The Upper Montgomery Lightning will face its toughest test to date on Monday afternoon versus the BCC Barons. After beginning the season 3-0 without giving up a goal, the Barons will pose a much bigger test than Upper Montgomery’s three prior opponents. Game time is 4:10 pm at Rockville Ice Arena.
The Lightning will be looking to play a more complete game than the team did in last Sunday evening’s contest against Northwest/Quince Orchard, a game in which the Lightning won in spite of a lackluster effort. Ninth grade netminder Ilan Shterenberg has authored shutouts in his first two career high school starts stopping twenty shots against Whitman and only needing to make nine saves against Northwest/Quince Orchard. Shterenberg will be tested on Monday and will need to play a strong game to keep Upper Montgomery competitive. If Upper Montgomery brings the effort and hustle displayed against Whitman, the team should be in the game. In net for the Barons is expected to be Tycho Narrod-Malcolm. When the Barons replaced him in their first game of the season, they gave up four goals in the third period using backup netminder Lucy Barron. Tycho Narrod-Malcolm has also yet to allow a goal this season.
On defense the Lightning’s experienced defenders are still looking to jell. Seniors Sean Levine and Jake Roth will see extensive action. Junior offensive minded defender Cole Howerton who created many scoring chances against Northwest/Quince Orchard will log heavy minutes once again. He will likely pair with hulking defensive defender Patrick Sell or Behr Schicker who has been a nice surprise over the first two games of the season. Schickler looks more comfortable in his sophomore season. Ninth grade defenders Miles Wendland and Avery Evans will each play a significant role against BCC. Wendland will return to the lineup after being out of town with his external travel team last weekend. Evans will be making her Lightning debut. BCC has a very experienced roster on their backend. Senior Alex Elias will provide mentorship to sophomore standout Ben Lyons and 9th grade defenders, Nick Sexton and Ava Summerfield. A rotation of forwards may also pick up some defensive shifts for the Barons.
Up front the Lightning have received two goals each from junior co-captain Josh Nadler and junior TJ Gottesman. Senior co-captain Adam Levine has stood out for his stellar play over the first two games of the season. The team’s leaders have played very well against Whitman and Northwest/Quince Orchard leading by example with outstanding effort, hustle, and determination. With the team unlikely to burst out offensively, every single forward will need to contribute. Expect that AJ Marks and Aiden Zheng may chip in offensively on Monday. Jackson Schickler will continue to see lots of ice time, and he is improving with each game.
BCC will be led up front by Kiran Maltby and Peter Lanpher. Maltby has four goals on the season including a hat-trick scored against the Blair Blazers. Lanpher is a slick skater with nifty moves. He is more of a set up skater dishing off passes for easy goals for his teammates. He had one goal and four assists in the Baron’s first two games of the season before he exploded for five goals against Northwest/Quince Orchard in the Barons last game.
Upper Montgomery will need to maintain focus throughout the entire game, something they did not do particularly well against Northwest/Quince Orchard. Every game is an opportunity to shine and impress the coaching staff. Junior varsity student athletes need to demonstrate that they deserve additional ice time and call ups to participate in varsity game competition.
Upper Montgomery junior varsity will be looking to push their record to 4-0 on the young season. However, the Lightning will need to take charge and grasp the momentum playing a complete game to remain competitive. Shterenberg will need to shine and keep the game a low scoring affair. If the Lightning wait around and play a loose style of hockey, the effort will not be enough to beat one of the better teams in the conference.
#Our Time, #UML, #Bleed Green, #Go Bolts!