Nico Armellin, pictured, backstopped the St. Marys Lincolns to their franchise-best, 18th straight win on Feb. 21. The win also gave Armellin sole ownership of the Lincolns’ record for wins in a season by a rookie goaltender, with Armellin surpassing Jesse Raymond with his 18th win of the year. Photo by Spencer Seymour
By Spencer Seymour
It would be understandable if the results of the St. Marys Lincolns’ most recent two games have given fans whiplash.
A weekend that started with a record-setting high on Feb. 21 ended with a bitter-tasting low Feb. 23 with the Lincolns winning their franchise-best, 18th-consecutive game in a matchup with the St. Thomas Stars before falling in a frustratingly forgettable 3-2 shootout loss to the Kitchener-Waterloo Siskins.
The Lincs’ surpassed the 2007-2008 record of 17 straight wins with a dominant 8-3 win over the Stars.
Assistant coach Michael Siddall told the Independent the coaching staff was pleased with the team’s hunger to hunt down the puck.
“We challenged our guys and spent some time in practice working on getting back to the kind of forecheck that has been a staple of ours for several years now,” said Siddall. “Specifically, we were looking at when to pressure hard and when to sit back into a more controlled forecheck. I thought that was an area we executed a lot better in for much of the game.”
Cohen Bidgood netted the game’s first goal, giving the Peterborough native seven on the year. Siddall credited Bidgood for his improved overall play.
“Cohen (Bidgood) has taken good strides as of late,” Siddall said. “He went through a phase when he was finding his footing and engaging the way we need him to, and I think he’s starting to do that. He’s battling more, he’s engaged physically and on the forecheck, and he’s doing a good job protecting pucks defensively.”
Trent Clinton tied the game for St. Thomas a mere 47 seconds later with the score staying deadlocked at one apiece until, with one minute and eight seconds left in the opening period, Jaden Lee scored to restore the Lincolns’ one-goal advantage. Luca Spagnolo and Owen Kalp picked up the assists, the latter of whom extended his point streak to five games with the helper.
The Stars once again evened up the game, this time off the stick of Artsiom Bialiayev two minutes and 20 seconds into the middle stanza. However, just a minute and 19 seconds later, Spagnolo found the back of the net, giving the Lincs’ captain goals in four of his last five games and his league-leading 34th goal of the season.
St. Marys buried their first of two powerplay markers on the night with Ryan Hodkinson’s 16th goal of the campaign at the 9:59 mark of the second before Lee netted his second of the night, once again with just over a minute to go until the intermission.
In the third, Quinn Gavin-White scored for St. Marys against his former team, a goal that gave the 19-year-old forward points in four of his last five games. The goal also came immediately following a point shot by Ethan Coups, giving the overage rearguard points in seven in a row.
Dylan Hendrick got the Stars back within three but a pair of goals by Chase MacQueen-Spence, one of which came on the man advantage, sealed the 8-3 win for the Lincolns.
The goals also made it seven straight games with a goal for MacQueen-Spence, which tied four other skaters – one of whom being his teammate, Lee – for the longest goal streak of the season in the Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League (GOJHL).
Siddall explained how he can see MacQueen-Spence preparing to try to elevate himself in the post-season, just like he did so marvellously one year ago.
“Chase is a playoff performer. He was the MVP of the playoffs last year, and I think he’s doing a good job getting in the right headspace and implementing the right habits to perform in the playoffs. Chase is digging a little deeper and getting in that right frame of mind to have success in the playoffs, and I think the rest of the team is doing so as well.”
Nico Armellin secured the win in between the pipes for the Lincolns and, in doing so, joined in on the history-making nature of the night. The win gave the product of Vaughan 18 wins this season, a new Lincolns’ record for wins in a season by a rookie goaltender.
According to Siddall, even though the game came against a team out of playoff contention, the Lincs still had plenty of reason to be focused.
“Our goal wasn’t so much centred around defeating St. Thomas specifically, as much as it was about working on ourselves. It’s about making sure our systems and gameplay is up to our standard, and for the most part, we did that. That’s really what we’re focusing on as we inch closer to the playoffs.
“It might not be the most high-profile game in terms of who we’re playing, but it’s still big for us,” Siddall continued. “We’re challenging our guys to keep bringing their best effort every game. It’s great to clinch the conference and the league titles, but we are still trying to find ways to be better and more consistent in any way we can.”
Lapsed focus costs Lincs in 3-2 shootout loss
Typically, if a penalty kill is getting offensive opportunities, it’s the Lincolns getting the scoring chances while shorthanded. However, the roles were reversed in the Lincs’ trip to Waterloo, which saw the Siskins end the Lincolns’ winning streak with a 3-2 victory in a shootout.
A misplay on a zone entry led to Kayden Oliver getting a breakaway, which he backhanded past Colby Booth-Housego less than five minutes into the game, giving Kitchener-Waterloo a 1-0 lead.
It took almost exactly 13 minutes for the Lincolns to get an answer, which came in the form of a powerplay goal whacked home by Noah VandenBrink for his eighth of the year. Lee, who tallied an assist on the goal, heads into the Lincolns’ next game on Feb. 28 with points in 17 of his last 18 games.
Liam King scored the lone goal of the middle period to put the Siskins up 2-1, a lead that held until Ryan Cornfield scored the game-tying tally with just under three minutes left in regulation. Along with Jacob Montesi, Blake Elzinga, who turned in a strong effort throughout the game, earned an assist on Cornfield’s equalizer, giving Elzinga at least a point in each of his last six games.
Heading in, the Lincolns powerplay had been white-hot, operating at a nuclear 40 per cent during the month of February. However, errant mismanagement of the puck resulted in numerous rushes the other way, many of which were turned aside as part of a strong, 25-save performance by Booth-Housego.
Siddall attributed the Lincolns’ powerplay struggles to a lack of focus and execution of their gameplan.
“I don’t know if there was a hangover from reading all the headlines about the winning streak and clinching the league,” Siddall chuckled, “but our attention to detail definitely lacked at times. Our powerplay wasn’t as hot as it normally is and Waterloo actually gained some momentum off of our powerplay. When you give teams the chance to build momentum like that, it can really hurt you.
“Our powerplay obviously hasn’t been hurting us lately, and it had moments when it looked good. We were able to get (the Siskins’ penalty killers) out of position, but there were a bit too many non-characteristic things we were doing, like trying to beat guys one-on-one rather than move the puck into open space. The Siskins are fighting for their playoff lives right now, and they caught us with our pants down.”
While the team is eager to correct what went wrong against the Siskins, Siddall noted the team isn’t panicked by one disappointing result.
“I think all of our systems are ready to go, our mindset is ready to go and we don’t need to make any drastic changes to what we’re doing, especially after one lacklustre game. Now we’re focused on all the little things and tweaking the finer details of our gameplan, but we’re operating with a pretty firm foundation.”
The Lincolns host a rare double-header on home ice, first welcoming in the Komoka Kings on Feb. 28 followed by the London Nationals on March 1. After that, the final week of the regular season will see the Lincs visit the Nationals on March 5 before hosting the Chatham Maroons on March 7 in their final game before the start of the playoffs.
Blake Elzinga, pictured, earned an assist in the St. Marys Lincolns 3-2 shootout loss to the Kitchener-Waterloo Siskins on Feb. 23, which gave the Walkerton native at least a point in six consecutive games. Photo by Spencer Seymour
