The Upper Montgomery Lightning head into Friday’s rematch against Wootton feeling good about where the program is with four games left in the regular season. However, the 8-2 thrashing of the Patriots just prior to winter break should not deceive the team. Wootton was missing their three best skaters and their starting goalie. The team that Upper Montgomery will play on Friday night will be vastly different than the team Wootton put on the ice in the initial meeting before winter break.
The Lightning’s victory did end one long streak. In the previous fourteen years that the Montgomery Hockey Conference has existed, Upper Montgomery (or playing under the previous team name, Damascus, et al.) the program had never before beaten the Wootton Patriots. That streak is now finally over! Historically, one of the best programs in the Maryland Scholastic Hockey League, the Patriots have fallen off over the past two seasons. Presently, the Patriots are one spot behind Upper Montgomery in the conference standings. While the Patriots long to return to the years of being a powerhouse along-side the Churchill Bulldogs, Upper Montgomery is looking to continue the program’s rise into being viewed as a top tier program in the county.
Once again, Upper Montgomery’s leading scorers Nathan Cassel (7GP, 8G, 11A) and Chris Hassett (8GP, 7G, 11A) will need to carry the offensive load as the team will be without both Ryan Jacobson and Olivia Robbins. Both will be out-of-town with the external travel team. Jacobson scored a hat-trick in the first game against Wootton and Robbins scored the opening goal of the game. The Lightning’s depth scoring this season has been excellent and shows just how much the team has matured since last season. Fourteen different skaters have scored a goal this season with ten of those skaters having found the net multiple times. Playing against a higher level of competition this season the team is averaging 5.55 goals per game.
The defense has also become more active offensively. Senior George Benedick continues to outpace his production from all prior years combined (7GP, 3G, 7A). Ethan Hockey, Andrew Botti, and Brady Berkhammer each have at least six points. Together, in nine games, the team’s defense has contributed (9G and 23A).
In goal, Landon Bernard will be looking to continue his string of strong performances. He has been very good in goal the past couple of weeks at both the varsity and junior varsity levels. He stopped 19 of 21 shots against Wootton in the first game and has been hot lately giving up only four goals over his past three games. Wootton is likely to start Jack Munini this time around as former Lightning goalie Will Mellen started the game against Upper Montgomery before winter break. Although Mellen played well in net, he still surrendered seven goals. Both Wootton goalies have not played particularly well this season with both netminders having a goals against average over 5.00 and save percentages in the mid-.800s. Let’s hope that lack of success continues for at least one more week. Comparatively, Bernard has a goals against average of 3.56 and a save percentage of .856. For Bernard, his stats and play have gotten better and better as the season has progressed.
Wootton has some very talented student athletes in their program. The Patriots are led by a quartet of top-end skaters. Junior (16U AA) forward Grady Sellman leads the team is goals and points with (7GP, 8G, 3A). Speedy Conor Harris (18U AA) has (7GP, 3G, 4A). Junior IIhom Abdulaev, probably the Patriots most talented forward (16U AA) has (4GP, 3G, 3A), and has missed the past month due to an injury suffered early in the season. Abdulaev is expected back against the Lightning. Sam Hosier is an offensive minded defender. Hosier, a (16U AA) talent, has four goals in eight games.
Wootton is a very physical team that has taken far, far too many penalties this season. Upper Montgomery will need to refrain from retaliating against the Patriots and also must convert when the powerplay opportunities present. The Patriots are a young team and are weak defensively. Like in the first game, Upper Montgomery should be able to take advantage of the Patriots back line. Keeping Wootton off the scoreboard once again will be the key to victory.
The Lightning are starting to pile up victories and are on a bit of a roll. This second game against Wootton will go a long way toward determining if the Lightning will finish as one of the top eight seeds in the conference, which would then mean hosting a first round playoff game and having the last line change. The Lightning need to have the attitude of taking it right to the Patriots from the opening faceoff. The team needs to play with the lead and remove any doubt about who is the better team. A full effort for all 45 minutes will be necessary to snag the important victory. The Lightning need to get the win any way possible; high scoring, low scoring, it really does not matter. The only thing that is relevant is to win. Remain hungry, play with a swagger, and make other teams prove that they can beat you. Bring it home again this week Lightning and run the winning streak to four straight games and five of the last six!