The Upper Montgomery Lightning will celebrate a large senior class in style Friday evening before what should a triumphant victory over the Blair Blazers. It is an important league contest for the Lightning who are looking to keep building on their recent better play of late. The team is 3-1-1 in its last three conference games and is coming off of a terrific effort last Monday against the top high school team in the state, Oakdale. The Lightning held a 1-0 lead with five minutes remaining in the game before succumbing. Upper Montgomery has also beaten two highly regarded teams in Walter Johnson and Whitman during the stretch. Friday’s tilt is important for playoff seeding as the Montgomery Hockey Conference playoff tournament begins in two weeks. Blair is the second lowest ranked team in the conference having only beaten the lowest ranked team (Churchill 2) three times and edging past Northwest/Quince Orchard (third lowest ranked team) playing without its starting goalie.
In net for Upper Montgomery will be senior Landon Bernard. Bernard has played very well of late. His goals against average is shrinking and is under three over his last four appearances. His save percentage over his past four games is a stalwart .915. It should be a nice memory winning on senior night. Upper Montgomery will only go as far in the playoffs as Bernard’s play takes the team. The Blazers will play Lily Ben David in net. She has a 5.79 goals against average and a .724 save percentage. She plays behind a porous defense and does well just to provide her team a chance to win against the lower competition Blair has faced this season.
Upper Montgomery may be dangerous while shorthanded as Ben David has been beaten ten times while Blair has been on the powerplay. On the flip side, Blair has done a nice job on the penalty kill giving up just two powerplay goals on the season. This does not bode well for the Lightning who have a ghastly powerplay currently sitting at 0-33 on the season. Anticipate major changes to the Upper Montgomery powerplay including personnel changes to try and spark the dormant Lightning powerplay. To say Upper Montgomery has been challenged all season long while on the powerplay is certainly an understatement. The team’s only powerplay goal was scored on a penalty shot converted by Nathan Cassell against Good Counsel.
Upper Montgomery had hoped this season for balanced goal scoring throughout the lineup. Last season’s top line of Chris Hassett, Nathan Cassel, and Philip Shkeda has continued to produce again this season. Unfortunately, it has been a continual search for other student athletes to step up and match last year’s offensive production. Hassett (11GP, 9G, 13A) and Cassell (11GP, 7G, 15A) have alternated the team lead in assists and points throughout the season. Shkeda (12GP, 9G, 2A) is tied for the team lead in goals. From there the season ending injury to Ryan Jacobson (6GP, 4G, 1A) has drastically impacted the Lightning’s secondary offense. Hunter Cameron has chipped in nicely with (9GP, 5G, 3A). He has two different games where he scored two goals, and Cameron scored the tying goal late in the third period against the DC Stars. Each of the team’s other forwards, Brandon Bernard, Bradley Cupples, Olivia Robbins, and Henry Honacki have each played well in one or two games where they have accumulated the majority of their points on the season.
The Blazers are led offensively by Jackson Martindill (8GP, 7G, 4A). Chen Chen-Ye is next with (8GP, 4G, 5A). Long-time agitator Ari Garnder leads the team in goals (7GP, 8G, 1A). The Blazers defense has chipped in offensively. Joseph Killebrew (10GP, 4G, 4A), Wyatt Bakalis (8GP, 2G, 2A), and Danilo Azcarate (9GP, 3G, 1A) have provided some complementary scoring. BUT, it is hard to judge these offensive figures as most of the games Blair has played is against very weak competition. Against stronger competition Blair has been involved in one sided games, with the Blazers getting destroyed and scoring two or fewer goals.
On defense the Lightning have struggled all season. With top defender Andrew Botti out for the first eight games of the season, Upper Montgomery had difficulty keeping teams out of the high danger areas. With Botti back, the team has given up only six goals in three games, none while he has been on the ice at even strength. Senior co-captain Cameron has played several games on defense to help anchor and provide stability on the back end. Sophomore Brady Berkhammer will again see substantial playing time against the Blazers after playing every other shift against the DC Stars and Oakdale. Outside of Cameron’s production in October’s season opener against Whitman where he scored both Upper Montgomery goals, all other Upper Montgomery defensive skaters have contributed no goals and twelve assists in 49 combined games played.
In almost every game this season, the Upper Montgomery coaching staff was going to be forced to supplement the usual varsity squad with several student athletes called up from the junior varsity. After Adam Levine and Aiden Zheng performed admirably against the DC Stars and Oakdale, expect that these two student athletes to play a more prominent role over the closing games of the season. As a senior, Levine may receive a regular shift on Friday against Blair. If the team’s second and third lines do not produce early against the Blazers, expect the coaching staff to begin whittling down ice time and inserting additional student athletes into the game.
The game against Blair will help identify where Upper Montgomery will be seeded in the upcoming county playoff tournament. The Lightning have begun to show much more fight and desire as the season has progressed. These traits have led to better results. The team’s play is becoming more cohesive. The total team effort has been better. The Lightning have played more focused and with more belief in each other. If they continue to play this way, and not down to Blair’s level, the Lightning should prevail easily.
#Extend the Streak, #UML, #Bleed Green, #Go Bolts!