Author: chucklevine

The Upper Montgomery Lightning return to action on Friday evening against the Churchill Bulldogs Team Two. Game time is late night at Rockville Ice Arena, a 10:00 pm start. Unlike Monday’s game against Churchill’s main varsity team, an 8-0 Upper Montgomery defeat, the game against Churchill Two will be even more lopsided in the Lightning’s favor. Upper Montgomery should never be threatened in this contest.

The Bulldogs enter the contest ranked last in the county standings with an 0-6 record. They have scored ten goals in six games. Defensively, Churchill Two has given up 57 goals in six games, an average of 9.5 goals per game, and Churchill Two has mainly played against the bottom teams in the county standings. Quite simply, Churchill Two would be more appropriately rostered at the junior varsity level, and even then, several of the better junior varsity teams in the county would beat Churchill Two, Upper Montgomery included.

Friday’s game will be similar to a working scrimmage. Upper Montgomery will jump out front early in the game and will use the rest of the game to sharpen their play heading into next week’s important rematch against the Whitman Vikings. Expect the coaching staff to provide many student athletes who do not play significant minutes with lots of playing time.

An encouraging sign for the Lightning is that junior defender Andrew Botti is expected to make his first appearance this season. Botti’s return from a preseason injury that has kept him out of the Lightning’s first eight games should be a jolt of confidence for the team on the defensive side of the puck. His leadership and calming ability should settle down a defensive corps that has been underwhelming thus far over the first half of the season.

Churchill Two is led in scoring by Adam Klewans who has 5GP, 2G, 3A. No other Bulldog skater has more than three points. In goal for the Bulldogs will be either Nick Nelson who has a 7.36 goals against average and a .730 save percentage or Lucas Petrosyan who has a 13.20 goals against average and a .585 save percentage. Upper Montgomery is likely to play both goalies, Landon Bernard and Ilan Shterenberg in the game.

One area that needs to immediately improve is the Lightning’s powerplay, or lack thereof. Upper Montgomery remains 0 for the season, 0-20. The only ‘powerplay’ goal scored by the Lightning this season has been a converted penalty shot. The lack of success with the extra skater is unacceptable with the level of talent the Lightning have on the ice. Although there will likely be very few powerplay opportunities in this game, if the powerplay continues to falter, anticipate that the coaching staff is going to make changes. Several student athletes who do not normally receive powerplay time will get an opportunity.

Upper Montgomery needs to use this game as a springboard to go on a run over the second half of the season. Qualifying for the state playoffs is still a realistic goal for the program, but only if the student athletes come together as a team and play for each other.

#Start the Streak, #UML, #Bleed Green, #Go Bolts!

Fresh off their first win of the season over third ranked Walter Johnson, the Upper Montgomery Lightning finish the first half of the season schedule against perennial state champion Churchill on Monday evening at Cabin John Ice Rink. Puck drop is at 6:30 pm. The Bulldogs have won eight of the last ten Maryland high school ice hockey state championships. The two years that Churchill did not win the state title were last season when they lost in the championship game, and during the COVID health crisis when the Bulldogs were prevented from competing in the state playoffs. Monday’s game will be the first time that the teams have played since their epic Montgomery Hockey Conference quarterfinal matchup last winter. With the winner advancing to the state playoffs, Churchill outlasted the Lightning in a five round shootout by a three to two margin after a one all tie through regulation and overtime.

This year is no different for Churchill. The Bulldogs enter the contest ranked first in the county standings with a 6-0-1 conference record. The Churchill roster is stacked with high-end talent. The Bulldogs trot out a variety of AAA and AA external travel team level skaters. While Upper Montgomery will have very close to its full lineup for the game, keeping up in the game will still be a challenge. Unlike in last year’s playoff game, Churchill will not be overlooking the Lightning this season.

