Friday night’s clash between the Upper Montgomery Lightning and the BCC Barons brings with it high stakes. The winner of the game is almost assured of finishing in fifth place in the Montgomery Hockey Conference regular season rankings. Finishing fifth in the final rankings would bring a slightly easier second round playoff game should the winner advance past their opening round playoff game. Game time for Upper Montgomery’s senior night festivities is 10:00 pm at Cabin John Ice Rink. For the Lightning, it is a chance to bounce back from this past Friday’s disappointing showing against Richard Montgomery. It is also an opportunity to finish the regular season strong heading into the playoffs.
Earlier this season, the teams played to a 2-2 tie on Halloween. BCC needed a late pulled goalie six on four powerplay goal to even the score with less than a minute left and leave the contest with standings points. Revenge will certainly be on BCC’s mind in Friday’s rematch as BCC clearly believes that they are the superior team.
The netminding dual will be one to watch. Landon Bernard has played very well this season recording a 6-5-1 record with a very respectable 3.59 goals against average and an .861 save percentage. When the team plays strong defense in front of him, the Lightning are unbeaten. In games where the Lightning play a free flowing, offensive, and ‘pretty’ hockey game, the results have not been so positive. For BCC it will surely be Graham McGrath White playing goalie. McGrath White is 5-4-1 on the season and he has a stellar 2.88 goals against average and an .892 save percentage. McGrath White is a tall and athletic netminder who relies more on his athleticism and talent than positioning and technique. The Lightning will need to get traffic in front of him and take away his sightlines, making it difficult for McGrath White to track the shots.
On defense the Lightning will need to clog up the ice and make it a fight for every inch of space. There cannot be pinches at the blue line that miss. There cannot be Barons’ skaters winding up in their defensive zone and rushing up ice from end to end. The game must be played along the boards, tough and physical, with zone entries resulting in turnovers which push BCC back. When the Lightning play a more defensively sound and compact system through the neutral zone, the team plays better and limits the opposing team’s offensive chances. This stifling defensive hockey creates turnovers that lead to Upper Montgomery’s own odd skater offensive chances. Playing sound defensive hockey will be critical to stopping the Barons who are averaging 4.77 goals per game this season.
BCC’s defense is led by Graham LeBlanc, a senior who plays AA level travel hockey. LeBlanc has had a fine senior campaign with (11GP, 8G, 10A). He is joined on defense by juniors Johnny Brunn and Danny Loughlin, both smooth skaters. Experienced upperclass defenders, Jake Williams, Alex Elias, and Sebastian Harrison round out a solid core that has only allowed an average of 2.45 goals per game. The BCC defense is tall and difficult to move around because of their size and length.
On offense, the Lightning will be shorthanded as several student athletes will be missing the game at various external hockey team tournaments. The Upper Montgomery forward depth will be tested as several student athletes will need to pick up additional shifts that would normally be given to their missing teammates. The Lightning will need superior games from Chris Hassett (11GP, 9G, 15A), Nathan Cassel (9GP, 9G, 13A), George Benedick (10GP, 4G, 9A), Brandon Bernard (9GP, 8G, 2A), and Ethan Hockey (11GP, 3G, 7A). A big boost would be for Hunter Cameron to have a dominating game and provide an offensive spark.
BCC’s offense goes through its team leader, senior Henry Caldicott. Caldicott is having a wonderful senior season (12GP, 17G, 8A). He scored both of BCC’s goals against Upper Montgomery in the first meeting. His primary running mate Alexsander Talty (12GP, 11G, 14A) has posted gaudy offensive numbers as well. Collin Eccles, Matthew Duffy, and Hank Blumberg, all upperclass skaters, have provided balance for the Barons’ offense.
Special teams are an area where the Lightning have improved over the course of the season. Since starting the season so poorly on the penalty kill (two of their first eight chances while down a skater), the Lightning have raised the penalty kill percentage to 71.7% effective. On the powerplay, the Lightning have hovered around the twenty percent success rate all season and are currently at 21.2%. The bigger problem is that the team is generating less than three power play opportunities per game, limiting the team chances of scoring to either come back in a game or separate while playing with the lead.
The Lightning are hoping to close out a successful regular season with a win. A preview toward making a deep run in the postseason playoff tournaments??? A win against BCC would be the program’s first ever. There have been a lot of teams this season that have overlooked the Lightning. Upper Montgomery is ready to announce its arrival over the next month and a confidence boost would be a victory on senior night and the start of a new winning streak. Please join us as we celebrate and honor the five seniors who have helped marshal the team from a lower tier program to one knocking on the door of the historical dominating teams in the county; Lucas Eyman #40, Stephen Shkeda #55, Andrew Gean #8, Ethan Hockey #15, and team captain George Benedick #54.