The Upper Montgomery Lightning junior varsity begins its season on Friday evening, October 6th with a rematch of last season’s junior varsity playoff quarterfinal. Upper Montgomery will face the Whitman Vikings at 8:15 pm at Cabin John Ice Rink. The junior varsity will have fourteen skaters and incoming 9th grade netminder Ilan Shterenberg handling the goaltending duties. The junior varsity team should be much better than last year’s junior varsity squad as there is a significant amount of experience returning on defense. The junior varsity games may be lower scoring than last season as the team uses its defensive strength to focus on preventing the opposition from scoring. The big change in the junior varsity season will be the additional length of the periods, now fifteen minutes up from twelve minute periods that had been played in previous seasons.
Shterenberg will handle the netminding duties for the entire season. His play in net will ultimately determine how successful the team is and how far the Lightning junior varsity advances in the junior varsity county playoffs. He has the talent and ability to be a difference maker. In net for the Vikings will be Alex Minkoff, also a 9th grade student athlete. Both Shterenberg and Minkoff play for the Montgomery Youth Hockey Association Ice Devils travel program.
On defense the Lightning will dress several experienced defenders and two promising 9th grade student athletes. Seniors Sean Levine 9 GP, 2 G, 2 A and Jake Roth will both see extensive action. Offensive minded defender Cole Howerton 11 GP, 2 G, 4 A, 6 PTS will regularly join the rush looking to use his speed and shot to help deliver offensive firepower. He is likely going to be paired with hulking defensive defender Patrick Sell. Sell’s focus is on using his size and reach to upset the offensive rushes of the opposition. He chipped in with two goals last season, but his value is on the defensive side of the ice and penalty killing duties. Incoming defenders Miles Wendland and Avery Evans both play upper level travel hockey. They both need some seasoning learning how to play high school hockey against older competition. This season will go a long way in their development as both will be integral components of the team moving forward over the next four seasons.
Whitman is stingy on defense and will also have an experienced defensive lineup playing in the game. Junior defender Mark Buckley will lead a defensive corpse that is big and moves the puck very well. Joining him on defense will be sophomore brothers Will and Cooper Schultz and Brady Schwartz. Expect 9th grade defenders Steven Mah and Aaron Zhang to see significant playing time as well.
Up front co-captains junior Josh Nadler 9 GP, 4 G, 1 A, 5 PTS and senior Adam Levine 11 GP, 3 G, 4 A, 7 PTS will look to use last season playing together as a springboard to produce more offensively this season. Nadler missed the playoff game last season while serving supplemental discipline after receiving a fighting major and he will be looking play a strong game to make up for his absence.
Junior TJ Gottesman will look to improve on last season statistically 8 GP, 4 G, 9 A for 13 PTS, and be more consistent throughout the season. He is a big hitter and the coaching staff will be looking for that aggression and toughness again this season. AJ Marks will begin his second season with the Lightning. He has a big shot, but needs to hit the net more frequently to add to the two goals he scored last season. Incoming 9th grader Aiden Zheng will get every opportunity to receive top line game action. His speed has the chance to open up the game and stretch the ice. The coaching staff will be working with Aiden all season long on growing the defensive side of his game. Jason Woodman’s enthusiasm and effort will be useful all season. He chipped in with two goals a year ago, and if he can extend his scoring by even just a little bit, that will go a long way. The Schickler brothers will see more extensive playing time after the high school football season ends, but both Behr on defense and Jackson on offense will help provide balance to the forward lines.
Whitman will roll many forwards throughout the game. Returning an experienced forward corps led by senior Ben Lammers, junior Daphne Lapierre, junior Lucas Giesecke, sophomore Drew Kaplan, and senior Thomas Rouxel who had an excellent game during last season’s playoff matchup, the Vikings will look to work in several new 9th grade student athletes. Whitman plays a very structured system with lots of back pressure and support. Anticipate that the Vikings will have possession of the puck for a majority of the game and will look to break down the Upper Montgomery defense.
The Lightning will be facing a team that is very skilled and plays a suffocating defensive style. It will be hard for the Lightning to match up unless the team commits to playing a gritty blue collar type of game where the team competes all over the ice for every inch and loose puck. Upper Montgomery will need to claw and fight the entire game to remain competitive and give the team a chance to win down the stretch. A super performance from Shterenberg might just be enough to pull off a season opening upset victory.
The season begins now….
#Our Time, #UML, #Bleed Green, #Go Bolts!