Category: Lightning Strike Blog

The Upper Montgomery Lightning have qualified for the Montgomery Hockey Conference division one playoff tournament for the first time in program history. The Lightning received the 10th seed and will play at 7th seed Richard Montgomery on Friday night at Rockville Ice Arena. Game time is 9:20 pm. The playoff game between Upper Montgomery and Richard Montgomery will be a rematch of a game played last month, won by Richard Montgomery 4-1. The game was tied 1-1 late in the second period and was much closer than the final score indicates. Upper Montgomery played the first game against Richard Montgomery without senior defender James Botti and 9th grade forward Nathan Cassel. Upper Montgomery generated many scoring changes without two of its top four offensive weapons but could not put the puck behind Rockets netminder Henry Darko.

The full playoff bracket is below:

Montgomery Hockey Conference Division One Varsity Playoffs—-Round 1

All games will be played on Friday, February 11.

Whitman (9) at Wootton (8)—8:15pm—Cabin John—Winner plays at (1) Churchill on Friday, February 11th.—Whitman wins 2-0.

Sherwood (12) at Blair (5)—8:45pm—Rockville Rink 3—Winner plays at (4) Quince Orchard on Friday, February 11th.—Blair wins 5-4 (shootout 4-3).

Rockville (11) at St. Johns (6)—9:00pm–Rockville Rink 1–Winner plays at (3) BCC on Friday, February 11th.—St. Johns wins 2-1 (shootout 3-0)

Upper Montgomery (10) at Richard Montgomery (7)—9:20pm Rockville Rink 2—Winner plays at (2) Walter Johnson on Friday, February 11th.—Richard Montgomery wins 4-2.

Montgomery Hockey Conference Division One Varsity Playoffs—-Winner Advances to State Playoffs

All games will be played on Friday, February 18.

Whitman (9) at Churchill (1)

Blair (5) at Quince Orchard (4)

St. Johns (6) at BCC (3)

Richard Montgomery (7) at Walter Johnson (2)

As the Upper Montgomery Lightning have reached the mid-point of the 2021-2022 season, the coaches reflected on how they view the team’s progress thus far and look ahead to the remainder of the season. After soundly beating the Wilson Stars coming out of the winter break, the team now has a 5-3-1 record on the season and is poised to earn its first ever division one playoff appearance.

Question—What are your thoughts about the first half of the season?  How would you evaluate the Upper Montgomery Lightning hockey program?

Answer—Overall we are very happy with how the team has played and progressed during the early portion of the season.  Starting off with three hard fought one goal losses to three very good teams and then coming back to have a six game unbeaten streak, 5-0-1 since then shows the team’s growth and determination.  If you look at our varsity roster, about 2/3’s of our student athletes are 9th or 10th graders. While everyone playing is high school aged, there is still a large difference in size and strength from when you are 14/15/16 years old to when you are 17/18 years old.  On top of that, we have had a very limited number of practices and with student athletes coming from six different high schools and several different hockey clubs it takes a while to jell. Not having had very much time to play together it took a bit of time for everyone to play as a coordinated team.  Our goal from the beginning of the season has been to qualify for the division one playoffs and with continued hard work, we should get there.

Question—And for the junior varsity?

Answer—Our junior varsity student athletes and the junior varsity games have been so much fun.  We love that the junior varsity student athletes come out and just love to play the game of hockey.  They go out when called upon and play hard. It seems like everyone on the bench is just as happy when we score as the student athlete who actually scored the goal.  Junior varsity student athletes work hard and give it their all each shift of every game.  The coaches have been using the junior varsity games to coach up the student athletes since we have not had many practices. The team is growing, and the student athletes have been really listening to the instruction they have been provided and they have been trying to implement what we are teaching them.  Lately, we have been talking about playing smarter rather than harder and anticipating the game rather than reacting when on the ice.  This is much different than how many of them have been coached in their prior seasons. We are encouraged watching the team go out each game as they learn to incorporate what we are coaching them into game play.

