The Upper Montgomery Lightning officially kick off the 2022 – 2023 ice hockey campaign against the Walter Johnson Wildcats on Friday evening, October 21st. Game time is 8:15 pm at Skate Frederick. The Lightning will be a heavy underdog against the top ranked Wildcats.
Upper Montgomery is led by last season’s top returning scorer Chris Hassett (15 GP, 17 goals, 16 assists). Hassett will miss the Walter Johnson game as he will be out-of-town with his travel hockey club. Against the Wildcats the team’s returning experienced and talented forward group will need to step up and fill the void. Hunter Cameron (15 GP, 6 goals, 7 assists), Ryan Jacobson (11 GP, 7 goals, 10 assists), Nathan Cassel (12 GP, 11 goals, 6 assists), Olivia Robbins, and Bradley Cupples (15 GP, 1 goal, 11 assists) will all need to play a strong two-way hockey game. The team will need to make sure that the forwards hustle back on defense and minimize the Walter Johnson odd skater rushes. The Shkeda brothers, speedy 9th grade forward Philip, and high energy and defensively sound Stephen will be relied upon to play heavy minutes. Expect Henry Honacki to play regular shifts as he has shown well in pre-season practice sessions and his speed and quickness have increased noticeably from last season. With Brandon Bernard and Josh Nadler out for this game, Adam Levine will be on the bench and may see some game action. The team should be much more balanced offensively this season, but the division one competition will also be more talented and difficult to score against.
Defensively, the squad will have three senior defenders in team captain George Benedick playing along side Ethan Hockey and Andrew Gean. Talented sophomore and 2nd team all conference defender Andrew Botti returns looking to establish himself as the top defender in the league. These experienced defenders will be joined by talented, but young 9th graders Brady Berkhammer and Owen Robbins. Both Berkhammer and Robbins will see extensive time against Walter Johnson as Ethan Hockey will miss the game. The defense will have to work hard, move the puck quickly in the defensive zone on breakouts, and protect around the front of the net.
In goal, it will be Landon Bernard’s net this season. Bernard is the only goalie in the program, and he will see double duty in both varsity and junior varsity games. Bernard appeared in five varsity games last season, earning his first career varsity win in a 6-3 victory against the West Virginia Vipers.
The Lightning special teams will need to shine once again this season. The penalty kill was outstanding last season killing off 51 of the 58 opponents’ powerplays for an 89.7% success rate after hovering over 90% almost the entire season. The powerplay last season was disjointed. The team’s statistics were not terrible, 12 for 54, 22.2% success rate, but the puck movement was stagnant at times and there were not enough high quality looks at the net.
Walter Johnson comes into the game with high hopes for the season, looking to return to the state playoff tournament for the second consecutive year. The Wildcats are led by senior AA travel level goalie Jason Conlan who will backstop the Wildcats in net all season. Coming off what Conlan would consider a subpar season last year by his standards, he will be looking to rebound this year and getting off to a quick start against the Lightning is paramount. On offense, the Wildcats are led by senior AA travel level forward Alex Chang (16 GP, 11 goals, 6 assists) who has a high-end skill set complete with gifted moves and hands. Senior AA travel level forwards Ehtan Birndorf (16 GP, 9 goals, 5 assists) and Utkarsh Srivastava (15 GP, 6 goals, 4 assists), will look to build on last season’s production. On defense, expect Jon Corwin and Liam Mannle, both AA travel level student athletes to see major ice time in an attempt to limit the Upper Montgomery offensive attack.
It should be a good one this coming Friday evening. The team that secures the victory will have a great start to the season. If Upper Montgomery were to pull the upset, it would be the biggest win in program history. Upper Montgomery has never beaten the number one seeded team in the conference. We welcome the green and gold Lightning supporters and hope to see you at the rink.