Lincolns trying to find way through ‘dog days’ of season

Declan Ready, pictured, skates with the puck out of the defensive zone. Ready scored two goals and an assist against the Sarnia Legionnaires on Feb. 19.

By Spencer Seymour

A rash of injuries, bouts of inconsistency and special-teams woes have all been obstacles the St. Marys Lincolns are trying to overcome with the post-season right around the corner.

The Lincolns enjoyed a positive performance against the last-placed Sarnia Legionnaires, who, as of press time, have yet to record a point on the season. Assistant coach Michael Siddall told the Independent the team did a good job not letting the position of the winless Legionnaires in the standings cloud their focus on their gameplan.

“We were actually pretty happy,” Siddall said. “A lot of times, we go into Sarnia, especially that arena, we come out not feeling great about ourselves, but we actually played really well in Sarnia. We competed really well, and we didn’t cheat the little things. You can go into those games thinking it’s going to be point night, but when you do that, you build bad habits. But our guys played the right way for 60 minutes, and they got rewarded for it.”

Affiliate player (AP) Tyson Cartier had a banner night, scoring his first career Greater Ontario Hockey League (GOHL) goal as part of a two-point game for the 2025 15th round pick of the Peterborough Petes. Siddall noted having talent like Cartier in their affiliate player ranks was a big positive for the team.

“He’s a guy that we’re keeping our eye on, and depth in the playoffs is important,” said Siddall. “Injuries and different things go on, so knowing that a young guy coming in is playing hard and playing the right way and can contribute positively on both sides of the puck is important. You might rely on a guy like that at some point in the playoffs. We’ve done it before, and had APs play in the playoffs before, so it’s good to see a kid like Tyson do what he did.”

Jakob Drobny had a stellar four-point game, which included a goal, which gave Drobny points in four of his last five games heading into the Lincolns’ clash on Feb. 20 against the Strathroy Rockets. Declan Ready also had a strong night in Sarnia, scoring two goals and adding an assist, while Jacob Montesi and Jack Clarke each had three helpers.

Owen Voortman, Chase MacQueen-Spence, Callum McAuley, Blake Elzinga, Ethan Weir and Devun Colebrook also scored for the Lincolns against the Legionnaires.

One night later, however, after a great start to the game against Strathroy, the Lincolns faltered in the final 40 minutes, eventually losing 5-3.

The Lincolns jumped out to a 2-1 lead against the Rockets with a pair of powerplay goals by Weir and Elzinga.

However, according to Siddall, a drop in focus in the last two periods led to the Lincolns being outscored 4-1 in the second and third combined.

“We thought we played really well in the first period, but in the second and third, we took our foot off the gas. At times, we think our guys are just ready for the playoffs, and it’s the dog days of the year, where you’re just trying to get to the playoffs. We’ve got to find that extra gear and stay focused for a few more games and then the playoffs, but we know our guys are big-game players and they’ll ramp it up when we get into those important games come playoffs.”

Another big reason for the Lincolns losing to the Rockets was, once again, struggles on the penalty kill. Going into their game on Feb. 25 against the LaSalle Vipers, the Lincolns have surrendered at least one powerplay goal in six of their last seven games and have allowed multiple goals while shorthanded in three of those seven games.

In total, the Lincolns have allowed 11 goals out of their 29 times shorthanded in their last seven games, translating to a porous penalty kill efficiency of just over 62 percent, down more than 20 percentage points from their season penalty kill rate before the last seven games.

Associate coach Mike Herman, who oversees the penalty kill, explained how a lot of the issues appear to be stemming from positional errors in front of their net.

“I’ve been on a search-and-destroy mission and going back to the last six games (in which the Lincolns have allowed powerplay goals) and looking at all the goals, and from what I can see, the big problems are around our net,” Herman said. “A lot of teams will bring two people to the net-front when they go into an umbrella. That’s not new, and we’ve always had a way of dealing with that, but for whatever reason, we’re losing the net-front positionally. We’re losing track of guys, and those guys are ending up with the puck, and it’s ending up in the back of the net.”

Herman further explained the awareness struggles, pointing to Strathroy’s first powerplay goal of the game by former Lincoln Quinn Gavin-White as an example of how the issue is manifesting itself.

“We call it ‘head-on-a swivel awareness,’ which means knowing what’s going around you all the time, and we’ve always been pretty good with that, but it’s slipped,” said Herman. “The goal by (Quinn) Gavin-White for Strathroy; we were covering the other post with nobody there but weren’t paying attention to what was going on around us, and Gavin-White just crept to that far post and scored.”

On the injury front, along with defenceman James MacGregor remaining out, Ready and Oliver Lacko are also now on the shelf after sustaining injuries in the game against the Rockets.

The Rockets ended up going two-for-four on the man advantage, and Eddie Hickson and Zachary LeBlanc led Strathroy’s offensive charge, each posting three points and being responsible for three of the Rockets’ five goals.

Siddall commented on the team’s lack of focus in the second and third frames, noting the group, which has clinched a playoff spot, is trying to stay locked in on the game in front of them rather than looking ahead to the playoffs.

“It is a psychological battle,” Siddall said. “It just comes down to focusing in, and it’s the leaders who are going to have to step up. We’re not calling our older guys out by any means, but when you’re going through something like we are, it’s the leadership who has to step up and focus on the little things and make sure the guys are playing the right way. I don’t think it was a stamina issue (against Strathroy). It was just a dip in focus.”