Question—What, or who, has been the biggest surprise thus far?

Answer—Everyone has progressed nicely since last season or since spring hockey.  The entire team dynamic has changed since last year.  Last year’s games would normally be somewhat close on the scoreboard, but we would be outplayed and outshot considerably, sometimes as much as five to one in shots on goal. The team survived with Hall of Fame netminder Jonas Clark in net keeping the games respectable.  This year, we have controlled the games that we won in all aspects (offense, defense, and in net) and even controlled the play for good parts of the games that we have come up just short.

Question—And for the junior varsity?

Answer—We don’t usually like to point out any student athletes in particular, but the two Josh’s come to mind.  Josh Nadler is a 9th grader and looked good in spring hockey. He has really stepped up on the ice and as a leader for the junior varsity team.  Joshua Miller is a senior but did not play last season in our first year coaching the team, so we hadn’t seen him play before.  He has come in and really added a spark to the junior varsity team with his speed and anticipation. It is good for the younger student athletes to see how he plays.  We are happy with how everyone has progressed overall.

Question—What area needs the biggest improvement for the team to reach its full potential in the second half of the season?

Answer—The coaches have been talking with the student athletes about playing with a sense of urgency every second of every shift regardless of what the score is or who we are playing.  We ask the team to visualize the last couple of minutes of the Blair game, when we flew around the ice, pulled our goalie, and scored two goals with several chances to get the third goal and tie the game, and to take that sense of urgency and play every shift that way.  Other teams may have older, and higher level, travel team student athletes, but as Coach Scott says every game, “Hard work will beat better talent”.  We need to be the team that outworks everyone else.

Question—And for the junior varsity?

Answer—Same thing for the junior varsity.  We need to improve playing with that sense of urgency every shift.  We need to try and win every shift, every race, every battle.  We also want to see the team play with more confidence out there on the ice.  Other than the Landon game, we have won or been in every game and can absolutely compete with all the other junior varsity teams in the league.  Let’s play with the confidence of one of the better junior varsity teams in the league.  Lastly, we need to work on anticipation rather than reacting.  High school hockey is so much bigger and faster than what most of our young student athletes are used to playing and there is not enough time to react to the play on the ice.  We need to anticipate what may happen to be in better position to make plays.  The coaching staff would rather the team anticipate and be wrong, rather than be standing around playing it safe trying not to make a mistake.

Question—What are the team’s goals for the remainder of the season?

Answer—In all regards, we are a young team.  We have a couple of seniors and juniors who have been a huge part of this team for the past three to four years, but the majority of our student athletes are 9th graders and 10th graders. We have heard of current middle school students that should be coming into the system and we continue to build towards the future.  With that being said, our stated goal this season has been to make the division 1 playoffs this year. We want to face the best teams we can to finish out the season.  We get better by playing the better teams, not by beating inferior teams.

Question—And for the junior varsity?

Answer—Our overall goal is to develop our junior varsity student athletes into future varsity contributors and that will continue to be our focus.  Teaching and coaching the junior varsity how to play the right way, how to improve their game, and continue to develop up through the end of the season as we enter into the junior varsity playoffs.  Each game is a valuable teaching tool so getting to play a couple of junior varsity playoff games and getting a sense of what is necessary to win in the playoffs is important for the development of our junior varsity student athletes.

Question—How big was the Whitman victory in terms of the growth of the program?

Answer—There is a stigma in the Montgomery Hockey Conference about the disparity in levels of the teams in division one versus division two. It was important for our team and our student athletes to see firsthand that they can compete with teams in the upper division.  Even though Blair and Quince Orchard are in our division and are really good teams that we competed with toe to toe, it was important for our players to beat a good Whitman team who is in division one to know that we belong and that we have a bright future.  The confidence from that win was invaluable.

