The first month of the season has been uneven for the young Upper Montgomery Lightning ice hockey program. The team is much more competitive this season that last season, however the progress on the ice has not yet transferred to points in the league standings. The varsity squad’s record is 0-3-1, with the coaching staff firmly believing that the team has given away a couple of points and the team’s record could easily be 1-2-1. A late goal against versus Rockville turned a certain tie into a loss. Another a late goal against versus the DC Stars turned a certain victory into a tie. The junior varsity team has started the season 1-1-1. As with the varsity squad, the coaching staff firmly believes that the recent tie against Glenelg should have been a Lightning victory. Another late goal against resulted in a certain victory turning into a tie.
The late game defensive issues and the loss of potential standings points has overshadowed what has been a competitive start to the season. The varsity squad has suffered three one goal defeats to begin the season with each game against the top three teams in the division. The next two contests versus Wilson and Northwest will be key to the Upper Montgomery Lightning’s playoff chances. Both games are must win games for the Lightning as the team attempts to qualify for the Montgomery Hockey Conference post-season playoff tournament. The coaching staff will be looking for progress in turning the corner from being competitive against the more experienced teams to winning games.
The varsity’s offense has begun to come around after two low scoring games to begin the season. Led by the top line of Nathan Cassel (4 goals, 1 assist), Ryan Jacobson (3 goals, 3 assists), and Chris Hassett (2 goals, 5 assists) the Lightning have averaged 4.5 goals over the past two games. Depth scoring continues to be an issue as no other varsity student athlete has more than two points through the first four games of the season.
Defensively, the team has been much more responsible. With the exception of the second period against Blair, the team has played much better defense overall. There have been a few mistakes by individual student athletes, but the goals against are way down from last season. Each Lightning defender has several years of varsity experience with the exception of newcomer Andrew Botti who has impressed the coaching staff with his quick puck movement and skating ability. Expect better play from the defense as the season continues.
The goaltending for the Lightning has been uneven. Some games good, other games less so. Some periods really good, other periods less so. Some remarkable saves, some soft goals allowed. The coaching staff is looking to see if either Will Mellen or Landon Bernard takes the reigns and locks down the starting goaltender position.
The junior varsity has worked really hard and has been competitive in every game this season. The Josh’s have led the way offensively. Josh Nadler has three goals and Josh Miller has two pretty breakaway goals. Other student athletes who have chipped in with multiple points in the young season are Bradley Cupples, Ethan Hockey, and Adam Levine. More offensive output would greatly help the Lightning junior varsity as it looks to win its first ever playoff game at the end of the season. The junior varsity dominated Glenelg in its most recent game and was disappointed to settle for a tie. Landon Bernard has been in net the entire way for the Lightning.
The first month of the high school hockey season has been tarnished by two ugly incidents, one local and the other national. At the conclusion of the St. Johns / BCC game, a full brawl broke out with student athletes leaving the bench area to join in the fracas. Multiple suspensions were handed out and both programs have been placed on probation for the balance of the season.
Nationally, the Upper Montgomery Lightning stand united in support of the young lady playing goal in the Pittsburgh area. The disgusting taunts she had to endure and the lack of action by the adults in supervisory capacity is entirely reprehensible. See the Upper Montgomery statement below.
You, and/or your student athlete, may learn about the disgusting and shocking incident that occurred just prior to Halloween at a high school hockey game outside of Pittsburgh. This disgusting and shocking incident, which involved verbal abuse and harassment, occurred in a high school ice hockey league that is organized very similar to how the Montgomery Hockey Conference is organized.
Along with Coach Todd and Coach Scott, we wanted to reinforce USA Hockey’s zero tolerance stance and reassure all families participating within the Upper Montgomery Lightning hockey program that abuse and trauma such as what this student athlete suffered WOULD NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES HAVE BEEN TOLERATED BY THE UPPER MONTGOMERY LIGHTNING. THE PROGRAM’S LEADERSHIP WOULD HAVE IMMEDIATELY REACTED AND ADDRESSED THE SITUATION IN REAL TIME, unlike what occurred in Pittsburgh.
The safety and well-being of the student athletes in our program is the top priority of the organization. As a co-ed/dual gender team, we are very sensitive toward the types of harassment that student athletes in our program may unfortunately experience, and we have ZERO TOLERANCE for behaviors that are not in line with the Upper Montgomery Lightning’s mission and values.