Loudoun County High School junior Ben Zienty has been selected as the Washington Capitals Youth Hockey Player of the Month for December 2012.

Zienty is the starting goalkeeper for the Raiders in the Northern Virginia Scholastic Hockey League and also plays for the Ashburn Xtreme U18 club team. Zienty turned away 160 of the 175 shots he faced in December for a .914 save percentage.

His biggest effort came against an elite Stone Bridge squad in the Capitals High School Game of the Week on Dec. 14, 2012. Zienty recorded 70 saves in a 8-0 loss to the Bulldogs.

Zienty and his family moved to Leesburg from Wheaton, Ill. in the summer of 2011. He maintains a 4.1 grade point average and aspires to play hockey at the Division I level in college.