Question—What would you tell student athletes eligible to participate with Upper Montgomery to get them excited for joining the team next season or playing with Upper Montgomery during the upcoming spring 2022 season?

Answer—First, taking away the game of hockey, the most important thing to be excited about is getting to come in and become teammates and friends with the rest of the students.  Our student athletes are great young people, and they all get along so well.  We have student athletes from six different high schools so it is a chance to meet and make new friends and play with teammates who you may not have had the chance of playing with before.  From a hockey perspective, we are excited about where our program is headed.  Two years ago, the team barely had enough student athletes to field a varsity team.  We now have a full varsity team and almost a complete junior varsity team. We are working to develop our student athletes over the coming years to be one of the best high school programs in the county.  Spring hockey is a great opportunity for new student athletes of the program and rising 8th graders to get a sense of the level of play in high school hockey. They can get a feel for the team and our style of play, start meeting your teammates for years to come, and allow the coaches to evaluate your game and start coaching you up before you actually start high school. 

Question—What message would you like to communicate to the Upper Montgomery Lightning supporters and fan base?

Answer—Over the years our sons would leave MYHA practices early on Friday evenings just as the crowds of high school teams would be arriving to watch their classmates play hockey.  We would stay and watch the high school games and you got such a sense of how different the atmosphere is with your classmates and friends in the stands cheering on your school and it was just incredible.  We want our student athletes to get this same feeling.  Last year was a season played under Covid restrictions and most games were limited to just one parent and no other fans.  We are still in the midst of the pandemic, and everyone needs to be careful, but we can start to see things building this year.  The first couple of games our supporters were mostly family a good amount of our junior varsity student athletes.  We then noticed the next couple of game, more friends and classmates with green jerseys in the stands.  Then we got to the Northwest game.  Northwest is known for having a lot of fans at their games, but we looked over from the bench and saw a large crowd, mostly in green and white and even some signs posted around the glass.  We can’t tell you how much of a boost this gave our student athletes and really gave us a big advantage. And it showed on the ice as well as we dominated against Northwest. It was no longer just about our team playing for themselves and their parents, but for their classmates, for their schools, and for the Upper Montgomery community.  Please continue to come out and support, bring more friends and classmates, and cheer our student athletes on as we push to qualify for the division one conference tournament and then participate in the division two playoff tournament.

We’ve reached the mid-point of the 2021-2022 high school hockey season. For the Upper Montgomery Lightning the young team is trending upward and there is much to be excited about. After three straight one goal defeats to begin the season, and then a tie, the team has turned it around and is currently on a four game winning streak. The Lightning have also moved into playoff position following a signature victory over the Whitman Vikings in their last game before the winter break.

The second half of the season begins on Friday, January 7th with a game against the winless Wilson Stars. The Lightning will be heavily favored in the game and will need to make sure that complacency does not set in. A win versus Wilson coupled with a DC Stars loss to Sherwood would put the Lightning on the precipice of their first ever division one playoff appearance. A second victory in one of the last three conference games of the season against either Richard Montgomery, Sherwood, or St. Johns, would guarantee a playoff berth for Upper Montgomery. To prepare for the Montgomery Hockey Conference playoffs, the team will be travelling to Hagerstown for a non-conference away game versus the very talented Washington County Northstars.

The Lightning offense has been led all year by the first line of Chris Hassett (10 goals, 10 assists), Ryan Jacobson (5 goals, 9 assists), and Nathan Cassel (10 goals, 3 assists). All three student athletes are in 9th or 10th grade. The future is very bright for this trio. The second line has started to find its scoring touch of late. Hunter Cameron now has 4 goals and 3 assists, Bradley Cupples has a goal and 6 assists, and Olivia Robbins has chipped in with a goal and two assists having missed multiple games playing with her external travel team. The third line has been a revolving pair of wingers along with Brandon Bernard at center. It has been difficult for the third line to achieve chemistry although Stephen Shkeda has provided the line with tenacity and energy.