In this game, Upper Montgomery’s success will be defined by how well the team defends and clears the puck out of high danger zones. To be competitive, the Lightning will need to muck up the game and prevent Churchill’s speed from overpowering Upper Montgomery’s inexperienced defenders. Although Andrew Botti is close to returning for the Lightning, he is not yet cleared for participation. The lower scoring the game, and the uglier that the game looks visually, the more of an opportunity Upper Montgomery will have to pull off the massive upset. Last year’s tie in the playoff game before succumbing in the shootout was the first ever points Upper Montgomery has earned against Churchill. In fifteen seasons, the Lightning have never beaten the Bulldogs. The Lightning have also never beaten a team ranked number one. Last year’s victory over second ranked Quince Orchard is the team with the highest ranking that the Lightning have ever beaten.

On offense, the Lightning seem to have progressed from the beginning of the season. When close to the full team is in attendance, the Lightning have scored seven, five, and eight goals in their most recent three games. This is a far cry from the start of the season when goals were non-existent. Nathan Cassel continues to lead the team in points with 7GP, 4G, 10A. He is coming off of a three assist effort versus Walter Johnson. Chris Hassett’s production has ramped up over his last couple of games and he is now second on the team in scoring with 6GP, 5G, 8A. He is also coming off of a multi-point effort over the Wildcats with two goals and four assists. Hassett’s next assist will be a milestone, his 50th career varsity assist. Philip Shkeda is heating up having scored in four straight games. His two goals against the Wildcats helped propel the Lightning to victory. He is tied with Hassett for the team lead in goals with five.

Ryan Jacobson has scored four goals in five games, bouncing back and forth between centering the second line and playing defense. Henry Honacki has begun to get into the heavy traffic areas and his point totals have increased as a result. Honacki now has 7GP, 3G, 3A. Bradley Cupples chipped in with two goals against Walter Johnson and is clustered with Hunter Cameron and Brandon Bernard with two goals and several assists each. The depth scoring from the second and third lines which had been missing early in the season has really helped the Lightning’s offensive production improve. One area that has not improved has been the Lightning’s powerplay. It has been simply putrid. The stink has now reached 18 extra skater advantages to begin the season with no powerplay goals. The streak includes three different five on three extended powerplay chances. The team’s only ‘powerplay’ goal was a penalty shot converted by Cassel against Mount St. Joseph.

Defensively, and in goal, the team must be significantly better. Yes, the team has had to patch together the defensive pairings while working through the injury to Botti, but the defensive blunders have been plentiful and massive. Most of the miscues have led directly to key opposition goals against. The forwards need to do a better job on the backcheck and with breakouts, controlling the game with puck possession and management. The defense must be more physical and not allow the opposing forwards down low beneath them and the goal.

Churchill’s offensive output is led by 18U AA forward, Zachary Silver. Silver has tallied over and over this season. He has 8GP, 12G, 4A. Not too far behind has been Joshua Wong, with 8GP, 6G, 3A and 18U AAA forward Joshua Potenti, 5GP, 6G, 2A. Daniel McNelis has four goals in five games. He plays 16U AAA. Asher Wang, 18U AA leads the Bulldogs in assists. He has 8GP, 2G, 7A. On defense, Churchill has 9th grade 14U AA Alexander Bazyluk with six assists in eight games. Dalton Esko-Himmelfarb has 5GP, 1G, 3A. He plays with the Lightning’s Hunter Cameron on the Little Caps 18U AAA team.

In net for Upper Montgomery is expected to be Ilan Shterenberg. Shterenberg battled to his first career high school varsity victory last time out making enough saves to hold off Walter Johnson. As the team’s goaltending has been spotty this season, the coaching staff is looking for either Shterenberg or senior Landon Bernard to grab the reins on the top goaltender spot. Shterenberg has been lights out at the junior varsity level with six wins, two by shutout, a 1.36 goals against average, and a .941 save percentage. The step up in competition at the varsity level has impact his statistics. Not unexpected for a 9th grade student athlete. Landon Bernard played fantastic last year against Churchill in the playoffs. He stopped 34 of 35 shots and was critical to almost pulling off the greatest upset in the history of Maryland high school hockey. He was also outstanding last year in the opening round playoff game against St. Johns. This year has been a struggle. There have been stretches of nice play sprinkled in with goals that he wishes he had back. In net for Churchill is expected to be 16U AA Macallister Glazer. Glazer splits time with senior Cameron Shure, but receives the starts in goal when Churchill faces stronger competition. Glazer is 3-0-1 on the season with a 3.00 goals against average and a .867 save percentage.

