By Spencer Seymour
The St. Marys Lincolns view the regular season as a 50-step journey in preparing to be the best version of themselves when the playoffs arrive, and as that process gets underway, the top priority is “building good habits.”
“I just want to see us keep getting better,” said head coach Jeff Bradley. “We have had some productive practices and some productive games in the preseason, so right now, with the phase we’re in as the season gets started, it’s just about seeing improvement. Our game isn’t in order yet like it was in the playoffs and that’s to be expected at the start of the new year. We view the season as a 50-game process to get ready for the playoffs, so as we get started, we’re in the stage of building good habits and developing our confidence like we did by the end of last year.”
The Lincolns are coming off of an incredible 2023-2024 season and the most successful campaign in three decades after the team captured their first conference title in 30 years. St. Marys advanced to the Sutherland Cup Final where they were defeated by the powerhouse Listowel Cyclones.
Even though they didn’t win the ultimate prize, the bench boss noted there were plenty of aspects of last year’s squad the organization wants to replicate while also adding new elements to their dynamic.
“We were hoping it would be a very similar makeup of the team as we had last year. When I talked to (general manager) Pat (Powers) in the offseason about what we wanted to be, we wanted to be a little bit bigger and tougher to play against. Not that we weren’t physical last year, but I think you’re always trying to take some lessons from where we faltered, and Listowel was a big, heavy team, so I think we wanted a little bit more of that in our lineup.”
The Lincolns boasts a strong returning core from last year’s conference championship-winning roster, especially in their forward group, which includes arguably their best line during the post season.
“I’m very happy with our forwards,” Bradley said. “It’s a great group that we’re starting the year with. We've got the (Owen) Voortman, (Luca) Spagnolo and (Jaden) Lee line coming back. Chase (MacQueen-Spence), who won the playoff MVP for the conference, and Noah (VandenBrink), who is going into his fourth year in the league and is such a good leader.
“Ryan Hodkinson seems like he’s 10 times the player he was when he first got here, and he seems like he’s ready to be a major impact player in this league. Blake (Elzinga) and Ryan (Cornfield) are both in similar situations where they will have more opportunities to really make a name for themselves.”
Bradley further commented on Hodkinson, who he said could be poised for an even more significant breakout this coming season after his fantastic rookie year that ended with Hodkinson winning the team’s Most Improved Player (MIP) award
“We knew Ryan would be a good player. He's going to be that really solid, 200-foot player who can do everything we need him to. He can put up points, kill penalties, take faceoffs and just play tough. We're looking at Ryan as a star player on our team and in the league in general.”
As a team that builds a great deal of its structure on having responsible play in its own end, having their defence led by two ever-steady rearguards entering their third full GOJHL seasons and two incoming junior hockey veterans, supplemented by a trio of well-regarded rookies, should put the team in a good position to maintain their defensive excellence.
“We know what we're going to get out of Ryder (Livermore) and Jacob (Montesi), and while we haven’t seen Ethan (Coups) up close in a while, we’re pretty confident we know what he offers us. With our newer guys, thankfully, we know them, as we had Hayden (Barch) and Rowan (Reid), and we know what they bring. Owen (Kalp) has some junior experience and we’ve seen him a little bit when he was in Chatham, and then Julian (Stubgen) adds a really good style to our blueline as well. I think it’s a good mix of older and younger guys, and I think it really fits with what we want our defence to be.”
Despite not entering with a high level of notoriety, Colby Booth-Housego quickly established himself in the league, finishing the season as a co-winner alongside Brandon Abbott of the Roy Caley Award for the lowest team goals against average (GAA) in the west. Booth-Housego also finished the 2023-2024 season with the second-best GAA in the entire league and the seventh-best save percentage. He is joined in goal by the incoming Nico Armellin, who posted a stellar 0.971 save percentage in two exhibition games.
“We’re excited about our goalies,” Bradley said. “Colby’s goals-against average and save percentage were right near the top of the league last year, so he's looking to step into that starting job and we definitely believe he can do it. And then we know Nico has a really good pedigree. We've heard really good things about him, and from what we’ve seen, the kid can definitely play. He is going to push Colby just like Colby pushed Brandon (Abbott) last year and, hopefully, there will be some healthy competition out of that.”
As coach Bradley reflected on the preseason, he noted several players as standing out for their strong play, including first-year defenceman Hayden Barch and second-year forwards Blake Elzinga and Ryan Cornfield.
“Hayden has looked really good. He's definitely got that junior maturity. He's not shy, he’s a physical, smart player, but we knew we would get that out of him from when he was practicing and playing with us last year. If you just look at his point totals in minor hockey, people may not view him as a dominant player, but he is capable of being a dominant defenceman. I think the early indication is that he won’t have a problem playing at this level.
“Blake and Ryan both went through some ups and downs last season,” Bradley continued. “Blake wasn’t playing for a portion of the playoffs, and then Ryan wasn’t playing at the end of it. They both came back this year wanting another crack at it and thinking they could do better and learn from moments last year. They've both come in with a good attitude. They're practicing hard, they're playing responsibly and looking very organized in a typically very unorganized setting in terms of preseason hockey. They just look like they’re ready to go.”
As Bradley looked to the home opener on Sept. 13 and the first few weeks of the season more broadly, he explained what he hopes to see out of his team in the early part of the year.
“I want to see us play inspired hockey. We’ve got the banner ceremony before the game, some guys from last year are stopping by and the trophy is in the building, and I want the players to take it all in and get even more energized from it. As I said, in the home opener and over the first few weeks, we want to be organized and see progress on the ice systems-wise, but most of all, start building those good habits. You can’t just flip a switch in January and say, ‘Now, I’m going to start playing with good habits.’ You have to build it right from the start and that will be a big focus for us.”
Knowing every season is a long, winding journey, Bradley isn’t yet setting his sights beyond the process but did note that he feels the team coming within three wins of a league title creates a chip on the players’ shoulders and a hunger for even more.
“I hope the experience of last year gives them a feeling of unfinished business. The players know what it took to get to where they got to last year. As hard as it was to do what we did, it will be even harder to go even further. But we’re not focused on the end right now and we’re not setting that as our goal right now. Right now, as the season starts, it’s truly all about getting better every time we take the ice.”
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