The Upper Montgomery Lightning junior varsity returns to action after the December holiday break on Friday, January 2nd. The team will face off against the Walter Johnson Wildcats in a game that will determine if the Lightning qualify for the junior varsity playoffs. Game time is 8:15 pm at Cabin John Ice Rink. With the game being played before school resumes, many families will still be out of town on holiday travel. Student availability will be a complicating factor with both teams anticipated to play without several junior varsity eligible student athletes.
In their last game, the Upper Montgomery junior varsity came out flat against non-conference opponent Annapolis / Arundel. The slow start coupled with poor goaltending led to a 6-2 loss, the Lightning’s fourth consecutive defeat. With a record of 1-6 on the season, and 1-4 in conference play, Upper Montgomery needs a win to finish within the top nine teams in the conference. A loss to Walter Johnson will likely spell disaster as the Wildcats will own the tie-breaker over the Lightning. Upper Montgomery will have one final junior varsity game at undefeated and top ranked BCC to finish out the season. Walter Johnson enters the contest winless with six defeats. They are the most inept junior varsity team in the county having scored nine goals while giving up 44. They have scored more than two goals only once. Their defense has been horrible in front of the goal with the team averaging giving up 7.33 goals against per game.
Starting in net for Upper Montgomery will likely be one of the program’s ninth grade goalies Stephen Rickman or George Schickler. Rickman would be making his third start of the season and Schickler his fourth. With starting junior varsity goalie16U Lower A Porter Stutsrim-Lyons slated to play in the varsity game later on Friday evening, it is likely that the young Lightning netminders will handle the goaltending duties in the junior varsity contest. Depending upon the flow of the game, and which goalie is chosen to start, the Lightning’s coaching staff may play the other goalie in the back half of the game. Coincidently, both Rickman and Schickler have seen multiple games of action this fall as Upper Montgomery has been loaning both netminders to Walter Johnson. The Wildcats do not have a junior varsity eligible goalie on their roster. It will be a emergency substitute goalie playing for the Wildcats against Upper Montgomery.
On defense, the Lightning will shuffle all game long as two regular defenders, sophomore 16U Lower A Matt Rivera (7GP, 3G, 2A) and his defensive partner ninth grade Dylan Kim will miss the game. The Lightning’s other defensive pairing of Junior Max Curtusan and ninth grade defender Lenny Roth will remain together. Expect that senior, team captain Jason Woodman will play on defense in the junior varsity game. If Rickman does not play in net, he will likely play on defense with Woodman. Walter Johnson’s defense has provided no offense the entire season. With three listed defenders, it is more of a five person unit on the ice for the Wildcats at any one time. This may be why the Wildcats have been so porous on the back end. Brian Marquardt has played in five games for Walter Johnson on defense and is their most experienced defender. Siblings Everett and Owen Chun are also listed as defenders on the Wildcats roster but have played in only a few game each.
Offensively, Upper Montgomery has struggled to score all season long. Some of the lack of scoring is the youth of the team. Another core reason for the tepid offense is that the Lightning have played the toughest schedule of the junior varsity teams in the county. Recently, unexpected scoring has emerged from junior forward Mason Jagoz (7GP, 4G, 1A) including a hat-trick against the DC Stars. Ninth grade forward Tima Zamaray leads the junior varsity in scoring with (7GP, 5G, 3A). Senior team captain Jason Woodman has (7GP, 3A), sophomore center Decklin Hughes (6GP, 1G, 2A) and ninth grade center Wyatt Ostrander (7GP, 1G, 2A) have all chipped in with three points. Sophomore 16U Upper A Max Israfilbek (6GP, 2G) has gone scoreless in the last five games since scoring twice in the season opener. Junior center Jackson Schickler scored last game as he rounds into shape after missing most of the season due to an upper body injury suffered this fall with Poolesville High School’s football team. The team’s overall focus on defense first hockey was to lighten the need to keep pace offensively and score toe to toe with the top teams in the conference. With only nine goals scored in six games, the Wildcats are not a threat offensively. The only bright spot has been sophomore forward Joshua Taubenkibel (4GP, 3G, 3A). No other Wildcat skater has more than two points on the season.
It is a must win for Upper Montgomery. No excuses. The students that will be missing the game will not show up to help out the team. It must come from the students in the lineup on Friday. Get the job done. Get ahead on the winless Wildcats, take their spirit away, and then close the game without allowing Walter Johnson to think that they have any opportunity to win the game. Some students will be playing every other shift. They must take advantage of the additional ice time to propel the Lightning to the playoffs.
#UML, #Qualify for Playoffs, #Back to Winning, #Bleed Green, #Go Bolts!