The Upper Montgomery Lightning could not have been more pleased to discover that they will match up against the Blair Blazers in the Montgomery Hockey Conference Varsity Tournament Semifinals. The consensus opinion is that Blair was the best possible match up for Upper Montgomery. The other semifinal game features the Churchill Bulldogs hosting the Rockville / Magruder Rams. Friday’s game will be played at 8:10 pm at Rockville Ice Arena. In facing the Blazers, Upper Montgomery should be in the game for the entire evening. Blair has had difficulty scoring all season long. The Blazers have scored only 42 goals in fourteen games, an average of just three goals per game. Another benefit of facing the Blazers is that they have no AAA level student athletes. Both Churchill and Rockville / Magruder have multiple super high end talented AAA student athletes on their rosters.
Even though Blair is in division one of the Montgomery Hockey Conference and Upper Montgomery is in division two, the Lightning are slight favorites in the game. Upper Montgomery enters the clash with a 7-8-1 record while Blair sits at 5-8-1 on the season. Blair has given up 89 goals this year which is nine more than the Lightning who have played two additional games. Blair advanced to the semifinals of the varsity tournament based upon beating the DC Stars in the opening round of the Montgomery Hockey Conference playoffs. The Lightning were victorious last week in the varsity tournament quarterfinals easing past Northwest / Quince Orchard 8-4.
In net for the Lightning will be sophomore 16U AA goalie Ilan Shterenberg. Shterenberg has handled the majority of the goaltending duties this season for Upper Montgomery. His play has been typical for an underclass student athlete moving up from his staring role on the junior varsity last season. Some games have been very good. Other games there are goals that he wishes he had another chance at. Of more concern is defensively he has been left out to dry far too many times by the Upper Montgomery skaters playing in front of him. Costly defensive zone turnovers have negatively impacted his personal statistics.
Heading into the game, Shterenberg has a solid save percentage of .874. His goals against average is 5.04, having risen by nearly a goal per game over the last month due to the Lightning’s poor play. Shterenberg returned to action last week after missing the varsity playoff game against BCC due to an illness. His replacement ninth grade 14U Lower A goalie Porter Stutsrim-Lyons was excellent in the game against the Barons, and again later that evening playing back to back in the junior varsity’s semifinal playoff game. Although both games resulted in losses, it was not the play of Stutsrim-Lyons that was at fault.
In goal for the Blazers will be junior Sylvan Vernon. Vernon has started all of the games this season for Blair. He is a tall goalie therefore Upper Montgomery will need to move him from side to side in the net to enlarge the open portions of the goal. Straight on long range shots will not get past Vernon. His save percentage this season is .790, and his goals against average is 5.94. This will be his first meeting against Upper Montgomery in his high school career.
Defensively, junior 16U AA defender Brady Berkhammer will not be available for the rest of the season. It is a big loss for the Lightning moving forward in the tournament. Berkhammer finished his junior season with (15GP, 4G, 15A), all personal career highs in each offensive category. Berkhammer leads the team with his fifteen assists. Sophomore defender Miles Wendland (15GP, 2G, 4A) has played important minutes against the opposition’s top forward lines. Seeing additional ice time in Berkahmmer’s absence, Wendland had a goal and an assist in last week’s quarterfinal win over Northwest / Quince Orchard. Senior Cole Howerton has stepped into a regular role on the varsity in his final high school season. Howerton has been paired with Wendland playing almost exclusively on the second defensive tandem. Ninth grade 14U AA defender Lillian Robbins has seen regular action this season contributing five assists. Senior defender Patrick Sell scored his first career high school varsity goal early in the season against Northwest / Quince Orchard. His size and presence on the blue line has caused problems for the opposition especially on the penalty kill. Ninth grade defender Matt Rivera and sophomore 19U AA Avery Evans will see regular shifts on defense in the game.
Blair has two reasonably competent defenders in juniors Robert Woodward and Joseph Killebrew. Neither is flashy. Both do not contribute much offensively. What they do well is clear the defensive zone and hustle back to retrieve loose pucks. Each is an above average skater. The question will be can they keep up with Upper Montgomery’s talented offensive forwards. Expect that the Blazers will also use senior Rafi Shore and Daniel Sellers on the back end during the game. Look for Upper Montgomery to try and take advantage of the Blair defenders physically in an attempt to create defensive zone turnovers that can be converted into prime offensive chances.