On defense, James Botti leads the team in points with 7 assists in 7 games, but other defenders have chipped in with points; George Benedick a goal and two assists, Andrew Botti a goal and two assists, and Andrew Gean has a goal and an assist. Together with Ethan Hockey, the Lightning have given up only 20 goals in 8 games, for a team goals against average of 2.50 goals per game. If you exclude the 7-6 shootout versus the Blair Blazers, the team’s goals against average would be even lower at 1.86 per game. Even with the non-conference game versus the West Virginia Vipers included, the Lightning have given up the fewest goals of all 15 teams in the Montgomery Hockey Conference. The hard work and effort of the defense, as well as the backchecking forwards, have really limited the opposing teams’ scoring opportunities.

In goal, Will Mellen has led the way. Mellen leads all goalies in the Montgomery Hockey Conference who have played at least three games with a 1.40 goals against average and a .932 save percentage. Landon Bernard has also seen some varsity action, picking up his first career high school varsity win in the game against the West Virginia Vipers. If the strong goaltending keeps up, the Lightning will be in every game and will have a chance to win the cross over games against the division one teams.

The Lightning special teams have been uneven. The power play percentage is good at 23.3% (7 for 30), but it is the way the power play has looked that is not so good. The power play looks disjointed most of the time, with perimeter passing and not many high quality looks. The Lightning scored four power play goals in the high scoring Blair game but have only three other power play goals in the other seven games of the season (3 for 23, 13.0%). On the other hand, the Upper Montgomery penalty kill has been fantastic, killing off 27 of 30 opportunities (90.0%) on the season. The Lightning have killed off the last 16 extra attacker chances and this success has given the team a major boost.

The Upper Montgomery junior varsity squad has had its ups and downs, reaching the mid-point of the season with a 2-3 conference record and 2-4-2 overall. The coaching staff has been preaching effort and consistency. Thus far, the junior varsity team is vastly improved over last season has shown spurts of what the coaching staff is looking for. Unfortunately, the team has been prone to long stretches of inconsistency from game to game and even from period to period within games. Several late goals against have forced the team to settle for ties instead of much needed victories. In perhaps the most complete game the junior varsity has played, a 1-0 loss against Wootton, the only reason the junior varsity lost was that Wootton received emergency permission to play a varsity AA level travel goalie because of the current COVID circumstances in Montgomery County. Otherwise, the junior varsity would have easily won that game.

In goal, Landon Bernard has started each game. He has played well. He has a 3.70 goals against average and an .858 save percentage. However, those individual statistics are misleading and skewed by the game that the junior varsity played against Landon School. The private school teams are a step up in competition and are similar to playing against a varsity team from the Montgomery Hockey Conference. Omitting that game, Bernard’s statistics would be a 3.09 goals against average and a .876 save percentage.

On defense, both Cole Howerton and Patrick Sell are improving. As 9th grade defenders they are frequently playing against forwards two grades more experienced. Several varsity student athletes have dropped down to help out on defense and provide a calming influence. Anrew Gean, George Benedick, Stephen Shkeda, and Bradley Cupples have played several games on defense for the junior varsity providing leadership and guidance.

Offensively, the team has been led by three student athletes; Brandon Bernard who leads the team with 4 goals and 4 assists, Josh Miller who has tallied 4 goals, and Josh Nadler who has scored 3 goals. Eight other student athletes have scored once on the season. With only 19 goals in 8 games (2.375 average), the team has a very small margin for error because it is not scoring enough. Even if you exclude the two games played against varsity goalies (Landon School and Wootton), the team’s goals per game average would be only 3.17. Depth scoring has been an issue all season for the Lightning junior varsity and needs to improve quickly if the team hopes to make a deep run in the upcoming junior varsity playoffs. Three games remain in the regular season for the junior varsity against Rockville, Northwest, and Churchill, and those games will determine the team’s playoff seeding.

