With the recent inclement weather in the Washington DC area, the Upper Montgomery Lightning will play on back-to-back days when taking on the Urbana Hawks on Tuesday afternoon at Skate Frederick. Game time is early, a 3:40 pm puck drop. Fresh off the annual senior night celebration against Blair on Monday evening, the Lightning have a quick turnaround. It is an important non-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. Urbana is the second highest ranked team in the Monocacy Valley Conference. The Hawks lost to Oakdale in overtime on Friday after staging a third period rally to force the overtime session. It was an emotionally draining game which saw Oakdale prevail on a shorthanded goal in the extra frame.
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. Upper Montgomery will only go as far in the upcoming conference playoffs as Bernard’s play takes the team. The Hawks will play Abby Tanner in net. She has a miniscule 1.91 goals against average and a .928 save percentage. She has given up only 19 goals in the ten games she has played in. If unavailable, Chloe Hanson will step in and backstop the Hawks.
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 Hawks are led offensively by 18U AA star forward Cody Keegan. Keegan has (11GP, 18G, 11A). His linemates, 16U AA Zachary Thayer (11GP, 12G, 16A) and Max Dubruzzo (12GP, 9G, 16A) have really benefitted from Keegan’s presence on the ice. There is a sizeable drop off to the Hawks second line with ninth grade forward Alexander Cheves (10GP, 6G, 3A) leading the way. Be on the lookout for the Hawks defenders to join the rush with Seamus McGee (12GP, 6G, 4A), Thomas Alexander (12GP, 2G, 4A), and Brady Gardiner (12GP, 2G, 4A) contributing as well.
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 Hawks 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 Tuesday. If the team’s second and third lines do not produce early against Urbana, expect the coaching staff to begin whittling down ice time and inserting additional student athletes into the game.
The game against Urbana will help identify where Upper Montgomery will need to focus heading into the final regular season conference game against Rockville. 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 and the total team effort has been better. The Lightning have played more focused and with more belief in each other. If the Lightning continue to play this way, they may have an outside shot to beat Urbana.
#Extend the Streak, #UML, #Bleed Green, #Go Bolts!