By Pat Payton
Following weekend action, St. Marys Lincolns are down to 25 players — 15 forwards, seven defencemen and three goaltenders.
“The team still has as many as three moves to make,” head coach Trent McClement told the Independent at Sunday’s practice. “If we make three moves, two will be forwards and possibly a goalie.”
Kyle Curtin, projected to be St. Marys’ No. 1 goaltender, reported to the Lincs’ camp last Thursday after attending a Provincial Tier II Jr. ‘A’ camp in Cobourg. He saw action in both pre-season games this past weekend. Russian-born Gleb Poliakov and Sean Andrus, of Oshawa, are also in the Lincolns’ goaltending picture.
Lincs would like to carry a maximum of 22 players this season.
–GM Greg Smale says centre Josh Martin could be headed to Rockland Nationals, a Provincial Tier II Jr. ‘A’ team in the Ottawa area. “But we’re still not 100 per cent sure,” Smale said Sunday.
Last season, the 18-year-old Elmira native had 11 goals and 23 points in 48 games to finish sixth in Lincs’ team scoring.
–Smallish defenceman Reid Ramseyer, who played the majority of last season with the Lincolns, was recently released by the team. In 33 games a year ago, he had two points and 25 penalty minutes. The 18-year-old Mitchell native will return to the Jr. ‘C’ Hawks, who he played with in 2017-18.
–Mason Mantzavrakos, who Lincolns acquired from Brantford Jr. ‘B’ Bandits this summer, reported to camp last week but has yet to play a game with St. Marys.
The 17-year-old right winger recently attended the Quebec Major Jr. ‘A’ camp of the Quebec Remparts. This past weekend, the Londoner attended Barrie Colts’ Ontario Hockey League rookie camp. This week, he is at Barrie’s main OHL camp.
Last season, Mantzavrakos had nine goals, 12 assists and 52 penalty minutes in 44 games with Brantford.
–Lincs have nine players attending OHL training camps this week. In addition to Mantzavrakos (Barrie), the others are: Carter Schoonderwoerd and Kyle Curtin (Peterborough), Sam Sedley (Owen Sound), Joe Mazur and Ryan Burke (Sudbury), Quinton Pepper (Guelph), Jordan Daer (London) and Tyler Alexander (Niagara).
–Going into this past weekend, Stratford Warriors had 18 forwards and eight defencemen still in the picture. They have eight veterans back, and also added goalie Rhett Kimmel in a trade. Kimmel, 19, played the last two seasons with Elmira Sugar Kings.
“We’ve had a big turnover, with just eight returning players,” Warriors’ Director of Hockey Operations Phil Westman told the Independent last Friday in Stratford. “Obviously, we’re going to have a younger team, but that’s Junior hockey. Every team goes through the same situation.
“That’s one thing you get with a young team,” Westman continued. “When you have 19 and 20-year-olds, they’ve done this training camp routine three or four times, and it’s not all that exciting for them. When you have these younger guys in the line-up, it’s their first Jr. ‘B’ games and they have more jump and they’re pretty excited about playing . . . even in these exhibition games.”
–Sebastien Archambault has joined Humboldt Broncos of the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League (SJHL). The 19-year-old, stay-at-home defenceman is the son of Deb (Goad) and J.C. Archambault, and the grandson of Nelson and Heather Goad of St. Marys.
Archambault, who is 6 ft., 4 inches and 210 lbs., played the last two seasons for the Sicamous Eagles, a Jr. ‘B’ team located about 30 minutes from Salmon Arm, B.C. Archambault had seven goals and 12 assists and played a key role on the Sicamous defence last year.
