The Upper Montgomery Lightning junior varsity returns to action on Wednesday afternoon for a non-league game versus the high powered Walter Johnson Wildcats. Game time is 1:45 pm at Rockville Ice Arena. It will be another tough test for the Lightning as Walter Johnson has the top junior varsity team in the Montgomery Hockey Conference. The Lightning program uses games against tough non-conference opponents to prepare the team for the league schedule and the junior varsity playoff tournament. Upper Montgomery will be looking to bounce back after three consecutive losses. The team did play much better this past Sunday morning, a tight 3-1 loss to Richard Montgomery where the Rockets scored into an empty net with 20 seconds remaining in the game to salt away their victory.
Upper Montgomery needs to be better offensively. The team is averaging only 2.2 goals per game and has scored more than two goals in only one game this season. Henry Honacki has scored four of the team’s eleven goals on the season. He has been by far the best skater on the ice for the Lightning junior varsity. No other student athlete has more than one goal. TJ Gottesman leads the team with six points on one goal and five assists. Josh Nadler, Stephen Shkeda, and Adam Levine need to push through and increase their offensive production for the team to have success. It would help alleviate some of the scoring pressure if the defense could chip in with some offensive production. Collectively, the Upper Montgomery defense has only five points in five games.
Defensively, the team played much better against the Rockets. The emphasis in practice has been on playing the body. It is beginning to pay dividends as Richard Montgomery had fewer high quality scoring chances than either BCC or Wootton in the prior two games. The Lightning will have to contend with a Wildcats squad led by Cameron Luskin (4GP, 2G, 2A) and Sam Mayster (3GP, 3G). In addition, Walter Johnson has a very talented back line. Liam Dorien and Lucas Chang anchor the defense with 9th grade defender Sophie Pyott expected to receive a lot of ice time. The Wildcats have given up only three goals in four games. Upper Montgomery will need to stay out of the penalty box as the penalty kill has been weak area all season.
Landon Bernard’s goaltending has been really solid with many of the oppositions’ goals coming in situations where he has had very little chance to make the save. On Sunday, he saved 22 of 24 shots (.917 save percentage) against the Rockets. Richard Montgomery’s goals came on a back door tap in with no coverage in front and on a breakaway. Bernard will need to be very sharp for Upper Montgomery to have a chance to pull off the victory. In goal for the Wildcats will be Joseph Villatoro who has stopped 56 of 59 shot attempts for a .949 save percentage. He has a 0.88 goals against average and three shutouts. The Wildcats defense is very stingy as they average giving up only 15 shots on goal per game.
Upper Montgomery will have their hands full trying to generate more offense against a team which has posted three shutouts already this season. It will be difficult to match Walter Johnson’s skill and talent, so the Lightning will have to out-compete the Wildcats to earn the victory.