By Pat Payton
St. Marys Lincolns recently selected their assistant captains for the 2019-20 season. They are forwards Cayse Ton, Jacob Bloomfield, Thomas McLatchie and Joe Mazur and defenceman Max Mulder. They join returning captain Blair Butchart on the team’s leadership group.
–Lincs are holding a ‘School Night’ promotion this Friday, Sept. 27, with Leamington Flyers (5-1-0-1) in town. It features a colouring contest. All students (11 and under) will be admitted free. Students 12-17 will be admitted for half-price ($4).
–London coach-GM Pat Powers had this to say after his Nationals lost 5-4 to the Lincolns last Wednesday night at the Western Fair Sports Centre. “I thought St. Marys played really well; we played soft and scared,” Powers said bluntly. “We made some bad decisions that cost us.
“We’re still a work in progress as far as learning our team systems.”
–Former St. Thomas centre Rob Coutts is the new head coach of the Jr. ‘B’ Stars. Coutts got his start in coaching years ago while playing minor pro hockey in the United Kingdom.
Drafted by the OHL’s London Knights in 1984, and following some time with the Guelph Platers, Coutts joined the St. Thomas Jr. ‘B’ team in 1986. He was part of the Stars’ successful Sutherland Cup team that same season (1986-87). After Junior, Coutts continued his career, playing professionally in England from 1995 until retiring in 2004.
St. Thomas has seven or eight veterans back from last season. “We’ve got great speed, but we have to move the puck quicker,” Coutts said last Friday. “We’re young, and we have to learn to play game in and game out and shift in and shift out, or it’s going to be hard. We have the group here, but we have to understand that it takes a big effort every night.”
–The Ontario Hockey League’s Owen Sound Attack, with St. Marys natives Kaleb Pearson, 19, and Sam Sedley, 16, in their line-up, went 3-1 in four exhibition games. Pearson had three goals and five points to lead the Attack in pre-season scoring.
–Two former Lincs–defencemen Jake Weston, 18, and Michael Haddad, 19–are now playing Junior hockey in Florida with the Jr. Blades, based in Estero just south of Fort Myers.
Jr. Blades are a member of the United States Premier Hockey League (USPHL). Other teams in the Florida Division are: Florida Eels, Tampa Bay Juniors, Atlanta Madhatters and Charleston Colonials.
–The Lincolns’ family was saddened to hear of the passing of former team captain Walter (Wally) Parkinson (1968-70) last Friday at University Hospital in London. The life-long Lucan resident was 69.
A Celebration of Life will be held at the Lucan Community Memorial Centre, 263 Main Street, Lucan this Thursday, Sept. 26 from 12 to 2 p.m., with words of remembrance at 1 p.m.
