The Upper Montgomery Lightning junior varsity faces off against one of the county’s top junior varsity teams when they face the high powered Wootton Patriots this Wednesday evening. Game time is 6:30 pm at Cabin John Ice Rink. Both teams enter the early season matchup after coasting to season opening wins. The Lightning smashed the Richard Montgomery Rockets 8-0 while Wootton dismantled the Rockville / Magruder Rams 8-1. Upper Montgomery’s junior varsity brings a couple of long streaks into the game. The Lightning junior varsity is undefeated in its past fifteen regular season outings (12-0-3). The Lightning junior varsity has also killed off their past 31 shorthanded situations.
In goal for the Lightning junior varsity will again be ninth grade netminder Porter Stutsrim-Lyons. Stutsrim-Lyons plays for the Caps Academy 14U lower A external travel team and began his high school career with a fine shutout performance in the win over the Rockets this past Friday. He made a terrific save on a breakaway opportunity and was otherwise positionally sound making routine saves along the way to his 22 save shutout. He will need to play even better against the Patriots. Wootton will counter in net with sophomore netminder Kevin Yu. Yu has experience at both the junior varsity and varsity level having been Wootton’s primary goalkeeper last season and again this year. He played very well in the Montgomery Hockey Conference Varsity Tournament championship game against Upper Montgomery even through he surrendered nine goals. He made plenty of highlight worthy saves to keep Wootton from having the score go further off the rails. Upper Montgomery is going to find it much more difficult to score on Wednesday night.
On defense look for the Lightning to play a more regular defensive lineup. Playing against Richard Montgomery with only four defenders in the lineup was not ideal. Missing on Wednesday will be ninth grade defender Lillian Robbins (one goal and one assist versus the Rockets) and sophomore defender Max Curtusan. However, three defenders are expected to return to the Lightning lineup. Senior Cole Howerton, senior Patrick Sell, and sophomore Avery Evans. Sell is eligible to return to the Lightning lineup after having served his one game game suspension for a major game misconduct penalty he received in the third period of last season’s playoff game. Howerton has played some at the varsity level over the past two seasons and will be looked upon to take on a bigger role this season. At the junior varsity level Howerton (10GP, 5G, 4A) last year will be looked upon for offensive output.
Sophomore 16U lower A defender Miles Wendland, the Lightning’s most sound defender, will again likely be paired with ninth grade defender Luke Hudson. Matthew Rivera (two assists against Richard Montgomery) will likely play with Avery Evans. Howerton and Sell will likely play against Wootton’s top offensive skaters. Wootton will counter with two pairs of defenders. Junior defender Nicholas Chung will likely play with ninth grader Nathan Tian and ninth grade 14U upper A defender Isaac Greene will likely play with sophomore defender Sam Rubinstein. Chung led the way for the Wootton defense with a goal and an assist against Rockville / Magruder.
All of the Lightning skaters dressed for the game registered at least one point against Richard Montgomery. The team was led by sophomore Jake Hudson who scored twice and also hit the goal post on two other occasions. Sophomore forward Aiden Zheng also potted two goals in addition to a phenomenal backchecking performance. Ninth grade forward Siddy Bhasin added a goal and an assist. Sophomore forward Mason Jagoz contributed two assists. Senior forward AJ Marks scored as did ninth grade forward Decklin Hughes. Wootton will be led by four primary offensive threats; sophomore AAA forward Jaina Kronforst who scored a hat-trick on Friday against Rockville / Magruder. Sophomore forward Jayden Ahn scored twice while fellow sophomore forward Nathan Geeng added a goal and an assist. Senior forward Mitchell Golub brings experience as well as a scoring punch. He also contributed a goal and an assist against the Rams.
The 2024 – 2025 junior varsity season was thought to be one of growth and development for the green and gold’s younger student athletes. While those primary expectations remain, Wednesday’s contest will help determine how close Upper Montgomery is to the top junior varsity team in the county. How quickly the team develops the defensive habits necessary to lead the program forward will determine if the Lightning can challenge and beat the upper echelon junior varsity teams in the county. The game against the Patriots will be a measuring stick kind of game providing the coaching staff with a tremendous amount of knowledge of what the team will need to focus on to get better as the season progresses. On Wednesday night join us for a clash of two programs that have become bitter rivals over the past two seasons.
#UML, #Bleed Green, #Go Bolts!