The first half of the 2024 – 2025 high school ice hockey season has zoomed past with the Upper Montgomery Lightning varsity and junior varsity squads right in the thick of the conference standings. As the Thanksgiving holiday break concludes, the sprint to the Montgomery Hockey Conference post season playoff tournament is in full flight with both Upper Montgomery teams looking make some noise and finish the season strong.
The Lightning junior varsity has received outstanding goaltending from ninth grade goalie Porter Stutsrim-Lyons coupled with some timely goal scoring to begin the season with a 3-1-2 record. Stutsrim-Lyons has posted two shutouts along with a 1.64 goals against average and a .939 save percentage. He has a chance over the remainder of the season to set junior varsity program records for goals against average and save percentage. Upper Montgomery’s junior varsity extended the program record unbeaten streak to sixteen games, 12-0-4 over three seasons, until inevitably, all things must come to an end. The long undefeated streak vanished in a 4-3 loss to BCC, the Lightning’s only regulation loss of the season. In the BCC game, the Lightning’s string of 36 consecutive shorthanded situations killed off also ended.
In a heroic effort, Upper Montgomery took Churchill to overtime playing with only seven available skaters. It was a monster performance to gut out a point with such a depleted roster. Up next for the Lightning junior varsity is a non-conference matchup against Annapolis / Arundel before closing out the regular season playing a very strong Whitman team. With the start of the playoffs just six weeks away, the Lightning junior varsity will need to continue to receive contributions from up and down the lineup. The junior varsity’s leading scorer is senior forward AJ Marks (6GP, 4G, 4A). He is followed in scoring by two newcomers to the Lightning program, sophomore Jake Hudson (5GP, 5G, 2A), and ninth grade forward Siddy Bhasin (4GP, 3G, 4A). Bhasin scored in his first three high school hockey games. Sophomore Aiden Zheng has stood out offensively and with his hustle and effort. He scored a hat-trick versus Blair and has (4GP, 5G, 1A). Lightning varsity goalie Ilan Shterenberg has skated out as a forward in some junior varsity games scoring two goals.
Defensively, the junior varsity has been led by sophomore Miles Wendland (4GP, 3A) and senior Cole Howerton (4GP, 2G, 2A), two varsity skaters who have played down to assist the junior varsity’s young defenders. Senior Patrick Sell is playing the best hockey of his high school career. Young defenders Avery Evans (3GP, 1G, 3A), Lillian Robbins (2GP, 1G, 3A), and Matt Rivera (6GP, 5A) have all contributed while gaining key experience. Due back to the lineup in time for the Lightning’s next junior varsity game are sophomore center Jackson Schickler and sophomore defender Max Curtusan.
The Upper Montgomery varsity is off to its best start in the last four seasons playing to a 3-3-1 record over the first half of the schedule. The teams only losses are against teams ranked in the top fifteen in the state; Wootton twice and Urbana. With a reasonable second half schedule, the Lightning have a chance to finish the 2024 – 2025 regular season with a winning record. It would be the first time since the 2018 – 2019 season that the Lightning could finish the season above .500.
In net, sophomore Ilan Shterenberg has handled the majority of the goaltending duties. He has shined in some games, making 49 saves in the Lightning’s 3-1 loss to Wootton early in the season, and he has struggled in other games. His play is typical for an underclass student athlete moving up from his staring role on the junior varsity where he set or tied numerous program records last season; tying for most wins in a season, and setting the lowest goals against average and highest save percentage in junior varsity program history. Shterenberg has a solid save percentage of .876. His goals against average which had been in the three’s ballooned to 4.75 after the Lightning’s poor defensive performances against both Urbana and in the second Wootton game. The three week Thanksgiving holiday break should provide him the opportunity to re-set and focus on the second half of the season.
Defensively, junior AA defender Brady Berkhammer has upped his game this season. He is providing much more offense (7GP, 2G, 5A) than in his first two seasons of varsity play. He had a four point game against Northwest / Quince Orchard with two goals and two assists. Sophomore defender Miles Wendland has played important minutes against the opposition’s top forward lines. He has accelerated his game from his ninth grade season. He has also contributed offensively with three assists in six games. Senior Cole Howerton has stepped into a regular role on the varsity playing mostly with Wendland. Howerton has played some of the best hockey in his final high school season. His play stood out in the Lightning’s win over Richard Montgomery. Ninth grade AA defender Lillian Robbins has seen regular action in the first half of the season and contributed three assists in the game against Richard Montgomery. She has played in four games and has dished out four assists. Senior Patrick Sell scored his first career high school varsity goal in the Northwest / Quince Orchard game. His size and presence on the blue line has caused problems for the opposition. Ninth grade Matt Rivera and sophomore Avery Evans have each gained valuable experience at the varsity level in their limited play. Getting time in varsity games now will help them in future seasons as they take on larger roles on the team.
Offensively, the Lightning knew they would have to replace Maryland Student Hockey League Hall of Fame standout Chris Hassett who graduated after last season. Unexpectedly, junior Ryan Jacobson left to play junior hockey in Michigan. Then, last season’s leading returning scorer Nathan Cassel (2GP, 3G, 1A) has missed most of the early portion of the season with an upper body injury. His hat-trick against Rockville / Magruder helped the Lightning to a 5-5 tie against the Rams. The Upper Montgomery coaching staff moved AAA junior defender Owen Robbins to center as a means of generating additional offense. The move has paid off as Robbins authored a hat-trick in the Lightning’s season opening win over BCC and scored four times against Richard Montgomery. The Lightning’s victory over BCC was the program’s first ever win against the Barons. Robbins has paced the Lightning in scoring with (6GP, 7G, 3A). He is followed closely by junior forward Philip Shkeda with (6GP, 4G, 5A) and senior center Henry Honacki (7GP, 5G, 2A).
A couple of sophomores have stepped in and filled important roles on the team. Returning forward Aiden Zheng has (7GP, 2G, 4A) continuing his assent from last season’s breakout during the Montgomery Hockey Conference varsity playoff tournament. Newcomer Jake Hudson has used his size well getting the puck out of the defensive zone along the boards leading to numerous rushes up ice. Several of the odd skater rushes have led to goals. He has five assists in five games including dishing out three assists against Richard Montgomery. With depth an issue, several student athletes who have played the majority of their high school careers with the junior varsity team are receiving playing time this season with the varsity. Senior forward TJ Gottesman scored his first career varsity goal in the Northwest / Quince Orchard game and senior forward AJ Marks contributed an assist in that same game. Ninth grader Siddy Bhasin has dressed and played in several varsity games earning an assist. Senior Josh Nadler missed the beginning of the season while he was out-of-the country. He will be looking to elevate his game over the second half of the year.
A positive for the program, the powerplay. Last season, the anemic Upper Montgomery powerplay went zero for its first 46 chances with the extra skater before finally scoring in the regular season finale versus Bullis. Early in the season this year, the Lightning have converted on four of their thirteen powerplays, a 30.8% success rate. Now it is time for the squad to turn it up, not just on the powerplay, but on the penalty kill and at even strength. It’s time to go on a run over the second half of the season and be playing excellent hockey as the conference playoffs close in.
#Second Half Fury, #UML, #Bleed Green, #Go Bolts!