The Upper Montgomery Lightning play their final regular season game this upcoming Friday evening against the BCC Barons. Game time is 8:45 pm at the Rockville Ice Arena. The Lightning and Barons are both looking to cement the highest seeding possible for the upcoming Montgomery Hockey Conference playoffs. No matter the outcome, neither team will finish higher than with the tenth seed in the regular season ending county rankings. Thus, both teams will open the playoffs as the visiting team in the opening round when the varsity playoff tournament commences the following week on January 30th.
Friday’s game will mark the third time all season and the second consecutive game that all of Upper Montgomery’s high end travel students will be present on the ice for the team. The other games, the first game of the season versus the DC Stars and Upper Montgomery’s last game also against the DC Stars. The Barons have been dismal this season. They enter the final game of the regular season with a 1-10 record having only scored seventeen goals in eleven games, an average of 1.54 goals per game. They are a minus 42 in goal differential, having given up an average of 5.36 goals per game. The Barons only victory this season was over the Northwest / Quince Orchard Jaguars, the team which occupies the bottom ranking in the county.
Upper Montgomery’s primary varsity goaltender junior 16U AAA Ilan Shterenberg will be in net for the second consecutive week. He enters the game with a 2-4 record, an .895 save percentage, and a 3.76 goals against average. Opposite Shterenberg in the cage, BCC will play their only varsity netminder, Sophomore 16U Lower A Blake Schoenebeck. Schoenebeck has 1-7 record, an .867 save percentage, and a respectable 3.64 goals against average. Playing in the upper division of the Montgomery Hockey Conference, the Barons have been outclassed by the premier teams in the county.
On defense, the Lightning will have their full complement of defenders for the game as junior Max Curtusan returns to the lineup after missing the recent DC Stars game while serving his supplemental disciplinary suspension. He received a boarding major penalty and a game misconduct against Walter Johnson in the game prior. The Lightning’s leading scorer, also the leading defensive scorer for all of Montgomery County, as well as the second leading defensive scorer throughout the entire Maryland Student Hockey League, senior 18U AA Brady Berkhammer will once again lead the Lightning’s backline. He has been superb offensively this season averaging two and a half points per game with (11GP, 11G, 16A). Berkhammer is also within a few points of the outright lead for the entire Montgomery Hockey Conference in scoring with his 27 points. His 11 goals, 16 assists, and 27 total points this season are all personal single season career highs.
Lightning junior defender 16U Upper A Miles Wendland (10GP, 1G, 2A) will either play up with Berkhammer or with sophomore 16U AA Lillian Robbins. Robbins is key to the Lightning’s penalty kill unit which has suffered mightily when she has been out of the lineup. Her intellect and knowledge of the game makes her ideally suited to snuff out offensive sets and act as a third defender while playing at the top of the Lightning’s box penalty kill formation. The more physical she plays, the more her game will stand out. Sophomore 16U Lower A Matt Rivera (9GP, 1G, 4A) has played better as the season has gone along. His progression this year into a full time varsity defender has allowed the Lightning to play with two full sets of defenders in every game. Anticipate the Lightning defense will be instructed to rush up ice and contribute offensively as the team is short on experienced forwards. Ninth grade defender Lenny Roth has played hard and well in limited action. He will dress for the game and may see shifts along with Berkhammer throughout the evening.
The Barons leading returning defender is senior 18U AA Grady Jiggens who is anticipated to miss the season finale. Thus, the Barons will rely heavily on fellow senior 18U AA Ben Lyons. Lyons is tied for the team lead in scoring for BCC with (9GP, 4G, 2A). Sophomore 16U Upper A Jacob Reitz will also miss the matchup against the Lightning as he will be serving his supplemental disciplinary suspension for a game misconduct penalty received in the Barons last game against Wootton. The absence of Jiggens and Reitz will leave a revolving door on the back end that could be filled by seniors David High (11GP, 2G, 3A) and Jeronimo Castano-Tellez both of whom have played defense at the junior varsity level.
Upper Montgomery’s top line of senior 18U AAA center and team captain Owen Robbins (6GP, 4G, 11A), flanked by fellow senior and last year’s leading scorer Philip Shkeda (5GP, 6G, 5A), paired with ninth grade 16U AA Miles Gleason (7GP, 16G, 7A) has been DOMINANT. The problem has been the Lightning have had this line available only three times this season. Robbins has missed time with his external travel team. Shkeda returned last week after being out long-term with an upper body injury. Gleason just recently returned from his own month long absence due to a medical issue. Gleason has provided instant offense this season with three points or more in four of the seven games he has played in during his inaugural season. Robbins led the way in the Lightning’s last game against the DC Stars with two goals and two assists. Junior 16U Upper A forward Aiden Zheng (10GP, 3G, 5A) has stepped up and provided a spark. He was hot during the middle of the year but has cooled recently. His hustle, energy, and defensive backchecking are examples for the younger students who should be watching how hard Zheng plays away from the puck.
BCC’s top offensive forward has been junior 16U AA Leo Alley-Strocher (7GP, 4G, 2A). He is a natural offensive threat that has been limited by the talent joining him on the Barons top forward line. Only one other forward has more than one goal on the season, ninth grade center Bryce Kaminsky with two. Only one other forward has at least three points, senior center Peter Lanpher (8GP, 1G, 2A). As these meager statistics illustrate, BCC has been held to two goals or less in ten of their eleven games.
The 2025 – 2026 season has been one of growth and development for the green and gold’s younger student athletes. Now, as the season has reached the regular season finale, it is time for the team to ride a wave of good play heading into the playoffs. If the team will commit to the defensive habits necessary to lead the program forward, the Lightning may be a frightening team to play in a one and done playoff scenario. As the season opener versus the DC Stars illustrated, if Berkhammer and the top forward line is on, the Lightning can storm through any team in the county. If Upper Montgomery refuses to engage defensively, or has a lapse in its defensive play, every game could turn into a long night with the opposition skating through and around the young Lightning skaters. It’s time for the seniors and Shterenberg to lead the way and carry the program to several late regular season and playoff wins.
#Regular Season Finale, #Playoff Seeding, #UML, #Bleed Green, #Go Bolts!