Lincs riding high with trio of victories over Chatham, Sarnia

Owen Voortman backhands the puck past goaltender Andrew Gaulton during the St. Marys Lincolns’ 7-0 win over the Sarnia Legionnaires on Dec. 4.

By Spencer Seymour

The St. Marys Lincolns have points in five straight games, including wins in each of their last four, after running the table in a stretch of three games in four days, including a pair of wins over the top-ranked team in the West that cemented the Lincolns as a top team in the conference.

The Lincolns began their jam-packed schedule with a visit to Sarnia to take on the lowly Legionnaires, who, as of the Independent’s press time, have yet to win a game this season, having lost all 27 games they’ve played this year.

Blake Elzinga recorded a hat-trick, while Lincoln Moore and Owen Voortman broke out of scoring slumps with goals of their own. Ethan Weir and James MacGregor also found the back of the net and Vaughn Barr made 23 saves to secure the shutout as the Lincolns won 7-0.

Just 24 hours later, the Lincolns went from the last-placed team in the West to the first-placed Chatham Maroons, who made their first trip to St. Marys since they won Game 7 of the 2025 Western Conference Final.

For the second straight game, Weir scored the lone goal of the first period to put St. Marys ahead 1-0 at the end of one period. Carter Chadwick answered for Chatham on the powerplay just one minute and 28 seconds into the second frame, but the Lincolns retook the lead just under three minutes later when Devun Colebrook one-timed a great feed from Chase McDougall.

Head coach Jeff Bradley credited McDougall for his strong performance throughout the night.

“I thought Chase (McDougall) had a really good bounce-back game,” Bradley told the Independent. “He started to not only use his body to be a little bit more confident, but we’re asking him to shoot the puck more. He was getting some shots on, but he also made a really nice play to Devun on his first goal of the game, so we were really happy to see what Chase was able to accomplish (on Friday).”

Colebrook fired home his second goal of the game 12 minutes later on a powerplay after a brilliant setup by Voortman, who pulled multiple Maroons on the ice towards him before dishing the puck to Colebrook who had an open net to one-time the puck into.

In the third, Moore made it two straight games with a goal before Jaxon Priddle cut the lead back to two. Oliver Lacko iced the game with an empty netter late in the third to secure a 5-2 win for the Lincolns. Brogan Colquhoun made 21 saves in the winning effort in goal.

While very pleased with his team’s defensive play, Bradley noted their play with the puck, especially early in the game, left a bit to be desired.

“I’m really happy with how we defended. I thought we did very well and didn’t give them much at all, and our priority is always to defend and limits chances, but we struggled with the puck. It was a bit of just not clicking and some poor decision-making and lack of focus with the puck. It’s a good thing they can defend because, if they hadn’t, that game could have been an ugly one for sure.

“It seemed like we wanted to give them the puck more than we wanted it, so I thought we made it tough on ourselves in the first period,” Bradley continued. “But I thought we limited that in the second period, and we were much better with the puck in the second and then were able to carry that over into the third. There was definitely more good than bad from everybody.”

In all three games, the Lincolns continued to see an uptick in their even-strength scoring from the rest of the first half of their season, something the bench boss explained has been a point of emphasis in recent weeks.

“We definitely needed it,” Bradley said of the increase in even-strength offence. “We can’t just be grinding out these 2-1, 3-2 games all the time. Those can’t be the only wins we’re getting, although it’s good to know we can win games like that. We have to score some goals, so hopefully these last few games have started a trend that we can continue.”

Lincs hammer Maroons on the road

Despite the game ending in just a one-goal deficit, the Lincolns justifiably left Chatham, one of the most hostile arenas to play in as the visiting team, feeling as though they had systematically dismantled the top-seeded squad in the conference.

“We went right at them,” said Bradley. “That’s like a really tough place to play and Mike (Herman) and I were talking on the bench; even when we were up by two and three goals at different points in the game, it never felt safe and Chatham managed to get it back to within a goal. But you look at the shots and how we played and I thought we deserved to score a lot more.”

Bradley detailed how the Lincolns exploited holes in the Maroons defensive-zone coverage, leading to a large amount of high-danger scoring chances.

“We had a gameplan and we executed it really well. Chatham has some really skilled defencemen, but we wanted to make sure pucks are getting in behind them. And we found that on Friday, the chances Chatham had were ones we gave them, so we didn’t want to give them opportunities with turnovers or mistakes. So we talked a lot about puck management and I thought we did an outstanding job of that.”

It took the Lincolns, who were completely dominant for the first 40 minutes, just 45 seconds of the opening period to find the first goal of the contest, with Colebrook continuing his hot streak and putting the Lincs ahead 1-0. Colebrook now has goals in three of his last four games.

A powerplay led to the ninth of the year for Weir, who is now on a four-game goal streak and five-game point streak, at the 4:29 mark of the first. Moore then increased his scoring streak to three straight games with a laser beam into the top of the Maroons’ net exactly nine minutes later, a goal that chased Chatham starter Viljami Kukkola from the net with six and a half minutes left in the opening frame.

Bradley said the hot start to the game set an important tone for the rest of the night.

“It was nice to get on the board so early and then chase their goalie like that,” said Bradley. “We were really confident going into the game. We know we’re a good team, but Chatham is also a really good team and you just never know what’s going to happen. Chatham is the kind of team who could have an off game and still be lethal.

“They’ve got some guys who can really put the puck in the net and we saw them score a couple goals out of nowhere. So, we respect them and we know they’re a really good team, but we’re a pretty good team, too, and our guys take that personally and they want to show how good they are.”

Kaden Sienko finally stopped the bleeding for Chatham before the end of the first, but the Lincolns restored their three-goal lead less than four minutes into the second when Callum McAuley tipped a point shot by Luke McMillan past Blake Verberne, scoring his first goal as a Lincoln in his debut.

McAuley was acquired from the Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League’s (NOJHL) Soo Thunderbirds, where he served as captain this season and scored 12 goals and 22 points in 22 games.

Powers said the acquisition of the speedy 19-year-old from Timmins makes the Lincolns’ forward group one of the deepest in the league.

“Callum (McAuley) has speed to burn and skill to both put the puck in the back of the net and to make others around him better,” Powers said. “He increases our pace of play and allows us to have four number-one-calibre lines. He also adds to our veteran group and makes us a much harder team to match up against.”

Chatham’s two-goal response came after McAuley’s goal, first off a misplay by Colquhoun which Alexander Lisi knocked into the open net, and then with Aidan Edwards blasting a loose puck into the St. Marys net to cut the deficit to one.

Despite the pair of goals by the Maroons, the second period was dominated by St. Marys, with Verberne making at least three saves on one-timers right in close to his net, as well as several other quality scoring chances for the Lincolns.

A great defensive stick play at the Lincolns blueline late in the second by Declan Ready led to a two-on-one for St. Marys, with Ready wiring the puck past Verberne to put the Lincolns back ahead by two. Lisi tallied his second of the night in the third, but the Lincolns fended off the Maroons’ comeback and hung on for the 5-4 victory, and in doing so, won their fourth in a row.