Upper Montgomery desperately needs a good showing to begin moving back up the conference standings and rankings. The team started the season ranked with its highest ranking ever, fifth spot, and then promptly plummeted down the rankings to where it is currently, tenth. Finishing seventh or tenth is preferred rather than landing in eight or ninth spot and having to likely once again face Churchill in the quarterfinal round of the Montgomery Hockey Conference playoffs. The win over Walter Johnson was a step forward. Now the team needs to continue to ascend with a very good performance against a very tough opponent.

#UML, #Bleed Green, #Go Bolts!

The start of the 2023 – 2024 high school ice hockey season has been one to forget for the Upper Montgomery Lightning varsity squad and pleasantly surprising for the Lightning junior varsity squad. The Upper Montgomery program had very high expectations for this season after the conclusion to last year and with so many highly talented student athletes returning. Unfortunately, qualifying for the state playoffs for the first time in program history seems like a distant vision unless the team comes together, plays as a team, and goes on an epic run. There has been too much individual play, too much worrying about everything but winning, and the team’s performance has suffered as a result.

The Lightning varsity squad sits winless at 0-6 on the season. There have been some stretches of good play, but overall, the only consistency to the season has been the limited amount of student athletes available each game due to external travel team commitments and Andrew Botti’s injury. Upper Montgomery has had its full complement of offensive forward lines for only two games this season. Being able to run three full lines allows the student athletes sufficient rest to compete hard over the entire game. Not surprisingly then, the third periods have been Upper Montgomery’s downfall with the team having a minus twelve goal differential in the final period over the first six games of the season.

Three troubling trends have developed over the first portion of the season. One, a lack of goal scoring. This seems to have been rectified in two of the past three games, a 9-7 loss to Sherwood and a 7-5 loss to Mount St. Joseph. The second issue is the poor finishes mentioned above. Not having a full roster has placed a burden on the student athletes present at each game and they have run out of steam deep into the games. The third issue and the most glaring have been the defensive breakdowns. This may be a result of the top skaters having to play excessive minutes each game as the team has played with a short bench throughout the season. It may be playing without top defender Andrew Botti for the entire season. It may be that the defensive skaters have just not been good enough. It is no secret that the top teams in the county prevent goals. A look at the standings this season as well as last season show a dramatic difference in all teams’ records when giving up three or fewer goals in a game. Quite simply, the Upper Montgomery defensive lapses and breakdowns have been awful and are the leading contributor to the 0-6 start.

Upper Montgomery’s offensive success can be defined by how well the offensive leaders of the team perform. Nathan Cassel leads the team with 6GP, 4G, 6A. He is coming off of a three point effort versus Mount St. Joseph, including converting on a penalty shot goal. Chris Hassett’s production has led the Lightning program for the past two seasons, and he is once again contributing. He is second on the team in scoring with 5GP, 3G, 4A. Ryan Jacobson has scored three goals in four games, bouncing back and forth between centering the second line and playing defense. Philip Shkeda is heating up having scored in three straight games. The difficulty for the Lightning has been getting the offense going especially against the top teams in the conference, scoring twice against Whitman, once against the DC Stars, and twice against BCC. Depth scoring from the second and third lines has been very limited with many of the team’s forwards either underperforming or having all of their scoring centralized in the Sherwood game. Consistent depth scoring would dramatically advance the Lightning’s chances over the second half of the season.

Defensively, and in goal, the team must be significantly better. Yes, the team has had to patch together the defensive pairings while working through the injury to Botti, but the defensive blunders have been plentiful and massive. Most of the miscues have led directly to key opposition goals against. The forwards need to do a better job on the backcheck and with breakouts, controlling the game with puck possession and puck management. The defense must be more physical and not allow the opposing forwards down low beneath them with unobstructed looks at the goal.

