The Upper Montgomery Lightning junior varsity will face another tough test this weekend against the combined Northwest / Quince Orchard / Wootton squad. It is the Lightning’s fourth game of the season facing a team that has already banked four victories. Upper Montgomery has played these teams tough so getting a big win is not out of the question. Puck drop is at 5:10 pm on Friday, Halloween afternoon inside Rockville Ice Arena. Of note is that Upper Montgomery and Northwest / Quince Orchard will play a varsity contest directly after the junior varsity game finishes. Northwest / Quince Orchard / Wootton enters the game with a 4-1 record. However, they have not played as well the past two games since former Lightning forward sophomore 16U Upper A Siddy Bhasin (3GP, 7G, 1A) was promoted to varsity only status. Northwest / Quince Orchard / Wootton has scored 27 goals in five games, an average of 5.4 goals per game. Upper Montgomery exploded for seven goals against the DC Stars, but otherwise has scored only four goals in its other three games. To remain in the game, the Lightning will once again have to really grind on the defensive end of the ice to stifle Northwest / Quince Orchard / Wootton’s offensive attack.
Upper Montgomery enters the game coming off of a close loss to Churchill where the Lightning scored two goals into their own net in a 3-1 defeat. A complete 45 minute performance will be necessary to remain competitive throughout the game. One of the more interesting components of this preview is that there is no school in Montgomery County on the Monday following the weekend. Thus, many travel teams are away at out-of-area tournaments this weekend. Additionally, families may be leaving town for the long three day weekend. So, maybe the primary key to the contest is which student athletes are actually in town and available to play in the game.
In net for the Lightning will be one of the team’s ninth grade junior varsity goalies, Stephen Rickman or George Schickler. Depending upon the flow of the game, and which goalie is chosen to start in the varsity game later in the evening, the Lightning coaching staff may play both ninth grade goalies. Both Rickman and Schickler have seen multiple games of action this fall as Upper Montgomery is loaning both netminders to Walter Johnson High School. The Wildcats do not have a junior varsity eligible goalie on their roster. This past week each made seventeen saves against the Bulldogs. Rickman, in his first appearance of the season for Upper Montgomery, stopped all seventeen shots he faced keeping the Lightning in the game.
Northwest / Quince Orchard / Wootton also has an interesting dilemma. Both of their goalie options, junior Kevin Yu of Wootton and sophomore Sean Wyatt of Northwest, will be starting their program’s varsity games later that evening. There will be minimal rest in between games. Wootton’s varsity team will be playing archrival Churchill, while Upper Montgomery will be facing Northwest / Quince Orchard. Yu has faced the Lightning junior varsity three times in his career. He is undefeated giving up two goals or less in each game. This season at the junior varsity level he is 2-1 with an elevated 3.86 goals against average and an .871 save percentage. Wyatt has a 2-0 record, a 1.88 goals against average, and a .919 save percentage. Does Northwest / Quince Orchard / Wootton risk giving the Lightning coaching staff a full game to analyze Wyatt directly before the varsity plays against him?
On defense Friday night, the Lightning will piece it together with who is available to play. Anticipate that both ninth grade defenders, Dylan Kim and Lenny Roth will get plenty of playing time. This may be another game where Upper Montgomery captain Jason Woodman drops back to play on defense. 16U Lower A defender Matt Rivera has scored on end to end rushes three games in a row. He is tied for the team lead with three goals in four games. The young defenders getting to play significant minutes against Northwest / Quince Orchard / Wootton will be a good barometer of how much they have improved since the off-ice preseason practices began in August.
For Northwest / Quince Orchard / Wootton, their defensive will be up in the air as well. Their top defender, if he dresses for the game, is 16U Upper A Isaac Greene (4GP, 5G, 1A). Other Northwest / Quince Orchard / Wootton defenders who will see the majority of action are; Caeden Yi (4GP, 3A) and also George Mason and Evelin Tulchinsky.
Notwithstanding the game against the DC Stars, the coaching staff knew offense was going to be a continuing struggle all season long for Upper Montgomery’s junior varsity. When Upper Montgomery plays the upper echelon teams in the county, the Lightning are likely to be heavily outshot and will need to make every opportunity count. The team’s overall focus on defense first hockey is to lighten the need to keep pace offensively and score toe to toe with the top teams. Upper Montgomery has scored 11 goals in four games for an average of 2.75 goals per game. However, if you remove the seven goals scored against the DC Stars, Upper Montgomery is averaging only 1.33 goals per game.
Even with Bhasin removed from the Northwest / Quince Orchard / Wootton roster, they still have a formidable offensive attack when playing with a full lineup. Speedy sophomore forward Nathan Tian leads the Northwest / Quince Orchard / Wootton squad in scoring with (5GP, 4G, 3A). Next is Eric Anderson (3GP, 3G, 1A). Amir Karimov also has deposited three goals in five games. Without knowing how much each student will play due to playing double duty with the varsity game shortly thereafter, it is incredibly difficult to assess how the game will play out. It literally may come down to how many skaters are available or which team is in better shape.
As has been mentioned over and over, the 2025 – 2026 season will be one where the coaching staff is focused on individual student growth and development. With eight incoming junior varsity students, the program is looking for all eight of these students to contribute to the program over the next four seasons. The playing time received this season should help each student become better in the years to come when Upper Montgomery is likely to be better positioned to again challenge for the junior varsity championship. How quickly the team develops the necessary defensive habits and rough and tough physical identity will determine how soon the Lightning can threaten the top junior varsity teams in the county. This season, the team may simply be too young and inexperienced to compete on the defensive end of the ice. The hope is that by the end of the year no program wants to be matched up against the Lightning in the opening round of the junior varsity playoff tournament.
#UML, #Back to Winning, #Bleed Green, #Go Bolts!