Lincs extend win streak to seven games
By Spencer Seymour
The St. Marys Lincolns remain the hottest team in the Western Conference after wins over LaSalle and Elmira pushed the team’s unbeaten stretch to seven straight games.
Kobe Nadalin made 22 saves for his first Greater Ontario Hockey Leage (GOHL) shutout Oct. 7 in the Lincolns’ 5-0 victory over the LaSalle Vipers, with head coach Jeff Bradley noting the team had a positive start to the game but built on it as the game went along.
“We kept with our plan of having a good first period,” said Bradley. “At times in the first period, we got lost on the bigger ice a little bit, and our support wasn’t quite there, but that was adjusted in the second. There was some disappointment in the room after the first period, but we just went in there and said, ‘That’s the longest bus trip of the year, we have a 1-0 lead and we badly outshot them, so that was positive.’ ”
Blake Elzinga opened the scoring for the Lincolns with the only goal of the first 20 minutes, the 40th of his GOHL career. The goal also snapped a four-game goal drought for the Walkerton native, who also came into LaSalle with just one goal in his previous seven outings.
A great three-way passing play while killing a penalty in the second period involving Luke McMillan, Ryan Hodkinson and the returning Owen Bruining resulted in Bruining finishing it off for his fourth of the year. It was Bruining’s first game since Sept. 27 after the native of Innisfil was out with injury. Defenceman Christopher Mabey also returned from injury against the Vipers.
Callum McAuley snapped a four-game pointless streak with a goal later in the second, while Hodkinson and Mikey Pope each scored in the third.
The only blemish on the otherwise strong game for the Lincolns was their powerplay, which went scoreless on six tries, including a disastrous powerplay that saw two shorthanded breakaways from LaSalle, one of which ended up being a penalty shot that Nadalin turned aside.
While the powerplay was far below the team’s standard, Bradley was thrilled with what his team did at even strength.
“The powerplay is something we struggle with at times against LaSalle with how aggressive they are,” Bradley said. “It’s difficult to plan when you’re playing against four guys chasing one puck, so it was a little difficult for our guys. Had we spent the entire game five-on-five, it could have been quite a bit more lopsided than it was. There wasn’t anything I disliked about our five-on-five play. We managed the puck well and we were physical.”
Lincs steamroll Sugar Kings in 6-2 drubbing
Just 48 hours later, the Lincolns took on a struggling Elmira Sugar Kings squad that entered the night with four straight losses.
The Lincolns made it five in convincing fashion.
“Top to bottom, I thought we were fantastic,” said Bradley. “That was one of our more complete games this season. We put a lot of stress on our control breakouts, our trap forecheck, our pressure forecheck and all those little details, and we came up with a plan and our guys followed it to a tee. Anything we put in front of them they went out and executed.
“We knew Elmira was reeling a little bit and they’d lost a few in a row, and we wanted to make sure that we were making things a little bit worse and trying to put it in their minds early in the game, and I thought our first period was outstanding. I thought the physicality could have picked up, and that was the challenge going into the second.”
McAuley made it two straight games with a goal, scoring the opener six minutes into the first period, kicking off what the Bradley described as the overage forward’s best showing so far this season.
“Callum (McAuley) had his best game of the year. That was one that really stood out to me. Obviously, Owen (Bruining) getting a hat-trick was a big deal, but that’s on course with how he has been playing. But it’s a different year for Callum. Last year, he came here just to play hockey. This year, he’s doing school and he’s got a whole bunch of other things he has to deal with,” Bradley said.
“On both sides of the puck, he was very good for us. There was a focus on the defensive side and you look at the first goal he scored; that’s from him getting in and being good on the forecheck, and that’s important for us. I believe it’s a staple of how we play. He just cared about both sides of the puck and I thought that was really important for us because he’s such a key part of our team.”
Ethan Weir finished off some of the best puck movement performed by the Lincs’ powerplay unit quarterbacked by Hodkinson and Elzinga to make it 2-0 later in the first. The Lincolns ended the opening stanza leading 15-2 in shots.
The Lincolns doubled their lead in the second frame, with goals by Bruining and Camden Kean sending St. Marys into the third up 4-0. Bruining added two more goals, one of which was an empty netter, in the third.
Two goals just a minute and 39 seconds apart by Eli Humphrey and Brendan Gerber for Elmira early in the third had some worrying about a third-period comeback reminiscent of the Stoney Creek Generals coming back from being down 6-0 to make it 6-5, but much better play by the team before and after the Sugar Kings’ two goals of the night left the bench boss unfazed.
“I think there was a recognition that it wasn’t about our play,” said Bradley. “On the penalty kill, there was a breakdown that doesn’t typically happen, and then just a bad shift caused a second goal. I didn’t think that bled into how we played or reflected how we played prior to that, so it didn’t bother me one bit. I knew we’d go out and we’d just continue to play well, and the results would be the results.”
The Lincolns held the Sugar Kings to just 21 shots in the game, marking the ninth time in 10 games this season the Lincolns held their opponent under 30 shots. Bradley explained how the team has been executing their defensive structure masterfully to start the year.
“You’ve got what your defencemen do, what your centre does and what your wingers do, and if they are in sync, then we’re not going to get touched. Our defencemen are doing a great job. In even-man situations, we want to make sure we attack and close, and our defencemen are doing a great job at that. We’ve got great support from our centres, and our wingers are doing a great job with our slot coverage.”
Hostilities picked up in the second period with Owen Miniotas being ejected for a check to the head, which continued well into the third, culminating with a fight between former Lincoln Ryan Cornfield and Campbell Lehto with under three minutes left on the clock. Bradley praised his group for sticking up for themselves and one another but emphasized the need to give their penalty kill less work as the Sugar Kings had eight powerplay opportunities.
“It’s a fine line between being the aggressors and staying disciplined,” Bradley said. “We spent a lot more time on the penalty kill than I would like, but our guys aren’t going to back down, and I think that’s a really good trait to have when your ambitions are as high as ours. Our guys don’t want to get pushed around. They want to stick up for each other.”
From those instances, both Lehto and Miniotas were suspended with Lehto receiving one game, making him eligible to return Oct. 17 against the Komoka Kings, while Miniotas received a two-game ban, meaning he will miss both the game in Komoka and the Lincolns’ home game Oct. 16 against the Welland Canadians.
“We’re going to be shorthanded, so we’re going to have to take care of ourselves this weekend and play smart,” said Bradley. “We’re certainly going to have to be disciplined this weekend as we’re a little short on bodies. I love us fighting back and us being hard to play against, but we want to make sure we’re staying out of the box and keeping this five-on-five because we’re an incredible five-on-five team.”
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