The Upper Montgomery Lightning return to action this upcoming Friday night versus the West Virginia Vipers in a highly anticipated non-conference matchup. Game time is 8:15 pm at Cabin John Ice Rink. The Lightning are coming off of a ten day layoff over the Thanksgiving holiday and are eager to get back on the ice before resuming conference play next weekend against Northwest.
Upper Montgomery is coming off of its first victory of the season, a 9-0 shutout win over the Wilson Stars in a game they dominated from start to finish. The team will be looking to build upon the offensive outburst and hopes to use the Wilson game as a springboard for the rest of the season. The first line of Chris Hassett, Ryan Jacobson, and Nathan Cassel has been lethal this season, totaling a combined 15 goals and 15 assists between them. The rest of the team combined has 6 goals and 14 assists. Look for some possible tweaks to the second and third line this week to try and spark some more offensive production throughout the lineup. Some lineup changes will be required as Olivia Robbins will be unavailable for the game as she is out-of-town with her external travel team.
The defense will also be short-handed this week as James Botti will also be unavailable for the game as he is out-of-town with his external travel team. Expect the four Lightning experienced defenders George Benedick, Ethan Hockey, Andrew Gean, and Andrew Botti to see significant ice time including an increased role on the power play in James Botti’s absence. Ninth grader Cole Howerton is going to be called up from the junior varsity and will likely see some game action for the second consecutive game.
The decision on which goalie to start in net for the Lightning will likely be a game time decision. It might be Will Mellen coming off of his shutout victory over the Stars. Or, it could be Landon Bernard who played well earlier this week in a junior varsity game versus Landon. There is also a possibility that both netminders might see game action.
Not much is known about the West Virginia Vipers. The Vipers have played several Maryland Student Hockey League teams from the Frederick County conference and have been competitive in those games. The Vipers also play certain travel teams and have been competitive in those games as well. Based upon both teams performance so far this season, it figures to be a low scoring, grind it out, hard defensive game on Friday between two evenly matched teams.