The Upper Montgomery Lightning return to the ice on Friday, January 7th to begin the second half of the season. Game time against the winless Wilson Stars is 9:00 pm at Rockville Ice Arena. This will be the second game of the season versus Wilson, with Upper Montgomery winning the first game 9-0 just before the Thanksgiving holiday. The Lightning will be heavily favored in the game and will need to make sure that complacency does not set in as the team tries for its fifth victory in a row.
The Lightning offense has been led all year by the first line of Chris Hassett (10 goals, 10 assists), Ryan Jacobson (5 goals, 9 assists), and Nathan Cassel (10 goals, 3 assists). All three student athletes are in 9th or 10th grade. The future is very bright for this trio. The second line has started to find its scoring touch of late. Hunter Cameron now has 4 goals and 3 assists, Bradley Cupples has a goal and 6 assists, and Olivia Robbins has chipped in with a goal and two assists having missed multiple games playing with her external travel team. The third line has been a revolving pair of wingers along with Brandon Bernard at center. It has been difficult for the third line to achieve chemistry although Stephen Shkeda has provided the line with tenacity and energy. Due to the anticipated absence this week of Jacobson and Robbins as they will be out-of-town with their external travel teams, expect the team to dress additional depth forwards which will provide playing time for some student athletes that would not normally receive playing time.
On defense, James Botti leads the team in points with 7 assists in 7 games, but other defenders have chipped in with points; George Benedick a goal and two assists, Andrew Botti a goal and two assists, and Andrew Gean has a goal and an assist. Together with Ethan Hockey, the Lightning have given up only 20 goals in 8 games, for a team goals against average of 2.50 goals per game. If you exclude the 7-6 shootout versus the Blair Blazers, the team’s goals against average would be even lower at 1.86 per game. Even with the non-conference game versus the West Virginia Vipers included, the Lightning have given up the fewest goals of all 15 teams in the Montgomery Hockey Conference. The hard work and effort of the defense, as well as the backchecking forwards, have really limited the opposing teams’ scoring opportunities. Expect this same type of defensive effort against the Stars and the team to dress six defenders with Cole Howerton returning to the lineup.
In goal, Will Mellen has led the way. Mellen leads all goalies in the Montgomery Hockey Conference who have played at least three games with a 1.40 goals against average and a .932 save percentage. Landon Bernard has also seen some varsity action, picking up his first career high school varsity win in the game against the West Virginia Vipers. If the strong goaltending keeps up, the Lightning will be in every game and will have a chance to win the cross over games against the division one teams. Both goalies may see time against the Stars. In net for the Stars will be junior Jack Kobil who has done everything he can to keep the opposition from scoring.
The Lightning special teams have been uneven. The power play percentage is good at 23.3% (7 for 30), but it is the way the power play has looked that is not so good. The power play looks disjointed most of the time, with perimeter passing and not many high quality looks. The Lightning scored four power play goals in the high scoring Blair game but have only three other power play goals in the other seven games of the season (3 for 23, 13.0%). On the other hand, the Upper Montgomery penalty kill has been fantastic, killing off 27 of 30 opportunities (90.0%) on the season. The Lightning have killed off the last 16 extra attacker chances and this success has given the team a major boost. The Wilson game may be an opportunity to work on special teams in a game environment.
A win versus Wilson coupled with a DC Stars loss to Sherwood would put the Lightning on the precipice of their first ever division one playoff appearance. A second victory in one of the last three conference games of the season against either Richard Montgomery, Sherwood, or St. Johns, would guarantee a playoff berth for Upper Montgomery. Join us on Friday evening as the Lightning begin the finishing stretch of the 2021-2022 regular season.