If the poor performances do not change quickly expect the coaching staff to provide more playing time to the younger student athletes that have thus far historically played the majority of their high school hockey career at the junior varsity level. When the back half of the varsity schedule flips and the Lightning are facing less talented opposition, the lower portion of the roster will be more capable of receiving playing time and will push the top skaters for playing time. While the depth of the Lightning’s roster should have been able to handle one or two student athletes missing a game here or there, the team has not stepped up and performed.

In net for Upper Montgomery Landon Bernard has had stretches of nice play this season sprinkled in with goals that he wishes he had back. The team knows what Bernard is capable of with last season’s playoff performance as a benchmark of how good he can play. The Lightning will need to see more of that shut down goaltending to have a successful back half of the season.

Going into the season, the junior varsity was expected to be better than last year with the team needing 9th grade goaltender Ilan Shterenberg to be a difference maker in net. The junior varsity games were expected to be lower scoring as the team used its defensive strength to focus on preventing the opposition from scoring. This is exactly how the season has played out. Shterenberg has played very well for the junior varsity this season having won all four of his starts and having posted two shutouts to begin his high school career. His season statistics are a .940 save percentage and a 1.03 goals against average. In limited action last week against Mount St. Joseph at the varsity level he stopped 16 of 18 shots on goal. Anticipate Shterenberg seeing additional varsity game action as the coaching staff gets him experience as preparation for next season. His play in net will ultimately determine how successful the team is and how far the Lightning junior varsity advances in the junior varsity county playoffs. He has the talent and ability to steal any game by himself.

The core reason for the junior varsity’s 4-0 undefeated start to the season has been the team’s leadership and team defensive play. Unlike what may be occurring with the varsity, the junior varsity is not worried about who scores and how the game looks visually. The junior varsity has worked hard each game and has focused on defense only giving up four goals over the first four games of the season. The penalty kill has been a perfect 13-13 on the season including a couple of long 5-3 kills.

Offensively, the coaching staff knew it would be a mixed bag. Some games it was anticipated that the squad would generate offensive much more capably than last season. Other games, it was thought to still be extremely difficult to mount much of an attack. This is because the team has no one individual skater that can take over a game by themselves and propel the team to victory. It was going to be more of a success by committee approach and that is what has played out.

Josh Nadler has led the way scoring in each of the first four games of the season. He leads the team with five goals. Cole Howerton has scored three goals in the first four games of the season. TJ Gottesman also has four points on two goals and two assists. Sean Levine has three points, and the depth scoring has started to come through. AJ Marks and Aiden Zheng have played better over the past couple of games, and both have two points. Adam Levine has chipped in with two assists, both on nice passing plays with Nadler finishing on each occasion. The offense has been just enough with the team averaging 3.5 goals per game.

Defensively, the Lightning’s experience and team defense has stood out. Jake Roth, Cole Howerton, Patrick Sell, Miles Wendland, Avery Evans, and Behr Schickler have limited the opposition’s quality scoring chances. When breakdowns occur, the forwards have been in position defensively to clear the danger areas and get pucks out of the defensive zone. The combination has allowed the Lightning to play with the lead or tied for all but 8:30 of game actions this season. The maximum effort displayed so far and the commitment to each other combined with the stellar defensive play must continue for the team to reach its goals. It’s been a nice start, but the middle of the season needs to be strong against stronger competition to position the squad well for the season ending conference playoffs.

#Our Time, #UML, #Bleed Green, #Go Bolts!

The Upper Montgomery Lightning face off on Tuesday afternoon against last year’s state champion, the Walter Johnson Wildcats. Although this year’s Wildcats are not as loaded as last year’s squad, they remain a formidable opponent, ranked third in the county standings and rankings. The Wildcats enter the contest with a 3-1-1 record, having tied top ranked Churchill in their most recent game action. Game time for Tuesday’s matinee is early, a 3:15 pm start at Rockville Ice Arena. The Lightning have gotten off to an incredibly disappointing start to the season, and will be looking to spring the upset.

