The Upper Montgomery Lightning enter the last month of the regular season with all of its pre-season goals still within reach. Although first portion of the regular season has not gone as anticipated, the Lightning have won three of their past four games. The team comes into Friday’s rematch against the DC Stars having won two straight games including an upset of the third ranked Whitman Vikings. The Lightning will have revenge in mind against the DC Stars having thoroughly outplayed the Stars in October but not getting the result they deserved. The Stars prevailed 3-1, a game in which the Lightning had 37 shots on net with six additional shots clanging off the posts or the crossbar. Stars goalie Anton Tracy stole the show with his 36 save effort often leaving the Lightning skaters shaking their heads in frustration.
Upper Montgomery will be looking to continue its stronger play of late on Friday in Reston. Game time is 9:40 pm. Both teams desperately need the game to advance up the conference standings. Each team also holds out hope of hosting a first round playoff game in the upcoming Montgomery Hockey Conference playoff tournament.
In net for Upper Montgomery will be senior Landon Bernard. Bernard played very well in the team’s last game before winter break. He was one of the primary reasons for Upper Montgomery’s upset win against Whitman stopping 30 of 32 shots on goal (.938 save %) and looking as comfortable in net as he has all season. Bernard’s individual statistics have taken a step back this year but if the Whitman performance is any indication, he may be back in the groove. He is aiming for redemption over the final regular season games and into the playoffs. Upper Montgomery will only go as far in the playoffs as Bernard’s play takes the team.
The DC Stars will again play sophomore Tracy against the Lightning. Tracy looks imposing taking up a lot of the net. He is a big netminder and Upper Montgomery will need to get him to move laterally and open up spaces for pucks to get through. Traffic in front of the net, deflections, rebounds, and greasy goals will be necessary to beat Tracy. He brings a 2-4-1 record into the contest, with a 3.86 goals against average, and an .819 save percentage. Of note, the DC stars have given up only two powerplay goals this season, while they have given up seven shorthanded goals. Special teams may be an area of the game that determines the outcome. Upper Montgomery has been challenged all season long while on the powerplay. The Lightning have not scored at all when on a traditional powerplay with the extra skater. The team’s only powerplay goal was scored on a penalty shot converted by Nathan Cassell against Good Counsel.
Upper Montgomery had hoped this season for balanced goal scoring throughout the lineup. Last season’s top line of Chris Hassett, Nathan Cassel, and Philip Shkeda has continued to produce again this season. Unfortunately, it has been a continual search for other student athletes to step up and match last year’s offensive production. Hassett (9GP, 7G, 13A) and Cassell (10GP, 7G, 13A) share the team lead in assists and points. Shkeda (10GP, 9G, 2A) leads the team in goals. From there the season ending injury to Ryan Jacobson (6GP, 4G, 1A) has drastically impacted the Lightning’s secondary offense. Hunter Cameron has chipped in with (7GP, 4G, 3A) with two different two goal games. Each of the team’s other forwards, Brandon Bernard, Bradley Cupples, Olivia Robbins, and Henry Honacki have each played well in one or two games where they have accumulated the majority of their points on the season.
The DC Stars have had trouble scoring goals, having moved the twine only 18 times in their eight games. A paltry average of just 2.25 goals per game. The Stars are led offensively by Thomas Cooperman (8GP, 4G, 5A). Cooperman scored twice in the third period to help beat the Lightning in the team’s first matchup earlier in the season. Senior forward Eli Rubin (6GP, 3G, 2A) is second on the team in points tied with sophomore Walter Bernstein (8GP, 2G, 3A).
On defense the Lightning have struggled all season. With top defender Andrew Botti out for the first eight games of the season, Upper Montgomery had difficulty keeping teams out of the high danger areas. Paired with subpar goaltending, the Lightning suffered a pile of losses. With Botti back, the team has given up only three goals in two games, none while he has been on the ice. Botti will miss Friday’s game as he will be out of town with his external travel team. Also missing will be sophomore defensive defender Owen Robbins. He will also be out of town with his external travel teams. Senior co-captain Cameron has played several games on defense to help anchor and provide stability on the back end. Sophomore Brady Berkhammer and 9th grade defender Miles Wendland will see substantial playing time against the Stars. Expect another forward to also play back on defense for this game. The Lightning have received next to nothing offensively from the defensive corps. Outside of Cameron’s production in October’s season opener against Whitman where he scored both Upper Montgomery goals, all other Upper Montgomery defensive skaters have contributed no goals and eleven assists in 45 combined games played.
Most of the DC Stars upper level talent is on the defensive side. Junior Leo Nyberg is the leader on the back line for the DC Stars. He is the DC Stars top defensive skater and has (8GP, 1G, 4A). Senior defender Rodrigo Mattioli (8GP, 3G, 2A) has also chipped in from the blue line for the Stars. They will both see extensive action against the Lightning hoping to replicate the Stars defensive performance in the team’s initial game where Upper Montgomery struggled to score.
In almost every game this season, the Upper Montgomery coaching staff was going to be forced to supplement the usual varsity squad with several student athletes called up from the junior varsity. This week, anticipate those lesser experienced skaters to receive more playing time as a way to balance out the line combinations. With Jacobson out injured and Botti and Owen Robbins also missing the game, Upper Montgomery will play with a short bench. Getting contributions from up and down the lineup will take pressure off the top line and allow them to receive sufficient rest on the bench between shifts. If Upper Montgomery’s scoring continues to be centralized amongst only the top four skaters, the coaching staff will be forced to constantly rely on just those few top end offensive skaters. This is not a recipe for success as their performance will deteriorate as the game progresses and they become fatigued. If the team’s second and third lines do not produce against the Stars, expect the coaching staff to begin whittling down ice time.
For Upper Montgomery it is a critical game. The Lightning need to get closer to the .500 mark in conference play. The team needs to pick up valuable standing points in winnable games. The DC Stars game is a winnable game for the Lightning, but only if Upper Montgomery brings a complete team focused style of play. All of the student athletes must support each other positionally and with good decision making to continue to grind out victories. Upper Montgomery does not need to play pretty, just pretty effectively.
#Extend the Streak, #UML, #Bleed Green, #Go Bolts!