Lincs hit roadblock as road trip continues

Chase McDougall fights for positioning against Carter Coombs during the St. Marys Lincolns’ game against the Listowel Cyclones on Nov. 22.

By Spencer Seymour

The St. Marys Lincolns find themselves in the midst of their rockiest patch of the season so far after losing two straight games.

However, the losses could not have been more different with the Lincolns’ 2-1 defeat at the hands of the Listowel Cyclones being a strong effort going unrewarded, while the 4-2 loss to the Elmira Sugar Kings being arguably the Lincs’ worst performance of the year.

The Lincolns travelled to the Listowel on Nov. 22, where St. Marys narrowly fell due to an unlucky bounce late in the third lifting the Cyclones to a 2-1 win.

Head coach Jeff Bradley told the Independent he was very happy with his team’s showing against Listowel despite not coming away with the win.

“I thought both teams were great,” Bradley said. “The game-winning goal was obviously unfortunate, but our guys played their guts out and played the right way. I’ve got zero issues with our game at all. It was another playoff-type game where you could really see the animosity out there, certainly not between the coaching staffs, but between the players on both sides of the ice.”

Much of the first period remained scoreless until Jaden Lee buried his 12th goal of the season to put the Lincolns ahead 1-0 with just one minute and 19 seconds left in the opening period. Luca Spagnolo and Rowan Reid picked up the assists.

Reid, who hadn’t played since Nov. 13, was one of several young players who Bradley credited for their mature, confident play.

“Rowan (Reid) came back into the lineup and looked really good,” Bradley said. “He was out of the lineup for a couple of games in a row there and it's tough to come back in when there's that pressure of needing to perform, and I thought he did a great job. He used his attributes well. He's got really good feet and he's a smart player. He moved the puck with speed and he defended well.

“Nico (Armellin) was great in net for us. Zander (Kechego) and Chase (McDougall) both looked really good. I’m sure the lack of scoring is frustrating for both of them, but they are very reliable, trustworthy players. They both play the right way and are taking major steps in the right direction. It’s tough for rookies to earn a coach’s trust, especially this quickly, but they’ve done that. They have been fantastic.”

Armellin stopped 27 of 29 Listowel shots in the Lincolns’ crease.

The game stayed tied at one apiece until late in the third period when the puck bounced off the stanchion unexpectedly when Armellin left the net to play the puck, which resulted in Jordan Visneskie backhanding the puck over Armellin for the eventual game-winner.

The feisty affair was widely viewed as having a playoff-like atmosphere, which Bradley noted gave the team a taste of what will be needed in the post-season.

“There's a ton of value in playing a game like that. It shows how well we can play with emotion and when the stakes are a bit higher. I think that atmosphere brings the best out of us and it brings the best out of Listowel as well. Everybody was good. We got contributions from all four lines and three pairings for a full 60 minutes.”

Bradley added the team’s gameplan was implemented very well but acknowledged the resiliency of the Cyclones to find a way to take advantage of their chances a tiny bit better than St. Marys could.

“We only allowed two goals and gave up 30 shots. Although you're not going to win many games scoring one goal, I don't think it's common that we'll score just once a game. When you look at why they won and why we lost, I don't think it's what we did wrong, but more of what Listowel did right. Listowel executed well, we executed well and they capitalized on a bounce and that is to their ultimate credit.”

Wheels fall off as Sugar Kings win 4-2

Just 48 hours later, one might be forgiven for thinking it was an entirely different team wearing the Lincolns’ jerseys when they visited the Elmira Sugar Kings.

Bradley said the team will be working hard to be much better than they were on Nov. 24 ahead of their back-to-back games against Sarnia and London.

“We weren't very good. We didn't seem overly engaged. It’s a different story than the rest of our games this season. In a 50-game season, it’s impossible to be engaged every night and every team in the world goes through these things, but that doesn’t mean it’s acceptable, so we have a practice (on Tuesday, Nov. 26), and that will be a hard one, and we have to correct what went wrong.”

Eight minutes and four seconds into the first, Joey Martin opened the scoring with a powerplay goal for the Sugar Kings. Just under 10 minutes later, Chase MacQueen-Spence snapped a five-game goal drought to tie the game at one apiece.

Though they didn’t have a great first 20 minutes, St. Marys managed to enter the second period tied. However, Elmira finally broke through with goals by Martin and Baeddan Pollett just 64 seconds apart to go up 3-1. The newly reacquired Cohen Bidgood buried his first goal since rejoining the Lincolns before the second frame was done to get the game within one heading into the third.

A quick shot by Ian Speiran at the 13:22 mark of the third found the five-hole on Colby Booth-Housego to restore Elmira’s two-goal lead.

With the Lincolns trailing 3-1 and 4-2 during the game, they trailed by two goals more often on Nov. 24 than the rest of their season combined.

Bradley didn’t mince words when discussing what went wrong for the Lincolns.

“We’re in a very difficult conference. We are playing awesome hockey teams night in and night out. If you don’t bring it in this conference, you’re going to get your butt kicked, and that’s what Elmira did to us. They absolutely kicked our butts. They out-hit us. They outworked us. They wanted it more, and we got what we deserved.

“We just can't allow that to happen,” Bradley continued. “We can't be passengers when the guys on the bench see a line get manhandled. They have to get a little mad about it and inflict that on the next line. We allowed them to bark at our bench and try to embarrass us, and we didn’t have a response. We are a proud team who has accomplished a lot in the last couple of years, so we have to respond better than that.”

Bradley stated the very clear response he wants from the group as they suit up for back-to-back games against the Sarnia Legionnaires on Nov. 28 and London Nationals on Nov. 29.

“I want to see us win. I want to see us win on Thursday, I want to see us win on Friday and there's just no excuse. We have to do whatever we can to win, and that's the bottom line. These guys know how to win. They know what it takes to win. I don't have to tell them what it takes to win. We just have to go out and do it.”