The Upper Montgomery Lightning return to action on Friday, January 14th versus Richard Montgomery. Game time is 9:00 pm at Rockville Ice Arena. The Lightning will be looking to extend a season high five game win streak and a six game unbeaten streak, 5-0-1. Friday’s game will be a good measure of the team’s progress this season as Upper Montgomery will be stepping up in competition against the Rockets who were a state championship finalist last season. A small advantage is that Richard Montgomery will be playing their first game in a month.
The Lightning are expected to start Will Mellen in goal. Mellen is coming off his second shutout of the season against Wilson. He has given up two goals combined in his last four starts. Mellen leads the Montgomery Hockey Conference (MHC) both in goals against average, 1.17 gaa and in save percentage, .935. In six games this season he has a record of 4-1-1, giving up a total of seven goals. He will need to play very well in this game to shut down the high powered Rockets attack. As we saw during the Whitman game, Mellen certainly has it in him to singlehandedly frustrate the opponent. It is anticipated that Henry Darko will get the start for the Rockets. He has been Richard Montgomery’s main goalie this season and has backstopped some impressive wins over Wootton and Whitman, along with a tie against BCC, one of the top teams in the upper division of the MHC.
The Upper Montgomery defense pitched in last week with three goals and eight assists against Wilson. This week, the main objective will be shutting down the Rockets top five high scoring student athletes; Dylan Goetz a high scoring forward (8 GP, 10 goals and 6 assists), defender Luke Gutmann who plays externally at the 18U AA travel level (6 GP, 9 goals and 3 assists), forward Daniel Martella who also plays externally at the 18U AA travel level (8 GP, 6 goals and 5 assists), defender Mitchell Bobys, (18U AA travel) who has (8 GP, 5 goals and 6 assists), and Zac Bulson (18U AA travel) who has played well in limited action (4 GP, 3 goals and 3 assists). The Lightning will be without high scoring defender James Botti who will be out of town with his external travel team. Expect the quartet of George Benedick, Ethan Hockey, Andrew Botti, and Andrew Gean to get most of the ice time with Cole Howerton receiving a few shifts throughout the game. The Upper Montgomery defense will have its hands full containing the Rockets firepower which will make it important that the team stay out of the penalty box to further limit the Richard Montgomery offense.
Key to the Lightning’s success last week in the win against Wilson was that depth scoring finally showed up and took the pressure off the top line. This week, top line forward Nathan Cassel will be out of town with his external travel team. It will be interesting to see who the coaching staff moves up to play with Chris Hassett and Ryan Jacobson on the top line. It may be Hunter Cameron who flourished last week. With the return of Olivia Robbins to the lineup this week, it is anticipated that she will play along side Bradley Cupples on the second line. The third line may be a rotation of several different combinations of student athletes as the coaching staff looks to find a trio that meshes well, is defensively sound, and can provide a spark and energy.
An Upper Montgomery win versus Richard Montgomery would be a signature victory for the Lightning. A win or a tie will qualify the team for the MHC division one conference playoff tournament which would be a first in program history. The Lightning hope to continue to play smothering defense on Friday night and keep their unbeaten streak alive. It will be an exciting finishing two week stretch as the team completes its 2021-2022 regular season schedule.