons’ 1.99 goals against average was the second lowest in junior varsity program history.

Sophomore forward Aiden Zheng was the junior varsity’s leading goal scorer this past season with eight goals in eight games.

Sophomore goalie Ilan Shterenberg was named the Montgomery Hockey Conference Division II All Conference goalie.

Junior Philip Shkeda led the Upper Montgomery varsity team in points with 22 in 15 games.

Junior defender Brady Berkhammer led the Upper Montgomery varsity team with fifteen assists. He was selected to the Montgomery Hockey Conference Division II Second Team as a defender.

Senior forward AJ Marks led the junior varsity in assists with eight and in points with thirteen. He finished one assist short of the junior varsity single season program record for assists. In his career he finished third in assists for the junior varsity with fourteen and tied for third in career points with 24. AJ will be attending Montana State University where he will study business administration.

Senior forward TJ Gottesman leaves Upper Montgomery as the program’s leading junior varsity scorer with 32 points. He is also at the top of the career assist rankings with sixteen. He is second on the all-time junior varsity goals list with sixteen. TJ will be attending Stevenson University where he will be studying criminal justice.

Senior defender Patrick Sell departs the Lightning having finished his career second on the junior varsity in career assists by a defender with twelve. Patrick also holds the junior varsity record for assists and points in a playoff game with four. Patrick plans to attend Montgomery College for his first two years of collegiate schooling.

Senior defender Cole Howerton finished his Upper Montgomery career with several distinctions. He was the recipient of the Hobey Baker High School Character Award given out annually by the program. The award recognizes the top senior in the program for embracing the values the game of hockey teaches, coachability, strength of character, integrity, commitment, teamwork, community building, and outstanding sportsmanship. Cole played in 39 varsity games in his career contributing four assists. In junior varsity play, he played in 41 games scoring twelve goals and adding thirteen assists for 25 points. Cole is the junior varsity’s all-time leading offensive producer in all statistical categories for defenders. He will be enrolling in Montgomery College studying business while he also attends the Montgomery County Police Department’s Cadet Academy.

Senior Forward Josh Nadler leaves Upper Montgomery with some junior varsity records that may never, ever be broken. First, he is the junior varsity’s all-time program leader in goals with twenty. His 24 points places him third all-time in points for the junior varsity. Josh holds the junior varsity record for penalty minutes in a season with 53, and over a career with 124. Playing for the varsity his stats were 43 games, six goals, eight assists, for fourteen points. For the junior varsity his stats were, 31 games, twenty goals, four assists, for 24 points. Josh will be attending Coastal Carolina University where he will major in Intelligence and Security Studies.

Senior forward Nathan Cassel missed a large chunk of his senior season. The missed games likely resulted in him just missing out on finishing with enough assists to qualify for automatic induction into the Maryland Student Hockey Hall of Fame. Nathan finished his career with 49 games played, 42 goals scored, and 47 assists dished out, for 89 points. Nathan will be attending the University of Maryland and studying business management.

Senior forward Henry Honacki had a whale of a final season for the Lightning. He led the team in goals with twelve. He had five separate two goal games. Henry led the team in penalty minutes for the second consecutive season (41). He finished his varsity career with 62 games played, twenty goals, twenty assists, for 40 points. For the junior varsity he holds the single season goals scored mark with twelve. His junior varsity statistics were 24 games played, fourteen goals, five assists, for nineteen points. He was selected to the Montgomery Hockey Conference Division II Second Team as a center. Henry will be attending Mount St. Mary’s University where he will be studying business management.

#UML, #Bleed Green, #Go Bolts!

The conclusion of each hockey season brings forward springtime which for the Upper Montgomery Lightning means the spring high school hockey season. The Lightning program uses spring hockey to introduce the incoming ninth graders (currently in eighth grade) to the speed of high school hockey and as an introduction to the systems used by the Lightning during the regular season. The program is not concerned with wins or losses, rather the focus is on making sure that the incoming students are ready to contribute in the fall when the regular hockey season begins.

Upper Montgomery had nine incoming students register for the spring hockey season as well as two others that had conflicts with lacrosse season. So there may be up to eleven new members of the program in the fall helping to replace the program’s seven graduating seniors; center Henry Honacki, and forwards Nathan Cassel, Josh Nadler, TJ Gottesman, and AJ Marks and defenders Cole Howerton and Patrick Sell. Ninth grade forward Siddy Bhasin will return to his home school district as he now attends Wootton High School. With the loss of eight students that played on the varsity squad last season there will be plenty of ice time available for Upper Montgomery’s younger students to step into a more meaningful role next year. Some of the students that participated in spring hockey may earn some of that ice time. Time will tell as each of the new students will need to work hard over the summer months and improve their skating and team play to earn ice time.