Upper Montgomery will have very close to its full lineup for the game. It will be only the third time this season that the team will likely dress a full complement of forwards. Being able to run three full lines should allow the student athletes sufficient rest to compete hard over the entire game. The third periods have been Upper Montgomery’s downfall with the team having a minus twelve goal differential in the final period over the first six games of the season.

Three troubling trends have developed over the first portion of the season. One, a lack of goal scoring. This seems to have been rectified in two of the past three games, a 9-7 loss to Sherwood and a 7-5 loss to Mount St. Joseph. The second issue is the poor finishes mentioned above. Not having a full roster has placed a burden on the student athletes present at each game and they have run out of steam deep into the games. The third issue and the most glaring has been the defensive breakdowns. This may be a result of the top skaters having to play excessive minutes each game as the team has played with a short bench throughout the season. It may be playing without top defender Andrew Botti for the entire season. It may be that the defensive skaters have just not been good enough. It is no secret that the top teams in the county prevent goals. A look at the standings this season as well as last season show a dramatic difference in all teams’ records when giving up three or fewer goals in a game.

Upper Montgomery’s success will be defined by how well the offensive leaders of the team perform. Nathan Cassel leads the team with 6GP, 4G, 6A. He is coming off of a three point effort versus Mount St. Joseph, including converting on a penalty shot goal. Chris Hassett’s production has led the Lightning program for the past two seasons, and he is once again contributing. He is second on the team in scoring with 5GP, 3G, 4A. Ryan Jacobson has scored three goals in four games, bouncing back and forth between centering the second line and playing defense. Philip Shkeda is heating up having scored in three straight games. The difficulty for the Lightning has been getting the offense going especially against the top teams in the conference, scoring twice against Whitman, once against the DC Stars, and twice against BCC. Depth scoring from the second and third lines has been missing with many of the team’s forwards either underproducing or having all of their scoring centralized in the Sherwood game. Consistent depth scoring would dramatically advance the Lightning’s chances over the second half of the season.

Defensively, and in goal, the team must be significantly better. Yes, the team has had to patch together the defensive pairings while working through the injury to Botti, but the defensive blunders have been plentiful and massive. Most of the miscues have led directly to key opposition goals against. The forwards need to do a better job on the backcheck and with breakouts, controlling the game with puck possession and management. The defense must be more physical and not allow the opposing forwards down low beneath them and the goal.

Walter Johnson’s offensive output has been evenly distributed, led by its external travel team student athletes. 18U AAA forward Brendan Klotz who plays on the same external travel team as the Lightning’s Hunter Cameron has 5GP, 4G, 5A. Henry Horwell who plays on the same external travel team as the Lightning’s Henry Honacki has 5GP, 4G, 2A. Adam Pyott who plays 18U AA has five goals in five games. The Walter Johnson defense has also gotten in on the scoring led by Patrick Murphy who plays on the same 18U AA team as Brandon and Landon Bernard with 4GP, 3G, 1A, and Liam Mannle 16U AA who has 5GP, 3G, 1A. Ruslan Titov has 5GP, 1G, 3A and senior team leader 18U AA Jonathan Corwin has two goals in four games.

In net for Upper Montgomery is expected to be Landon Bernard. Bernard has had stretches of nice play this season sprinkled in with goals that he wishes he had back. Knowing so many of the Wildcat student athletes, he will be motivated to play well and stonewall Walter Johnson. Bernard will be backed up by 9th grade netminder Ilan Shterenberg. Shterenberg has played very well for the junior varsity this season having won all four starts and having posted two shutouts to begin his high school career. His season statistics are a .940 save percentage and a 1.03 goals against average. In limited action last week against Mount St. Joseph he stopped 16 of 18 shots on goal. If the game gets out of hand, anticipate Shterenberg will see additional game action as the coaching staff gets him experience at the varsity level as preparation for next season. In net for Walter Johnson is expected to be Isaac Russ. Russ has played in the majority of the games for the Wildcats this season and has posted respectable statistics, a 3.11 goals against average and an .860 save percentage.

Upper Montgomery is in desperate need of playing well and getting a much needed first win of the season on Tuesday. A win over Walter Johnson would be the first in program history and a terrific way to jump start the season. Up next after Walter Johnson and the Thanksgiving break is top ranked Churchill before the schedule lightens up over the second half of the league season.

