The Upper Montgomery Lightning Junior Varsity returns to game action on Tuesday afternoon against BCC. Game time is 2:30 pm at Rockville Ice Arena. Although BCC is in the Montgomery Hockey Conference, this game will be a non-league contest.
The Lightning will be looking to get back on track after being wiped out by Wootton in their last game. The loss to Wootton ended an eight game winning streak dating back to last season. In the Wootton game, the team was completely outplayed. The coaches will be looking to see which student athletes respond with a better effort versus BCC.
Landon Bernard will handle the goaltending duties for Upper Montgomery. Bernard is fresh off a shutout victory in last week’s varsity game against Northwest. His personal eight game winning streak in junior varsity games was halted in last week’s loss to the Patriots. BCC is expected to start Tycho Narrod-Malcolm in goal. He has a 2.40 goals against average and an .833 save percentage in two games this season. He was victorious versus bottom feeder Churchill, with a close loss to a strong Whitman team.
On defense, the Lightning will need to do a much better job of gap control and playing the body. Against Wootton, there was way too much swiping at the puck and getting skated around by Wootton’s speedy offensive forwards. The defensive corps of Cole Howerton, Patrick Sell, Jake Roth, Sean Levine, and Behr Schickler will need to play a more structured game where they play more conservatively and continue to knock the puck up to the forwards in the neutral zone. Peter Lanpher is the Baron’s top offensive threat with (2GP, 3G, 3A) with all of his production against Churchill.
Offensively, the Lightning need to generate more high quality chances. Outside of Henry Honacki (3GP, 3G, 1A) and TJ Gottesman (2GP, 1G, 3A), the team has had sporadic offensive production. Stephen Shkeda, Adam Levine, and AJ Marks have chipped in with a couple of points each, but the balance of the forwards need to do more. Josh Nadler returning to form after a long absence will surely help the team put the puck in the net.
In a pre-Thanksgiving matinee, the Lightning will be looking for a bounce back effort and a return to winning form.