The Upper Montgomery Lightning host the Sherwood Warriors on Wednesday afternoon in the semifinal round of the Montgomery Hockey Conference Division Two playoff tournament. Game time is set for 4:00 pm at Laurel Ice Gardens. The Lightning will be looking to continue their excellent defensive play of late after holding St. Johns and Churchill both to just one goal each, and then holding Blair to only one goal during the competitive portion of last Friday’s division two quarterfinal game. Unlike during the regular season matchup between the two teams in early December, a game won by Upper Montgomery 6-1, Sherwood will have its full roster for this playoff clash.
Sherwood is driven by four highly skilled student athletes. Senior Jeremy Isaacs (18U AA) leads the team with (11GP, 19G, 11A). Junior Grayson Winckler (16U AA) has (12GP, 14G, 11A). Sophomore Noi Jonasson (16U AAA) has (10GP, 12G, 11A), and he scored a ‘michigan goal’ last season against Upper Montgomery. Jonasson may be the purest and most talented skater on the ice in this game. On defense, the Warriors are led by senior Samuel Greenberg (18U AA), (14GP, 11G, 2A). Sherwood tries to win games by outscoring their opponents. As with last week’s game, the Lightning will have to carefully determine when to press forward offensively while these skilled student athletes are on the ice. Keeping the Warriors out of transition attack mode will limit Sherwood’s ability to score goals. All four of these talented student athletes will try and rush the puck up ice fast break style which often times gets the Warriors in trouble off the counter attack. The Warriors are weak defensively and Upper Montgomery should be able to take advantage of the Warriors back line. Sherwood also does not possess a tremendous amount of depth. So, when the Warriors top four are not on the ice, or if they are split up on different lines, the Lightning will have an advantage.
For what seems like the first time in ages, Upper Montgomery will have a full roster dressed in Wednesday’s game. Leading scorer Chris Hassett (15GP, 12G, 18A) will center Nathan Cassel (11GP, 10G, 13A) and Philip Shkeda (13GP, 7G, 5A). On the second line expect Ryan Jacobson to focus on stopping Noi Jonasson while also adding to his offensive production (9GP, 12G, 4A). He will likely center Brandon Bernard (13GP, 9G, 6A) and Henry Honacki, who is coming off a two assist game against Blair. The third line will feature Bradley Cupples (14GP, 3G, 10A), who is coming off of a four point game against Blair, his finest performance this season, centering Hunter Cameron fresh from his three point effort against the Blazers, and Olivia Robbins (10GP, 5G, 5A). Cameron has points in all three playoff games this season. Playing against mostly the second division teams, Sherwood is averaging giving up 5.57 goals per game. If the Lightning play hard, the team should be able to light the lamp on Wednesday afternoon.
The defense will also be fully stocked. Senior George Benedick is the team’s leading defensive scorer with (14GP, 5G, 10A), and he will be looking to extend his high school career by one more game. Sophomore Andrew Botti has provided a steadying presence on the back line. His quick puck moving skills and transition up ice has eliminated many opponents’ offensive chances. Senior Ethan Hockey (14GP, 3G, 7A) has the skating ability to catch and eliminate the Warriors speedy forwards. Ninth grade defender Brady Berkhammer always seems to be in the correct position, or he gets his stick on a forward’s shot to cancel out scoring chances.
In goal, Landon Bernard will be looking to continue his recent stretch of very strong performances. He has been very good in goal the past couple of weeks and played exceptionally well in the shootout loss to nine time state champion Churchill. In the playoffs, he has stopped 79 of 84 shots on goal for a .940 save percentage to go along with his 2-0-1 record, and 1.65 goals against average. Sherwood will start Samuel Hutt in net. Hutt (4-7 record) has been left out to dry by a porous Warriors defense and has a 6.02 goals against average, and a .775 save percentage.
Last week’s victory was a nice start to the division two playoffs. The Lightning can’t be satisfied in just advancing farther than last season. The team needs to be greedy and play excellent team hockey for the full 45 minutes. If Upper Montgomery plays a strong, unselfish, team game like the team did last week against Blair, sharing the puck and pounding it at the net, the Warriors will find it difficult to match up against the Lightning. Upper Montgomery needs to have an attitude and take it right to the Warriors physically from the opening faceoff.
Playing good defensive hockey is the key to victory and a spot in the division two championship game on Friday afternoon. Just like during the regular season meeting, the outcome of the game will depend on Upper Montgomery’s ability to keep Sherwood’s top skaters off the scoresheet. Upper Montgomery needs to forget about last week’s game and remain hungry for wins. It is time to play with a swagger and make other teams prove that they can beat Upper Montgomery. Bring it home again this week Lightning. Go Bolts!