#UML, #Bleed Green, #Go Bolts!

The Upper Montgomery Lightning face off on Wednesday afternoon against the Mount St. Joseph’s Gaels. This will be the Lightning’s second non-conference private school matchup of the season. Game time is scheduled for 4:00 pm at Laurel Ice Gardens. The Lightning have gotten off to an incredibly disappointing start to the season, one that was filled with so much pre-season promise. Thankfully, the team still has the opportunity to reach all of its pre-season goals.

Upper Montgomery will have very close to its full lineup for the game. It will be only the second time this season that the team will dress a full complement of forwards. Being able to run three full lines should allow the student athletes sufficient rest to compete hard the entire game. The third periods have been Upper Montgomery’s downfall with the team having a minus twelve goal differential in the final period over the first five games of the season. Upper Montgomery will be looking to reverse that trend against the Gaels.

Mount St. Joseph’s will be quite the test. While not a powerhouse like the more prominent private school teams, the Gaels are comparable with the top teams in the Montgomery Hockey Conference. In their opening game of the season the Gaels jumped out to a 3-1 lead over South River (a Maryland Student Hockey League state playoff participant last season), before having late game difficulties of their own. South River scored five unanswered goals and hung on for a 5-4 victory. Mount St. Joseph also had difficulty staying out of the penalty box taking six minor penalties during the game. Conversely, Upper Montgomery has earned only six powerplays all season long. Earning just six powerplays and scoring zero powerplay goals over the first five games of the season is completely inadequate.

Two troubling trends developed over the first couple of games this season. One, a lack of goal scoring, seems to have been rectified in last Tuesday’s 9-7 loss to Sherwood, a game in which Upper Montgomery led 3-0 after the first period and 4-1 mid-way through the game. The second issue is the poor finishes ad third period defensive breakdowns. This may be a result of the top skaters having to play excessive minutes each game as the team has played with a short bench throughout the season.

Returning to the lineup against the Gales will be Chris Hassett, Ryan Jacobson, and Owen Robbins. All three missed last Friday’s game against BCC while they were with their external travel teams. Olivia Robbins will also be in town looking to score in back to back games after notching her first goal of the season against the Barons playing in her first game of the year. Upper Montgomery’s success will be defined by how well the offensive leaders of the team perform. Nathan Cassel leads the team with 5GP, 2G, 5A. Chris Hassett is second on the team in scoring with 4GP, 3G, 3A. Both Hunter Cameron and Ryan Jacobson have scored two goals in three games. The difficulty for the Lightning has been getting the offense going, having scored only eight goals in the four games outside of the Sherwood contest.

Defensively, the team must be significantly better. Yes, the team has had to patch together the defensive pairings while working through the injury to Andrew Botti, but the defensive blunders have been massive. Most of the miscues have directly led to key opposition goals against. The forwards need to simply do a better job on the backcheck, and controlling the game with puck management. This will help the inexperienced defense and the forwards who are playing defense this season for the first time.

Mount St. Joseph’s scoring was evenly distributed in their game against South River. Forwards Aiden McIntyre and Ryan Currie had two assists. Four different Gaels’ student athletes scored in the game. Nate Carr was in net and stopped 24 of 29 shots on goal. With Mount St. Joseph’s being located in Baltimore, Upper Montgomery does not have a wide scouting report on the Gaels.

In net for Upper Montgomery is expected to be the varsity debut of 9th grade goalie Ilan Shterenberg. Shterenberg has played very well for the junior varsity this season having won all four starts and having posting two shutouts to begin his high school career. His season statistics are a .940 save percentage and a 1.03 goals against average. Facing the Gaels will be a step up in competition, but an excellent opportunity for Shterenberg to get a taste of varsity game action. If Shterenberg struggles, expect Landon Bernard to play the back half of the game. Bernard himself has struggled at times this season, so getting a break to relax and reset may prepare Bernard for the rest of the conference schedule.

