The Upper Montgomery Lightning open the 2026 – 2027 regular season on Friday evening, September 25th when the Lightning junior varsity faces off against the Rockville/Magruder Rams. Game time is 9:00 pm at Rockville Ice Arena. Upper Montgomery will be trying to duplicate last season’s fine showing culminating with an eventual loss in the Montgomery Hockey Conference junior varsity semifinals to the DC Stars. That was last season. This year’s junior varsity has a nice mixture of experience with rising ninth graders. Upper Montgomery is being picked in the middle of the pack during the regular season.
In goal, the Lightning have three junior varsity eligible goalies. Sophomore Stephen Rickman, 16U Lower A, is likely to see a bulk of the goaltending action when he is not playing in varsity game action the same week. When he is unavailable to play, the goaltending duties are likely to be split between Sophomore George Schickler and ninth grade goalie Cooper Sullivan. Schickler and Sullivan are a tale of two different goaltending styles. Schickler relies on his mobility and quickness while Sullivan is a tall goalie who takes up much of net. Last season, Schickler won two very important games in net, the playoff clinching victory over Walter Johnson along with Upper Montgomery’s quarterfinal playoff win against the combined Northwest/Quince Orchard/Wootton team. Sullivan will be working all season on challenging shooters and using his big frame to give the opposing shooters very little net to shoot at. Expect the coaching staff to get a long look at Sullivan and Schickler this week
Rockville/Magruder is also expected to play both of their young goalies in the contest. Sophomore Nathan Khasilev is likely to get the starting nod. He would then be relieved by ninth grade 16U B Barrett Cepaitis. The goaltending matchup should be pretty even, with each team looking for consistency from their young netminders throughout the season.
On defense, the Lightning have two returning defenders and two newcomers protecting the blue line. Sophomore 16U B Dylan Kim will continue to provide a steadying defensive influence on the blue line. His play has improved steadily since the spring season during his eighth grade academic year. He will be counted on to be a leader on the penalty killing unit as well. Most likely to be paired with Kim is ninth grade defender 14U Lower A Owen Hinchliffe. Hinchliffe brings an aggressive mindset to his defensive role. As the season progresses, and he becomes more comfortable with the speed of high school hockey, look for him to gain confidence as his play improves. The other defensive pairing will have sophomore Lenny Roth on the right side. Roth is a big hitter using his body to punish opposing forwards. In his first high school season, he showed enough offensively to expect that his scoring output will increase this year. Ninth grade 14U Lower A Calvin Cole will pair with Roth. Cole is a talented, but very young defender. As he matures over future seasons, his strength and skating will develop and likely making him a top pair defender.
Senior Carder Wilcox will lead the defense for the Rams. He will likely pair with Clementine Parker a 19U AA defender. That pair will see a lot of game action with other students folding in and playing on the other defensive pairing. Against the Lightning ninth grade Samuel Gibson is expected to drop back and play defense for Rockville/Magruder.
At the forward ranks, the coaching staff will have multiple options for its forward line combinations. The squad is led by returning seniors Mason Jagoz (10G, 4G, 6A) the team’s top returning scorer and Jackson Schickler (5GP, 3G, 2A). Both have several years of experience under their belt as well as seeing action in varsity games last season. Unfortunately, both will miss the game against the Rams. Jagoz is up north on a college tour and Schickler is still playing football for Poolesville High School. Sophomore Wyatt Ostrander (11GP, 2G, 6A) is likely to center the top forward line. He is excellent defensively and his faceoff win rate improved over the course of his ninth grade season. He is not afraid to lay the body and should be one of the team’s leaders in the locker room. Other returning junior varsity forwards are junior Decklin Hughes and sophomore Nolan Veilette, who’s play really improved during the spring. Joining these group are several newcomers. Ninth grade 14U Lower A center Cameron Newton will center the second line.
New to the team this season are junior 18U B Michael Zaporozhetc and sophomore 16U Lower A Benjamin Page. Both students attend Gaithersburg High School. For years, Gaithersburg High School was part of the Upper Montgomery program and then it was transferred to the Rockville/Magruder coop. Now, back within the Upper Montgomery family, big performances are anticipated out of both Zaporozhetc and Page this season. Right off the bat they have a revenge game against their former teammates. There presence in the lineup should make the Lightning formidable against all opponents. The coaching staff may also get a look at Page on defense throughout the season to determine where all students may best help the varsity squad.
Rockville/Magruder does not return very much scoring from last season as many of their students have risen to varsity only status. Senior 18U B Alejandro Lozano Garcia is the forward with the most experience with two assists in nine games. Sophomore Dylan Singer is the Rams most dangerous forward coming off of a point a game season a year ago with (8GP, 3G, 5A).
Its time for some hockey. The Lightning junior varsity open the season on Friday evening as the team kicks off their march toward the junior varsity playoffs once again.
#ALL TOGETHER, #UML, #Bleed Green, #Go Bolts!