The Upper Montgomery Lightning junior varsity returns to action Tuesday evening wrapping up the regular season with a monster tilt against top ranked BCC. After last week’s thrilling 6-5 victory over Walter Johnson, the Lightning have qualified for the junior varsity playoffs. It took a last minute goal to stave off the winless Wildcats and capture the final playoff berth in the Montgomery Hockey Conference junior varsity playoffs. In a game that was by no means a masterpiece ninth grade center Wyatt Ostrander scored the game winning goal with 34 seconds remaining in the contest. The Lightning will finish anywhere from the sixth seed to the eighth seed depending upon the outcome of Tuesday’s game. BCC enters the game undefeated with a 6-0 record and the number one seed in the upcoming playoffs sewn up. The game has no playoff implications for the Barons. Game time is 5:55pm on Tuesday at the Rockville Ice Arena.
BCC’s junior varsity team has been off for a while. However, with the exception of three skaters, their varsity team is the same as their junior varsity team. The Lightning last played ten days ago in the wild affair with Walter Johnson. In that game, Lightning ninth grade forward Tima Zamaray scored four goals while Lightning junior forward Mason Jagoz added four assists. With several core defenders missing as the game was played before Montgomery County public schools resumed, the Upper Montgomery defense was a combinations of defenders and forwards out of necessity. This led to a high scoring back and forth game before Ostrander netted the game winning goal in the final minute.
Starting in net for Upper Montgomery will likely be sophomore 16U Lower A Porter Stutsrim-Lyons. Stutsrim-Lyons is 1-1 on the season with a .926 save percentage and a 2.52 goals against average. It will be his first start in net at the junior varsity level since beating the DC Stars way back in mid-October. In the interim, Stutsrim-Lyons has started four games for the Upper Montgomery varsity squad. Backing up Stutsrim-Lyons will be ninth grade netminder George Schickler. Schickler authored his first career junior varsity victory in the win over Walter Johnson. For the Barons it looks like primary goalie senior Gabriel Sokol will be in net. Sokol is 4-0 on the season with an .881 save percentage and a 2.00 goals against average. Playing behind a very potent roster that has given up only ten goals in six games, the Barons have clamped down in front of Sokol. The Lightning have seen Sokol in net twice this season at the varsity level. In both games, Upper Montgomery’s top varsity forward line has had no trouble putting pucks past Sokol, but the junior varsity level is very different. Sokol has played well versus the lesser quality junior varsity teams that the Barons have faced.
On defense, the Lightning will have the full compliment of their four defenders available for the game. Expect the regular rotation to remain intact. Sophomore 16U Lower A Matt Rivera (7GP, 3G, 2A) and his defensive partner ninth grade Dylan Kim will pair together. The Lightning’s other defensive pairing of junior Max Curtusan and ninth grade defender Lenny Roth will remain together. BCC’s defense is lead by the Reitz siblings. Sophomore 16U AAA Julia leads the Barons in defensive scoring with (4GP, 3G, 4A). She had a hat-trick as part of her five point game in the season opener versus Richard Montgomery. Her brother 16U Upper A Jacob has (3GP, 2G, 2A). Junior Zachary Leblanc has four assists in six games. Senior Jeronimo Castano-Tellez rounds out the Barons backline. He is a big rig that will make it difficult on the Upper Montgomery forwards to get to the interior of the ice in front of Sokol.
Offensively, Upper Montgomery has struggled to score all season long. But, there were encouraging signs last game as the Lightning found the net six times. Ninth grade forward Tima Zamaray leads the junior varsity in scoring with (8GP, 9G, 3A) and is coming off of a four goal game. Zamaray has now scored in four straight games. Junior forward Mason Jagoz (8GP, 4G, 5A) including a hat-trick against the DC Stars and four assists against Walter Johnson is second on the team in both goals and points while his five assists lead the Lightning junior varsity. Senior team captain Jason Woodman has (8GP, 4A). Ninth grade center Wyatt Ostrander (8GP, 2G, 3A) is coming off of a multi-point game. Sophomore 16U Upper A Max Israfilbek (7GP, 3G) scored for the first time against the Wildcats in six games since scoring twice in the season opener. The team’s overall focus on defense first hockey was implemented to lighten the need to keep pace offensively and score toe to toe with the top teams in the conference.
Conversely, the Barons have averaged 6.17 goals scored per game. They have no shortage of talent at the junior varsity level. BCC is led in scoring by senior David High (6GP, 7G, 1A). Next in line is ninth grade 14U Lower A Bryce Kaminsky (5GP, 7G). Senior Kiran Maltby has found much success over the years at the junior varsity level and is third on the Barons in scoring with (6GP, 5G, 2A). Another senior, Nicholas Mencher, is averaging a point a game with (6GP, 3G, 3A). Little jitterbug ninth grade center 14U Upper A Scott Gertner has put in three goals in five games as has sophomore 16U AA Juliana Langley. Finally, ninth grade 16U Lower A Li Ang Zhang has four assists in four games. This level of scoring depth has made BCC hard to beat even when they are missing several student athletes as the Barons’ scoring is distributed over several forward lines.
After last week’s must win for Upper Montgomery, the team can play freely against BCC knowing that the outcome of the game does not influence the team’s playoff life. Last week it was get the job done. This week the Lightning can go play with a big opportunity to beat the undefeated and top ranked Barons. Getting a winning streak started before the playoffs begin on Friday night would give the team a bolt of confidence to make a long playoff run and return to the semifinals like Upper Montgomery did last season.
#UML, #Finish Strong, #Bleed Green, #Go Bolts!