The Upper Montgomery Lightning face off against the Rockville / Magruder Rams in a very important matchup Friday evening at Rockville Ice Arena. Game time is 9:00 pm. The winner of Friday’s matchup will have an easier road in the upcoming Montgomery Hockey Conference playoffs. It is the final regular season conference game for both teams, and on paper they appear to be evenly matched. The Lightning have been playing much better of late. Upper Montgomery is 4-1-1 in its last six conference games advancing up the conference standings and rankings to the middle of the pack.
In net for Upper Montgomery will be senior Landon Bernard. Bernard has played very well of late culminating with Monday’s senior night shutout of Blair. His goals against average for the season is shrinking. He has posted a 2.16 goals against average over his last six appearances. His save percentage is climbing. Over his past six games Bernard has a stalwart .916 save percentage. Upper Montgomery will only go as far in the upcoming conference playoffs as Bernard’s play takes the team. The Rams will play Sean Connelly in net. He has a 3.59 goals against average and an .848 save percentage. His record is 7-3, however, that is skewed by the weak conference opponents Rockville has faced playing against mainly lower level division two competition.
Upper Montgomery had hoped this season for balanced goal scoring throughout its lineup. Last season’s top line of Chris Hassett, Nathan Cassel, and Philip Shkeda has continued to produce again this season. Unfortunately, it has been a continual search for other student athletes to step up and match last year’s offensive production. Hassett (13GP, 10G, 14A) and Cassell (12GP, 8G, 15A) have alternated the team lead in assists and points throughout the season. Shkeda (14GP, 10G, 3A) is tied for the team lead in goals. The season ending injury to Ryan Jacobson (6GP, 4G, 1A) has drastically impacted the Lightning’s secondary offense. Hunter Cameron has chipped in nicely with (11GP, 5G, 3A). He has scored two goals in two different games, and Cameron scored the tying goal late in the third period against the DC Stars. Each of the team’s other forwards, Brandon Bernard (14G, 5G, 3A) with goals in his past two games, Bradley Cupples (11GP, 2G, 5A), Olivia Robbins (7GP, 2G, 1A), and Henry Honacki (14GP, 5G, 3A) have each played well in a few games where they have accumulated the majority of their points on the season.
The Rams are led offensively by 18U AAA star defender senior Drew Pfeufer (7GP, 15G, 6A). Pfeufer plays on the same external travel team (The Washington Little Capitals) as the Lightning’s Cameron. The top scoring forward for the Rams is senior Brendan Iliff (11GP, 7G, 12A). His linemate Lukas Gold has (8GP, 10G, 6A). Rounding out the Rams scoring threats is another defender, Aiden Ward (7GP, 8G, 6A). There is then a drop off to the Rams depth scorers, Toyin Okunseinde (10GP, 4G, 2A), Cole Cohen (7GP, 5G), and Brendan Kalinock (10GP, 2G, 3A).
On defense the Lightning have played better lately after struggling through the early portion of the season. With top defender Andrew Botti out for the first eight games of the season, Upper Montgomery had difficulty keeping teams out of the high danger areas. With Botti back, the team has given up far fewer goals, and only two while he has been on the ice at even strength. Senior co-captain Cameron has played several games on defense to help anchor and provide stability on the back end. With a full compliment of defenders available on Friday evening, anticipate that Cameron will play forward. Sophomores Brady Berkhammer and Owen Robbins will see substantial playing time against the Rams. Ninth grade defender Miles Wendland and junior Cole Howerton will also see game action. Outside of Cameron’s production in October’s season opener against Whitman where he scored both Upper Montgomery goals, all other Upper Montgomery defensive skaters have contributed no goals and fourteen assists in 59 combined games played. Getting shots through from the points and contributions offensively from the defense will definitely help Upper Montgomery.
With all but one student athlete expected to be in attendance on Friday night, the Upper Montgomery coaching staff can use their full bench including its depth skaters against Rockville. This will provide sufficient rest for the team’s top student athletes. If the team’s second and third lines do not produce early against the Rams or if a student tries to do too much individually, expect the coaching staff to sit skaters and use students who will follow the system and play hockey the Lightning way.
This past Tuesday’s game against top non-conference foe Urbana helped identify the areas that Upper Montgomery needs to shore up heading into the final regular season games and the upcoming playoffs. The Lightning have begun to show much more fight and desire as the season has progressed. These traits have led to better results. The team’s play needs to be cohesive, with the students playing for one another. The Lightning have played more focused and with more belief in each other, but will need to ramp up their play to another level if they want to have playoff success. While not an elimination game, Friday night’s matchup will go a long way towards putting the remainder of the season into focus.
#Extend the Streak, #UML, #Bleed Green, #Go Bolts!