Last season’s leading returning scorer Nathan Cassel (9GP, 9G, 7A) seems to have returned to form after tallying four points in the Lightning’s last game against Northwest / Quince Orchard with two goals and two assists. He is nearing the individual statistics necessary for inclusion in the Maryland Student Hockey League Hall of Fame. For his career, Cassel has produced 87 points on (48GP, 42G, 45A). He is five assists away from inclusion in the Hall of Fame. The Upper Montgomery coaching staff moved 16U AAA junior defender Owen Robbins to center as a means of generating additional offense. The move paid off early in the season as Robbins authored a hat-trick in the Lightning’s season opening win over BCC and he also scored four times against Richard Montgomery. Robbins has been near the top of the Lightning’s leading scorers the entire season with (11GP, 9G, 7A). He is tied for second on the team in goals behind Upper Montgomery’s leading offensive threat, senior center Henry Honacki. Robbins will see shifts at forward and on defense in the game.
Honacki returns to the lineup this week after having to sit out the game against the Jaguars serving his one game supplemental disciplinary suspension for a major boarding penalty and game misconduct late in the BCC playoff game. He has had an offensive explosion in his final high school season. He currently leads the team in goals and points with (15GP, 12G, 7A). Honacki was on a tear recently having scored in five consecutive games before the loss to Churchill. Honacki scored the game winning goal in two important Lightning victories, beating the overtime buzzer by scoring with eleven seconds remaining in the extra period to defeat the DC Stars. It was Honacki who scored on the powerplay late in the third period against BCC. He leads the team in powerplay goals with four. His production on the powerplay has helped the Lightning immensely. The team has more powerplay goals this season (11 for 34, 32.3%) than last year’s dismal performance with the extra attacker. It may be the success of the Upper Montgomery powerplay that determines the outcome of the game against the Blazers.
Junior forward Philip Shkeda has been an offensive threat all year long quietly putting up excellent offensive numbers (14GP, 6G, 14A) playing alongside Honacki and Cassel. Shkeda is second on the team to Berkhammer with his fourteen assists. If he has a big game and Cassel, Honacki, and Robbins complement that scoring, Blair could be in for a long evening. If the Upper Montgomery big four are contained, the Lightning will be in for a massive struggle against the well coached Blazers.
A couple of sophomores have stepped in and filled important roles on the team this season. Returning forward Aiden Zheng has (16GP, 3G, 6A) 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 pucks out of the defensive zone along the board. This board work has led to numerous scoring rushes up ice. He has (13GP, 2G, 7A). 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 at the varsity level; seniors TJ Gottesman, AJ Marks, and ninth grade forward Siddy Bhasin. Bhasin’s ice time has steadily increased throughout the season. His play is starting to ramp up (12GP, 1G, 4A). Senior Josh Nadler (11GP, 3G, 1A) missed the beginning of the season while he was out-of-the country. He looks to be back in the groove having finally found his game by scoring three goals in his last two games.
Blair has received evenly distributed offensive output this season from their top two forward lines. Sophomore center Mason Boucher (13GP, 5G, 4A) centers forward William Campbell (13GP, 5G, 3A) and tall lanky forward Michael Poresky (11GP, 4G, 2A). Jackson Martindill (13GP, 7G, 6A), the Blazers leading scorer, centers forward Chen Chen-Ye (14GP, 5G, 8A) and Quinn Streaker (13GP, 5G, 2A). On the third line senior forward Ari Gardner will mix it up and cause a commotion. He leads the Blazers with 56 penalty minutes, an extremely high individual total. When he is on the ice you will not miss him or his extracurricular antics.
The 2024 – 2025 season will conclude if the Lightning are unable to come away with a win on Friday night. It would be a rather unfortunate outcome as the favored Lightning are very much looking forward to a rematch against the Churchill Bulldogs next week in the varsity tournament championship game. It would be another chance to end ‘the streak’. It is anticipated that Churchill will have no difficulty advancing over Rockville / Magruder. Upper Montgomery is looking to repeat as varsity tournament champions, going back to back. The next step is to get past the Blazers. As with any playoff hockey contest, it doesn’t matter how, it just needs to get accomplished. The hope is for a win on Friday night to extend the season providing one final important game for the Lightning student athletes.
#Return to Finals, #Advance, #More Hockey, #UML, #Bleed Green, #Go Bolts!