#Spring Season, #UML, #Bleed Green, #Go Bolts!

The Upper Montgomery Lightning’s loss to BCC in the Montgomery Hockey Conference playoffs delegated the team into the Montgomery Hockey Conference season ending varsity tournament. For the third time this season the Lightning eased past the Northwest / Quince Orchard Jaguars in the quarterfinals. The final score of 8-4, was not indicative of how lopsided the game was. 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 advanced to the semifinals of the 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 did see the return of sophomore goalie Ilan Shterenberg who missed the BCC playoff game with an illness. It was the third straight year that the Lightning have advanced into the varsity tournament semifinals. Last year’s varsity tournament victory was the most impactful championship won in the history of the Upper Montgomery program. The Lightning could not have been more pleased to discover that they matched up against the Blair Blazers in the semifinals. The consensus opinion was that Blair was the best possible matchup for Upper Montgomery. The other semifinal game featured perennial powerhouse Churchill hosting the Rockville / Magruder Rams.

Unfortunately, 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.

The abrupt loss sent Upper Montgomery 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 after last season.

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.

#UML, #Bleed Green, #Go Bolts!

The Upper Montgomery Lightning junior varsity saw it season come to a close in the semifinal round of the Montgomery Hockey Conference junior varsity playoffs. The squad played outstanding team based hockey this season. Positive development is ahead for many of the junior varsity student athletes as they continue on with their high school careers next fall. It is anticipated that many of the students will have a large role on the varsity team. The junior varsity finished the season with a 5-3-2 record advancing to the Montgomery Hockey Conference junior varsity playoff semifinals for the first time in three seasons. The Lightning gave top seeded Wootton everything and more before tiring late in the third period. Many of the junior varsity student athletes had also played just prior to the Wootton game in the varsity playoff game. The team then had to travel across town from Rockville Ice Arena to Cabin John Ice Rink through a driving rain storm to play at 10:15 pm in the junior varsity semifinal game.

Although the team finished fourth in the conference standings, many in the county believe that Upper Montgomery was the second best junior varsity team this season trailing only the Wootton Patriots. It made for a massive playoff game with the two teams showing why they were the two best junior varsity teams in the county. Unfortunately, the Lightning could not protect a 1-0 lead heading into the third period falling to the eventual county champions by a score of 3-1. The Lightning played with guts and determination putting forth an outstanding defensive effort coming up just short. Upper Montgomery netminder Porter Stutsrim-Lyons was excellent in goal stopping 39 of 42 shots. His play was outstanding considering he had been thrust into an unexpected starting role in the earlier varsity game. He played back to back games stopping 79 out of 85 shots on goal for a .929 save percentage.

The Upper Montgomery varsity finished conference play with a winning record (and best record) since the 2018 – 2019 season at 6-5-1. The varsity secured the seventh seed in the Montgomery Hockey Conference playoff tournament. After defeating the BCC Barons twice during the regular season, the team gave up a 2-0 first intermission lead eventually falling to the Barons by a score of 3-2. BCC advanced to play Walter Johnson which the Upper Montgomery coaching staff thought would be a winnable game. Proving again just how even the county teams are, Walter Johnson needed a very late third period goal to sneak past the Barons into the Maryland Student Hockey League state playoffs.

Another season in which the Lightning’s state playoff aspirations have passed. Now the team must 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. 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.

#More Hockey, #Repeat, #UML, #Bleed Green, #Go Bolts!

In early April in Utica, New York, the Montgomery Youth Hockey Association 18U AA squad defeated the New Jersey Jets 5-2 in the championship game of the United States National Youth Hockey Tournament.  Upper Montgomery’s own senior forward Nathan Cassel is a forward on the Montgomery Ice Devils team and Upper Montgomery alumnus Christopher Hassett is a center on that team.

The victory is the FIRST EVER youth hockey national championship won by a Maryland team!

For Nathan, who was on the 18U AA team last season, it is sweet redemption after the Ice Devils lost in overtime last year in the championship game after holding a lead in the third period.

The entire Upper Montgomery Lightning family wants to recognize both Nathan and Chris and congratulate them and the entire Montgomery Ice Devils 18U AA squad on this momentous achievement.