On Monday, the Upper Montgomery Lightning junior varsity plays their first game in six weeks when the team matches up against the Annapolis / Arundel Wildcats. The non-conference game is scheduled for 6:10 pm at Laurel Ice Gardens. With Skate Frederick closed due to ice surface issues for several weeks, Upper Montgomery was forced to push back several scheduled junior varsity games until later in the season resulting in the long gap in the schedule.
In goal for the Lightning junior varsity will again be ninth grade netminder Porter Stutsrim-Lyons. Stutsrim-Lyons plays for the Caps Academy 14U Lower A external travel team. He has begun his high school career in excellent style with a 3-1-2 record, a miniscule 1.64 goals against average, and an eye popping .939 save percentage. If Stutsrim-Lyons maintains his current save percentage it would break the junior varsity program record set last season by Ilan Shterenberg (.927). Stursrim-Lyons is coming off his second shutout of the season in the Lightning’s last game against the Blair Blazers. The Wildcats are expected to play 16U Lower A goalie Solomon Abramson. He has started all three of the Wildcats games this season with a 1-2 record. He has a 4.00 goals against average and a .769 save percentage.
On defense the Lightning will have a full complement of defenders for the first time this season. Senior Cole Howerton (4GP, 2G, 2A), sophomore 16U Lower A Miles Wendland (4GP, 3A), senior Patrick Sell, ninth grade 14U AA Lillian Robbins (2GP, 1G, 3A), ninth grade 14U Lower A Matt Rivera (6GP, 5A), sophomore 16U AA Avery Evans (3GP, 1G, 3A), and sophomore Max Curtusan who will be making his season debut. The Lightning will be well stocked on the back end with all seven defenders in attendance. Expect one of the defenders to skate up as a forward in the game. Likely defensive pairs against Annapolis / Arundel are Wendland with Curtusan, Evans with Sell, and Howerton with Rivera. Robbins might be the defender moved up to play forward. Defensively, the Wildcats have one point on the season from their collection of junior varsity defenders; Kylee Kulawiak, Robert Levin, Matthew Keys, Alexander Hillman, and Peter Back.
On offense, the Lightning will be looking to maintain their average of 4.5 goals per game. The Lightning’s top four scorers should be in action against the Wildcats. Senior center AJ Marks leads the team in scoring with (6GP, 4G, 4A). Newcomers sophomore Jake Hudson (5GP, 5G, 2A), and ninth grade 14U Lower A Siddy Bhasin (4GP, 3G, 4A) will look to continue to stay hot at the offensive end of the ice. Returning sophomore 16U Lower A Aiden Zheng (4GP, 5G, 1A) is coming off a hat-trick versus the Blazers and is tied with Hudson for the team lead in goals. Rounding out the forward rotation will be varsity goalie Ilan Shterenberg skating out as a forward, sophomore Mason Jagoz, and ninth grade forwards Decklin Hughes. Luke Hudson, and Max Israfilbek. It would help the confidence of this group of skaters to find their name on the score sheet. Jackson Schickler remains out with an upper body injury but is close to his return and Jason Woodman is serving the final game of his lengthy suspension.
Offensively, the Wildcats feature four primary forward threats who all play at the Lower A external travel level. William Woodson-Potter leads Annapolis / Arundel in scoring with (3GP, 2G, 2A). The team leader in goals scored is Kyler Porzillo with three goals in three games. Gavin Hare is averaging a point per game (3GP, 1G, 2A) and Kayleb Haley has scored twice.
Monday’s game will be a good test for the Lightning and a tune up for next Friday’s important final regular season Montgomery Hockey Conference league game against the Whitman Vikings. A win over the Wildcats would likely guarantee the Lightning would finish the 2024 – 2025 season with a winning record. It would be the second consecutive season the junior varsity would post a winning record after last year’s record breaking undefeated regular season.
#Rep MoCo, #UML, #Bleed Green, #Go Bolts!