The first month of the season has been uneven for the young Upper Montgomery Lightning ice hockey program. The team is much more competitive this season that last season, however the progress on the ice has not yet transferred to points in the league standings. The varsity squad’s record is 0-3-1, with the coaching staff firmly believing that the team has given away a couple of points and the team’s record could easily be 1-2-1. A late goal against versus Rockville turned a certain tie into a loss. Another a late goal against versus the DC Stars turned a certain victory into a tie. The junior varsity team has started the season 1-1-1. As with the varsity squad, the coaching staff firmly believes that the recent tie against Glenelg should have been a Lightning victory. Another late goal against resulted in a certain victory turning into a tie.

The late game defensive issues and the loss of potential standings points has overshadowed what has been a competitive start to the season. The varsity squad has suffered three one goal defeats to begin the season with each game against the top three teams in the division. The next two contests versus Wilson and Northwest will be key to the Upper Montgomery Lightning’s playoff chances. Both games are must win games for the Lightning as the team attempts to qualify for the Montgomery Hockey Conference post-season playoff tournament. The coaching staff will be looking for progress in turning the corner from being competitive against the more experienced teams to winning games.

The varsity’s offense has begun to come around after two low scoring games to begin the season. Led by the top line of Nathan Cassel (4 goals, 1 assist), Ryan Jacobson (3 goals, 3 assists), and Chris Hassett (2 goals, 5 assists) the Lightning have averaged 4.5 goals over the past two games. Depth scoring continues to be an issue as no other varsity student athlete has more than two points through the first four games of the season.

Defensively, the team has been much more responsible. With the exception of the second period against Blair, the team has played much better defense overall. There have been a few mistakes by individual student athletes, but the goals against are way down from last season. Each Lightning defender has several years of varsity experience with the exception of newcomer Andrew Botti who has impressed the coaching staff with his quick puck movement and skating ability. Expect better play from the defense as the season continues.

The goaltending for the Lightning has been uneven. Some games good, other games less so. Some periods really good, other periods less so. Some remarkable saves, some soft goals allowed. The coaching staff is looking to see if either Will Mellen or Landon Bernard takes the reigns and locks down the starting goaltender position.

The junior varsity has worked really hard and has been competitive in every game this season. The Josh’s have led the way offensively. Josh Nadler has three goals and Josh Miller has two pretty breakaway goals. Other student athletes who have chipped in with multiple points in the young season are Bradley Cupples, Ethan Hockey, and Adam Levine. More offensive output would greatly help the Lightning junior varsity as it looks to win its first ever playoff game at the end of the season. The junior varsity dominated Glenelg in its most recent game and was disappointed to settle for a tie. Landon Bernard has been in net the entire way for the Lightning.

The first month of the high school hockey season has been tarnished by two ugly incidents, one local and the other national. At the conclusion of the St. Johns / BCC game, a full brawl broke out with student athletes leaving the bench area to join in the fracas. Multiple suspensions were handed out and both programs have been placed on probation for the balance of the season.

Nationally, the Upper Montgomery Lightning stand united in support of the young lady playing goal in the Pittsburgh area. The disgusting taunts she had to endure and the lack of action by the adults in supervisory capacity is entirely reprehensible. See the Upper Montgomery statement below.

You, and/or your student athlete, may learn about the disgusting and shocking incident that occurred just prior to Halloween at a high school hockey game outside of Pittsburgh.  This disgusting and shocking incident, which involved verbal abuse and harassment, occurred in a high school ice hockey league that is organized very similar to how the Montgomery Hockey Conference is organized.

Along with Coach Todd and Coach Scott, we wanted to reinforce USA Hockey’s zero tolerance stance and reassure all families participating within the Upper Montgomery Lightning hockey program that abuse and trauma such as what this student athlete suffered WOULD NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES HAVE BEEN TOLERATED BY THE UPPER MONTGOMERY LIGHTNING.  THE PROGRAM’S LEADERSHIP WOULD HAVE IMMEDIATELY REACTED AND ADDRESSED THE SITUATION IN REAL TIME, unlike what occurred in Pittsburgh.

