The Upper Montgomery Lightning return to action on Friday evening against the Whitman Vikings in a rematch of the team’s season opening contest, a game won 7-2 by Whitman. The lopsided score does not represent how close the contest was, as with one second left in the second period, the score was tied at one. An emotionally draining goal at the very instant before the horn expired to end the second period started a free fall that the Lightning could not recover from. The loss to the Vikings to open the season started Upper Montgomery on a run of poor play that carried over the first half of the season with Upper Montgomery losing its initial six games.
Recently, the team has played better. An upset victory over the Walter Johnson Wildcats and last week’s non-competitive victory over an overmatched Churchill 2 team, have the Lightning sitting at 2-7 on the season with every opportunity to still make the state playoff tournament. If the Lightning have any hope of turning the season around, the team will need to find a way to push past Whitman and continue a winning streak to close the season.
The goaltending matchup will be similar to the team opening night game. Landon Bernard will be in net for Upper Montgomery. He will be looking to get on track and turn his season around. The program knows how well he can play as evidenced by last season’s playoff run. This year has been a different story as Bernard has been fighting the puck seemingly from the outset. He enters the game with an 0-6 record, a 6.58 goals against average and a .798 save percentage. Statistics well below his or the team’s expectations. In net for Whitman will be Ryan Graf. Graf is a solid netminder who has provided confidence and security for the Vikings. He has a 3.02 goals against average and an .880 save percentage playing against the top teams in the county.
Whitman’s calling card is their team defense. The defensive structure and the forwards ferocious back checking are second to none in the league. The Lightning’s top forward line of Nathan Cassel (8GP, 4G, 10A), Chris Hassett (7GP, 5G, 8A), and Philip Shkeda (8GP, 5G, 1A) will have their hands full trying to get into the high danger areas of the offensive zone. The team’s second line will be composed of Brandon Bernard, Bradley Cupples, and Henry Honakci. Each of these student athletes will need to provide depth scoring as the team will be without Hunter Cameron (in Phoenix with his external travel team), Olivia Robbins (in Providence with her external travel team), and Ryan Jacobson (out long term with a lower body injury). Upper Montgomery’s depth forwards (Josh Nadler, Adam Levine, and Aiden Zheng) will all play and they will need to perform as they have all season long for the Lightning junior varsity squad. Their focus will be on chip pucks out of the defensive zone, dumping pucks in deep behind the Whitman net, and playing on the defensive side of the puck. Any offense provided by the second and third lines will be gravy. It will be up to the high powered first line to supply offense. The Vikings want to play low scoring, tight checking games and counter attack when their opponents try and rush up ice in hopes of generating more offensive chances. The Upper Montgomery game plan will counter the Vikings desired style of play.
On defense the return of top Upper Montgomery defender Andrew Botti really stabilized the back end last week against Churchill 2. He will log extensive minutes against Whitman and will play almost exclusively with 9th grade defender Miles Wendland. Wendland has a very bright future as he gets stronger over the next several years. The other defensive pairing will feature a pair of AA external travel skaters, Owen Robbins and Brady Berkhammer. Cole Howerton will play some to spell Wendland during the game. The defensive game plan will be simplified to allow the defenders to conserve energy.
Whitman is led in scoring by talented forward Andrew Fou who has (10 GP, 14G, 8A). He is the offensive dynamo for the Vikings and the rest of the forwards play off of his successes. He has torched the Lightning the last two games, totaling four goals. Second on the team in scoring is Charles Ingis with (8GP, 8G, 2A). Ingis scored the back breaking goal for the Vikings in the season opener, a breakaway goal at the beginning of the third period where he fired top shelf high over Bernard’s glove hand. Jacob Lerman has (10 GP, 7G, 2A). From there, the rest of the Whitman scoring is spread throughout their lineup with no other skater having more than three goals on the season.
Defensively, the Vikings high level external travel skaters dominate their lineup. AAA Zach Kraus is the headliner. Morrison Cohen and Rowen Miller who both play AA will play significant minutes. Upper A 9th grade defender Stephen Mah has come on strong over the last few games. The Whitman defense is not expected to provide offense. Their job is to limit the opposition and make it hard for the Lightning to score.
One area that needs to immediately improve is the Lightning’s powerplay, or lack thereof. Upper Montgomery remains 0 for the season, 0-20. The only ‘powerplay’ goal scored by the Lightning this season has been a converted penalty shot by Cassel. The lack of success with the extra skater is unacceptable with the level of talent the Lightning have on the ice. Although there will likely be very few powerplay opportunities in this game, if the powerplay continues to falter, anticipate that the coaching staff is going to make changes. Several student athletes who do not normally receive powerplay time will get an opportunity.
Upper Montgomery needs to use this game to gain confidence and as a springboard to go on a run over the second half of the season. Qualifying for the state playoffs is still a realistic goal for the program, but only if the student athletes come together as a team and play for each other. The game plan devised for this tilt against Whitman will match the Vikings style of play and will provide the team with a chance to pull the upset. The Lightning will be without both primary coaches for the game on Friday night. Anticipate a low scoring, tight checking affair where Upper Montgomery focuses on defensive coverage and defensive zone clears. It will not be a visually pleasing game, but expect the Lightning to play committed team hockey where the students focus on neutralizing Whitman’s strengths and their top scorer Fou.
#Continue the Streak, #UML, #Bleed Green, #Go Bolts!