Upper Montgomery is in desperate need of playing well and getting a positive result on Wednesday. A win over a private school program would be a terrific way to jump start the season heading into two difficult matchups sandwiching the Thanksgiving holiday against top Montgomery Hockey Conference rivals Walter Johnson and Churchill.

#UML, #Bleed Green, #Go Bolts!

A shorthanded Upper Montgomery Lightning will face off against perennial powerhouse BCC Friday night at Rockville Ice Arena. Game time is 8:50 pm. It will be an enormously difficult task for the team playing an opponent that Upper Montgomery has never beaten. Last season’s Halloween surprise garnered the program’s first ever points against BCC by way of a 2-2 tie. The team’s rematch at the end of the last regular season was an 8-2 blowout victory for the Barons who were clearly upset with their early season performance. Upper Montgomery will be missing many student athletes for this contest, and it will be incumbent on the experienced student athletes in attendance to play superbly.

Upper Montgomery’s season has not gone as anticipated. The team has struggled mightily on defense and is winless at 0-4 on the season. With a few different plays in each game, the team very well might be 4-0. BCC has lost its first two games of the season. Both losses have been competitive games against the top two teams in the county, Churchill and Walter Johnson. The major challenge this season for Upper Montgomery was going to be how to navigate all of the highly talented student athletes missing games when they were out-of-town with their external travel teams. This week will the toughest test yet as the team will be utilizing many junior varsity student athletes in regular roles throughout the game.

Initially, two troubling trends had developed over the first couple of games this season. One, a lack of goal scoring, but that seemed to have been rectified in Tuesday’s 9-7 loss to Sherwood, a game in which Upper Montgomery led 3-0 after the first period and 4-1 mid-way through the game. The second issue is poor third periods. This may be a result of the top skaters having to play excessive minutes each game as the team played with a short bench throughout the season. The Lightning have a minus eleven goal differential in the third period in the team’s first four games of the season.

In Tuesday’s game against Sherwood several student athletes had strong offensive games. Nathan Cassel was especially good and had five points with two goals and three assists. Chris Hassett also recorded five points, similarly scoring two goals and three assists. Henry Honacki had the best varsity game of his career with a three point game, one goal and two assists. However, the defense was exposed over the second half of the game with Grayson Wincker and Noi Jonasson skating around the Lightning defense and into high danger areas. Winckler had a hat-trick coupled with three assists and Jonasson had two goals and two assists. Upper Montgomery must play a grittier defensive style and compete harder to limit the opposing team’s chances.

For the Lightning, returning to the lineup will be Bradley Cupples who missed Tuesday’s game. Olivia Robbins will make her season debut. Both Cupples and Robbins play a north/south style of hockey and play positionally sound defense. Both traits should help immensely against the Barons.

BCC is led offensively by a trio of highly talented skaters, centers Matthew Duffy and Sebastian Harrison, and winger Alexsandr Talty. BCC also receives significant contributions of offense generated by its two premium defenders, Danny Loughlin and Collin Eccles. Upper Montgomery will have its hands full defensively while still missing Andrew Botti who will miss the game out injured.

In net for Upper Montgomery will be senior Landon Bernard who will be looking to bounce back from Tuesday’s performance against Sherwood. He will be opposed by Viviene Boyle who has stopped a lot of shots against Churchill (30) and Walter Johnson (34). Even though she let in six goals each game, she has kept her team in both games and given the Barons a chance to win. Her .842 save percentage is very respectable especially given the talented opposition she has faced in the first two games of the season.

Missing the student athletes who will be out-of-town with their external travel teams, maybe Upper Montgomery will be forced to change its style of play to remain competitive. It could be a blessing in disguise in that the team will need to be more cohesive defensively and not press up the ice looking for offensive chances and goals. It’s still early in the season and the Lightning are looking to right the ship. Not dissimilar from last season where the team struggled early and then roared back to finish one shootout goal short of qualifying for the state playoffs for the first time in program history. Will this season be a repeat? A slow start followed by a blazing late season playoff run…On Friday, one of the two winless teams will break through with an all-important initial win of the season.

#UML, #Bleed Green, #Go Bolts!