The safety and well-being of the student athletes in our program is the top priority of the organization.  As a co-ed/dual gender team, we are very sensitive toward the types of harassment that student athletes in our program may unfortunately experience, and we have ZERO TOLERANCE for behaviors that are not in line with the Upper Montgomery Lightning’s mission and values.

It’s time to drop the puck on the 2021-2022 high school ice hockey season.

The Upper Montgomery Lightning is ready to officially begin its inaugural season. For the first time ever, the Lightning have an opportunity to qualify for the Maryland Student Hockey League (MSHL) state playoffs. But, it will be a very tough task.

The Lightning kick off the regular season on Monday, October 25th. As a member of the Montgomery Hockey Conference (MHC) the Lightning are in a division with Rockville, Wilson, DC Stars, Quince Orchard, Blair and Northwest. The first six games of the regular season will be against these traditional division rivals. The second half of the regular season schedule will feature cross divisional games against veteran teams the likes of defending state champion BCC, and other traditional powerhouse programs St. Johns, Churchill, Wootton, Walter Johnson, Sherwood, Whitman, and Richard Montgomery.

The Lightning feature a very young and exciting lineup. With only three seniors, five juniors, and a host of sophomores and rising 9th grade student athletes, the future is very bright. However, the 2021-2022 season campaign will be a year of growth and development for the team. Picked to finish 11th out of the 15 teams in the MHC pre-season poll, the team is out to prove they are much better than the lowly pre-season ranking. A hallmark of the team is that they compete extremely hard and aim to give the more experienced teams all they can handle. A solid goal for the team is to make the MHC post-season playoff tournament and also reach the semi-finals of the division two post-season tournament.

The team will have to replace the loss of several key senior leaders from last season’s Damascus co-op team. The departure of MSHL legendary Hall of Fame goalie Jonas Clark will leave a gigantic void to fill in net. Best of luck to Landon Bernard as he steps up to the varsity squad. The departure of several key senior defenders, team captain Anthony Sasselli, Andrew Hockey, and Emily Emmons will leave the team without three experienced and tough nosed student athletes. James Botti, George Benedick, Andrew Gean, and Ethan Hockey, all experienced defenders will look to anchor the Lightning back line. Rising 9th grader Andrew Botti will provide added skill and quickness to the defensive core.

Up front, it is all supremely talented but young forwards. The top two forward lines are comprised of sophomores and rising 9th graders. Much will be expected from Ryan Jacobson, Olivia Robbins, Chris Hassett, Hunter Cameron, Brad Cupples, Brandon Bernard, and Nathan Cassell. Energetic and smooth skating wingers Stephen Shkeda and Adarsh Nair will be counted on to provide solid board play and defensive tenacity. With eight of the top nine forwards returning next season, the Lightning are looking to make their mark and build toward the future. The biggest question facing the team this season is just how long it will take for the talented young roster to gel with each other and come together as a team. Time will tell, and we invite you to join along for the ride.

The Lightning junior varsity squad is made up of experienced student athletes paired with an infusion of youth. Landon Bernard will again provide experienced and athletic goaltending. Returning forwards include Lucas Eyman, James Hyman, and Adam Levine. Tall and rugged Josh Miller is returning to the program after a year’s absence. These experienced forwards will be joined up front by speedy and skilled rising 9th grade forwards Joshua Nadler and Henry Honacki. Recent 9th grade addition TJ Gottesman will also look to contribute offensively. On defense it will be a challenge for the young Lightning junior varsity squad. Crafty and mobile rising 9th grader Cole Howerton will be paired with a rotation of partners while steady defensive minded Patrick Sell will look to continue growing into a shutdown defender.