Ryan Hodkinson whacks a loose puck by London Nationals’ goaltender Casimir Weckström, scoring the eventual game-winning goal during the St. Marys Lincolns’ 9-3 victory over the London Nationals on March 1. Hodkinson totalled four points in the Lincolns’ back-to-back wins over the Kings and Nationals. Photo by Turner Roth
By Spencer Seymour
After having their 18-game winning streak snapped on Feb. 23, the St. Marys Lincolns scored 19 goals in two games to get back in the win column against the Komoka Kings and London Nationals.
Many of the Lincolns’ top stars enjoyed offensive success in the team’s 10-0 thrashing of the Komoka Kings on Feb. 28, including Chase MacQueen-Spence, who scored the game’s first goal five-and-a-half minutes into the first period. The goal, MacQueen-Spence’s 25th of the year, gave the Lincs’ assistant captain goals in eight of his last nine games.
Lincoln Moore and Cohen Bidgood also scored before the end of the first, giving the Lincolns a 3-0 lead heading into the first intermission.
At the 14:13 mark of the second stanza, Jaden Lee made history when he scored his sixth shorthanded goal of the season, surpassing the single-season shorthanded goals record of five set by Sean Consitt in the 2009-2010 and 2012-2013 seasons. Lee’s linemate, Luca Spagnolo, also tied Consitt’s record when he recorded his fifth shorthanded goal earlier this year.
Moore added his second of the game a few minutes later to make it 5-0, with Owen Voortman extending the Lincolns’ lead to six goals.
Through 40 minutes, the Lincolns had outshot the Komoka Kings 42-10 thanks in part to a strong focus defensively. Head coach Jeff Bradley credited the return of assistant coach Mike Herman for helping the team have a strong showing in their own zone.
“The fact that Mike (Herman) is back here full-time now is huge for our team,” said Bradley. “We want to make sure guys are getting up to speed on the back end with his style and the way Mike and our team want to play when the playoffs roll around. Seeing someone like Ben (Randall) get a chance to play, or the guys who haven’t worked with Mike too much before, it was good to see those adjustments being made with Mike back behind the bench.”
Three minutes and 56 seconds into the third frame, Noah VandenBrink finished off a great give-and-go with Quinn Gavin-White. Just seven seconds later, Voortman ripped a shot home for his 26th of the campaign. Lee added another shorthanded goal later in the third to add to his newly set record before Moore completed the hat-trick for his 27th of the season.
The sharp disparity between the top-ranked Lincolns and last-placed Kings made it difficult to determine where the Lincolns’ skills began and the Kings’ lack of high-end ability stopped. However, according to Bradley, the team still managed a solid effort.
“We’re in the process of trying to prepare for an undetermined playoff opponent, even though we can’t move up or down in the standings. The goal right now is just to make sure our game is in order, but it’s somewhat tough to judge if we made a ton of progress in that game. It’s not that Komoka wasn’t trying, but it’s a tough game for us to take a lot from. But I think we built a bit of chemistry and confidence, so those were positives.”
In addition to his first-period goal, MacQueen-Spence added a trio of assists. Spagnolo, Ethan Coups and Ryan Hodkinson also picked up three helpers. Gavin-White and Ryder Livermore each tallied two assists.
Making 18 saves in the shutout bid was Colby Booth-Housego and, in doing so, he tied the Lincolns’ franchise records for shutouts in a single season, six, and career shutouts, eight, both set by Bryan Hince.
“By the end of his career, depending on how long he plays here, Colby (Booth-Housego) could go down as one of the best goalies in St. Marys Lincolns’ history stats-wise,” Bradley said. “He’s a cornerstone of this organization and hopefully will be for years to come, and he deserves everything he gets.”
Lincs trounce undisciplined Nats 9-3
The Nationals’ team that traded goals with the Lincolns in the first period on March 1 did not seem like the same group that came fully and truly undone in the third period and frittered away any hope of making a comeback.
However, in a game that began with a powerplay goal by VandenBrink just one minute and 18 seconds into the opening period, it ended with a double-minor for kneeing, a major for a dangerous hit from behind by Luke McSorley and two game misconducts.
Nationals’ head coach Brandon Prust got ejected during the final period as well.
Bradley and his squad, meanwhile, stayed focused on actually playing the game they had come to play.
“We have a big picture in mind and I don’t think London did,” Bradley said. “We’re not playing to beat the London Nationals right now. We’re playing against ourselves and because of that, it doesn’t serve us to let our emotions get in the way. London showed what happens when you do that. Giving up 11 powerplays and three goals cost them the game, so that’s not something we want to do to ourselves.”
Just eight minutes and 28 seconds into the first period, the two teams had gone back and forth finding the back of the net with the score sitting at 3-2 in the Lincolns’ favour. London tied the game at three apiece with around four and a half minutes left in the period. Spagnolo and Jacob McLellan joined VandenBrink in scoring for St. Marys in the first.
While their offensive play was clicking, the Lincolns’ were far from perfect on the defensive side during the first. However, the bench boss was pleased with the team’s progression as the game went along.
“I didn’t like our first period. I thought we mismanaged the puck quite a bit and made some pretty costly errors in the first period. It is somewhat understandable; we haven’t played a ton of meaningful hockey as of late, while London is a talented team who is still fighting for something. But as the game went along, we got much better and by the end, we were pretty happy with our game.
“We looked at video in the intermission and our message was that the way we were playing was unacceptable,” continued Bradley. “We were doing things that went against what we had talked about in our pregame meeting. But, credit to the players, they listened to what we said and they went out and did what we asked. This is a smart group who care and work hard, and after the first, they went out and executed.”
In the second, Hodkinson drove to the front of the net and whacked a loose puck through the five-hole of Nats’ goalie Casimir Weckström for his 17th of the year. Coups followed that up with a point shot that bounced through a maze of bodies before hitting the back of London’s net and giving Coups points in nine of his last 10.
Owen Kalp assisted on both goals in the second period, which gave the native of Chatham points in six of his last seven games.
In the third, Bidgood buried his ninth of the season, while Moore extended his goal streak to four straight games.
VandenBrink, who received player-of-the-game honours and was marvelous for the Lincolns, completed a three-point night with the team’s third powerplay marker of the contest and his second goal on the man advantage.
Bradley praised VandenBrink for what was arguably his best game of the season.
“Noah (VandenBrink) was unbelievable. In every way, he was outstanding. He was great on the powerplay. We’ve been preaching about shift lengths and he was taking well-timed shifts. We’re preaching about having a responsible forward high in the offensive zone, and he is incredibly responsible. He’s a great leader. Him getting to the net led to the goal by Ethan (Coups). Noah has always been a big-game player for this organization. When the chips are down, he’s there.”
With one minute and nine seconds left, the Nationals misfired the puck from behind their own net, causing an own-goal that was credited to defenceman Ian Gedney. While not exactly the most skillful goal of the night, Gedney was also credited by his head coach for his back-to-back performances against Komoka and London.
“Ian (Gedney) had two really good games this weekend for us. He kept it simple and he started looking a bit more comfortable. You could tell at times that he didn’t want to make mistakes on the ice, so we had been urging him to just go play and have some fun. He did that this weekend and he looked really good on the blueline for us.”
Spagnolo added three assists to his one goal while Coups, Lee, McLellan, Moore and Voortman all finished with two-point games. Booth-Housego earned another win in between the pipes and, on March 3, Booth-Housego and MacQueen-Spence were named players of the month by the Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League (GOJHL).
The Lincolns went to London on March 5 after the Independent’s press time and will end their regular season schedule on March 7, hosting the high-powered Chatham Maroons.
