As the school year is now completed and students are out for the summer months, the Upper Montgomery Lightning program is already deep in preparations for the upcoming hockey season. Many of the team’s student athletes are participating in various hockey camps to improve their individual skill level and strength and conditioning.
The team is mere weeks away from the beginning the registration process for student athletes to be eligible for the upcoming 2024-2025 season. The only unknown at this juncture is if the conference will make any changes to the current roster of high schools that make up the Upper Montgomery program. There is discussion that some of the coop teams may need to pick up additional schools as both Blair and Sherwood may become pure teams for the upcoming season. A team must go pure when they reach sixteen students from the same high school in the program. With the corresponding moves, Upper Montgomery may be asked to accept additional students into the program. There is no movement to remove any of the Upper Montgomery program’s four core high schools.
All of the team’s focus shifts now to qualifying for the Maryland state high school playoffs for the first time in team history. The upcoming season will be the sixteenth season that the green, white, and gold will battle it out against the best in Montgomery County. The Lightning are one of six programs with a legitimate shot at advancing through the Montgomery Hockey Conference playoff bracket and making a run into the state playoff tournament. Each student athlete must dedicate themselves to this goal, starting with improving their individual skills and conditioning over the summer to come into camp in top shape.
The Lightning program also will be closely following three alumni skaters who depart the program after this past season all of whom will be playing junior hockey next fall:
Hunter Cameron will be playing in Pennsylvania for the Hershey Cubs.
Olivia Robbins will be playing in Ontario, Canada for the OHA Mavericks Elite U22 team.
Ryan Jacobson will be playing in Mount Clemens, Michigan for the Metro Jets.
Also happening throughout the summer is the Upper Montgomery Lightning Varsity Trophy traveling tour. As has become tradition, when the program wins a championship such as the Varsity Tournament title this past winter (akin to the NIT tournament in college basketball), the team’s championship trophy leaves the year-end team celebration and travels across the county spending one week with each member of the organization that participated in winning the championship. So, be on the lookout around the upper regions of Montgomery County for a trophy sighting!
#UML, #Bleed Green, #Go Bolts!