Teams from 2005 – 2010 era combined for 160 regular-season victories
By Pat Payton
Lincs’ Alumni secretary
On Saturday, March 1 at the PRC, the St. Marys Lincolns’ Alumni Group honoured five teams that Merlin Malinowski coached. They represented the town in Jr. ‘B’ hockey from 2005 to 2010.
These five Lincs teams combined for 160 regular-season wins – that’s an average of 32 wins a season. An impressive record over a 48-game Western League regular schedule.
Malinowski was head coach all five of these seasons, and his assistant coaches over that stretch included: Paul Petrie, Dan Murrell, Adam Casey, Jamie Baker, Bill Bourne, Tim Schultz and Jason Van Spronsen. Goalie coaches were Jeff Swan and Mark Nelson.
Bourne also served as general manager for three of those seasons, and Warren Nye for the other two.
All five Lincoln teams honoured Saturday were league contenders in a competitive nine-team Western Conference. From 2005 to 2010, these St. Marys teams finished first, second, third twice and fourth.
Malinowski and his assistants deserve a lot of credit for putting great systems and a solid structure on the ice in those days. These teams provided a lot of entertaining hockey – at a time in the Lincs’ history when the team needed a positive resurgence.
75 different players
About 75 different players played on these five teams, several for two or three seasons. Defenceman and St. Marys native Brett Petrie was a key member of four of those teams.
The 2005-06 Lincolns squad was quite likely the best team Malinowski and his staff coached.
In the regular schedule, Lincs went 33-13-2 – good for 68 points. Chatham Maroons went 32-12-4 – also good for 68 points. St. Marys got the nod for first place with one more win.
After knocking off London 4-3 and Petrolia 4-1 in the first two playoff rounds, Lincolns met Chatham in the Western league final.
Game 6 in Chatham will always be one of my favourite Lincoln playoff memories. Facing elimination, down 3-2 in games, Lincs pulled out a 3-2 double-overtime victory in a hostile environment.
I have vivid memories of that game, watched by 2,000 fans. First of all, goalie Bryan Hince faced 77 shots and made a remarkable 75 saves. Chatham officials recorded the shots, and they had the Lincolns having only 30 shots that night.
In the first 20-minute overtime period, Lincs were often pinned in their own end and were out-shot 10-2. But the Maroons couldn’t get a puck past Hince, who simply stood on his head in one of the best goaltending performances that I have ever witnessed in Jr. ‘B’ hockey.
Early in the second OT period, Lincolns’ winger Justin Salt snapped home the winner from the slot – forcing Game 7 back in St. Marys three nights later. “I took a nice drop-pass from Mike McLaughlin and just shot it, then I got hit and kind of blacked out. I didn’t even see it go in,” Salt told the newspaper.
Lincs lost a 4-3 heartbreaker to the Maroons that fateful night in early April of 2006. It was a hard-fought series that could have easily gone either way. It was painful to watch the Maroons hoist the league trophy on St. Marys ice that night. I can still see the Lincoln players hanging their heads in bitter disappointment following the game, but they certainly had nothing to be ashamed of.
Individually, Salt had an outstanding playoff run that spring. He had 14 goals and 21 points in 19 playoff games. Also picking up 21 points in 19 games was Nathan Peacock.
Hince played all 19 playoff games for St. Marys, posting a very respectable 2.46 goals-against average. I believe he’s one of the best goalies to ever wear green and white colours in Lincolns’ history. Hince still holds several team goaltending records, including total minutes played by a St. Marys netminder. He also won an amazing 72 games, including playoffs, in just two seasons with the Lincs.
Peacock was also the league scoring champion that season, with 27 goals and 80 points. The four-year veteran, from Tillsonburg, was the first Lincoln to win a league scoring title in 30 years.
Merlin the catalyst
As stated earlier, the five teams honoured by the Alumni Group on March 1 were all coached by one man – Merlin Malinowski. He was the catalyst, I believe, which led to the success of these teams. The dictionary defines catalyst as: ‘a person or event that quickly causes change or action.’
It seemed that all his players bought into Malinowski’s systems, structure and philosophies on the ice. And the assistant coaches did, too. I covered these teams and watched the teams grow as each season progressed.
The Saskatchewan native’s first season with the Lincs was 2003-04, and they finished last with just 13 wins. But the next season, St. Marys finished fourth with 24 wins and the year after that – first with 33 wins. He quickly built the Lincolns into a contender – from last to first in just three years.
I think everybody knows that Malinowski was a professional hockey player for several years, including five seasons in the NHL. He was also a player and a pro coach overseas in Switzerland for something like 14 or 15 years, and he was a member of Team Canada at the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary as well.
But what some people might not know is that Malinowski coached the Jr. ‘B’ Lincolns longer than any other coach to date in the team’s 69-year history – a combined 10 seasons.
He coached the Lincs for seven consecutive seasons – 2003 to 2010 – before stepping down. He then coached in the Triple ‘A’ minor hockey system for several years. When the Lincolns went looking for a head coach a year or so after that, I remember the struggling team had only one coach in mind – Merlin Malinowski – and he guided the Lincs for three more seasons (2013 – 2016).
Over his first seven seasons behind the bench, Malinowski coached the Lincolns to 197 regular-season wins and 33 playoff victories. That’s 230 wins . . . a lot of victories.
One of the top coaches in franchise history
I believe Merlin Malinowski is among the top five coaches in Lincolns’ franchise history. As stated earlier, he played and coached pro in Switzerland for several years, and he brought that European free-wheeling, wide-open style to the team’s offence . . . where the defencemen were encouraged to join the offensive rush. It made for exciting hockey to watch.
Reflecting back, I believe Malinowski’s tenure from 2003 to 2010 significantly turned the Lincs’ fortunes around, and restored respectability to the team, after some losing and struggling years in the late 1990s.
It’s well been documented that the Jr. ‘B’ Lincolns have had their peaks and valleys in their storied 69-year history. The five St. Marys teams (2005 – 2010) that took the spotlight on March 1 restored a lot of stability to the team’s image and made St. Marys a place that players wanted to come to again. The players, coaches, GMs, trainers and executive members on those teams should be very proud of that fact.
Note: The Alumni Group, formed in 2018, also sponsored the March 1 GOJHL game between the first-place Lincs and London Nationals.
