Lincs fall into 2-0 hole in West Final against Stratford

Ryan Hodkinson, pictured, has four goals through two games of the Western Conference Final for the St. Marys Lincolns against the Stratford Warriors.

By Spencer Seymour

At this point in the season, a team doesn’t have to play horribly to lose.

The St. Marys Lincolns did not crater in Game 1 and Game 2 of the Western Conference Final against the Stratford Warriors, but they didn’t manage a full 60-minute showing in either game.

They were good, but not great, at a time of the year when just good isn’t good enough.

In the first game of the series April 11, imperfect play through the first 40 minutes resulted in the Warriors taking a 3-0 lead. Assistant coach Mike Siddall told the Independent the team’s inconsistent performance ultimately cost them the first game of the series.

“It was a funny game,” Siddall said of Game 1. “We had moments of playing well, and we had moments of not playing well. In the moment, it feels like everything is not going your way and you’re not playing well, but after Jeff (Bradley) and Mike (Herman) watched it back, they said we actually did a lot of good things, and it wasn’t as bad as we thought on the bench. But, when you’re playing a good team like that, they make you play in ways you haven’t before.”

The Lincolns came to life in the third, delivering much better play, but, as Siddall pointed out, the incredibly tough defensive capabilities of the ever-stingy Warriors resulted in Stratford escaping with a 4-2 win.

“Stratford plays very structured as a five-man unit. They move up the ice together and they backcheck together, so when you’re playing a team that’s connected like that, it’s tough to hit holes and break them down. We just felt like we were chasing. We never got our confidence going. These are high-stress situations, and even though we have a lot of maturity, they’re still kids, and how they deal with pressure is different than how we as coaches or the fans in the stands deal with it.

“There are moments when you get behind the eightball, and it feels like the end of the world, but it’s something that we’ve rallied around, and we can come from behind,” Siddall continued. “I think we need to get the first goal and get our mojo going and play with some confidence and play with the puck a bit more.”

The Lincolns travelled to Stratford for Game 2 on April 12, but for the second straight game, the Lincolns had a disappointing start to the contest. Only this time, the Warriors needed just half the time to jump out to a 3-0 lead, going up by three with just over three minutes left in the first period.

However, Ryan Hodkinson finally gave the Lincolns some life 61 seconds into the middle frame, but 22 seconds later, Jaxon Broda restored the Warriors’ two-goal lead.

And so began a Sisyphus-like climb through the rest of the game, where seemingly every time the Lincolns got the metaphorical boulder near the top of the hill and got the game within one goal, the Warriors would answer back with a goal of their own.

St. Marys and Stratford traded goals for the rest of the game, which included Hodkinson completing a hat-trick, as well as single goals by Ethan Weir, Blake Elzinga and Chase MacQueen-Spence. Ultimately, the Lincolns couldn’t tie the game, losing 7-6 and falling behind two games to none in the series.

Siddall admitted it was trying to constantly watch the Warriors clap back every time the Lincolns scored.

“It felt heartbreaking every time because we have so much faith in our guys and we know that we can come back from behind, and once you see it happening and you get one or two goals closer, there was no doubt once we got that first goal. You can feel it some games where you’re not going to be able to come back and get yourself in the game. But the whole time on the bench, it felt like we could do it. We felt like we could get back into it, and we did, so every time that they scored again, it was a little deflating, but we kept clawing back.”

The Lincolns, who gave up the fewest goals in the West in the regular season, have suddenly allowed 11 in just two games, which Siddall noted wasn’t down to major shortcomings in the defensive zone, but rather momentary errors with costly ramifications.

“It comes down to lapses in judgment,” Siddall said. “It’s not even major things that we’re doing wrong. It’s just missed assignments. Half a second here and half a second there goes a long way at this point in the season. The little stuff feels like it’s adding up to big things, and that’s what’s happening.

“We’re breaking down each goal and saying, ‘Here’s what we can do better and where this guy should and shouldn’t be.’ I hope the guys will see that. They’ve always responded well to that kind of stuff and what we’ve been asking of them, so hopefully, those little lapses in judgment get cleaned up.”

When reflecting on the up-and-down play by the Lincolns through the first two games of the series, Siddall detailed what they did when they had success.

“We started to get to the middle more,” said Siddall. “We were getting pucks in the middle of the ice, getting some bodies in front and playing with that desperation. We should be playing with that desperation for a full 60 minutes. We’re gripping the stick tight. We have to be ready right off the opening faceoff and play a full 60 with structured hockey and high-skill hockey.”