After playing some of the most gritty hockey in his three years with the St. Marys Lincolns in their first four games of the season, Ethan Weir, pictured, potted his first goal of the campaign in another strong effort Sept. 19 against the Woodstock Navy Vets, helping the Lincolns to a 9-1 win. Photo credit: Charis Muhtar
By Spencer Seymour
The St. Marys Lincolns improved their record to 3-1-0-0 on the regular season after a disappointing loss on home ice was sandwiched between two ultra-dominant performances.
The Lincolns began a stretch of three games in four days Sept. 16 with a visit to the LaSalle Vipers, coming away with a 4-2 victory. However, while the score wasn’t totally lopsided, the actual flow of the game was heavily tilted in the Lincolns’ favour.
“I thought we completely outplayed them from start to finish,” said Jeff Bradley, Lincs’ head coach. “I didn’t think the game was close at all, aside from the score. It’s very important to me that our forecheck becomes a huge piece of our identity, and to have two games where our forecheck has been near perfect is something I’m really happy with.”
Leading the charge for the Lincolns’ excellent showing in the eyes of coach Bradley was the line that started the game, Oliver Lacko, Chase McDougall, and Devun Colebrook.
“The (Oliver) Lacko, (Chase) McDougall, and (Devun) Colebrook line, I thought they were outstanding. I thought from their first shift, they were outstanding. The pressure they’re able to put on the opposition is why we wanted to start them. Right away, there’s a big hit by Devun, a good F2 play by Oliver to get pucks back, and we spent the entire first shift in LaSalle’s zone. And then, their second shift, Chase went out there and laid somebody out.
“The priority for them is defending, and that’s my priority at all times,” Bradley continued. “So, when you share that with players, you’re going to trust them a lot more. So, being able to trust guys like that for them to go out and do their job and then to actually execute it, it’s a nice thing for me.”
Tristan Kitchen got the game’s first goal for the Vipers, but Ryan Hodkinson answered back for the Lincolns, opening the scoring for St. Marys for the second straight game.
The Lincs outshot LaSalle 16-6 in the first, but the Vipers managed to find more of a groove in the second, with the shot differential being narrowed to 15-13 for St. Marys in the middle frame. Despite the Vipers having their best period of the night in the second, the Lincolns outscored the home side three goals to one.
Jonah McIndoo made it 2-1 for the Vipers before three unanswered goals by Owen Bruining, Callum McAuley, and Devun Colebrook, the latter two coming in the final minute.
Bradley told the Independent he was thrilled with how the Lincolns withstood the second-period push by the Vipers.
“In the first, we were outstanding, but the turnovers overshadowed how well we were playing. I thought we limited our turnovers in the second period, but there are two teams playing and trying to win, and they played a bit better in the second, but I thought we handled it well. They put one push on us in three periods, and we were able to sustain it and outscore them. We outscored them in their best period.”
Sluggish start costs Lincs against Stars
Although the Lincolns turned in a solid effort in the final 40 minutes, a sleepy first period was too much for St. Marys to overcome, dropping their Sept. 18 clash against the St. Thomas Stars 5-3.
Tyran Lawson and Pierson Clute put St. Thomas ahead 2-0 in the first, before the two sides traded goals back-and-forth in the second and third. McAuley scored twice for St. Marys with Camden Kean also netting his first of the year. For the Stars, Dylan Willmott and Luke Wachowiak each restored two-goal leads, while Lawson scored his second of the night into an empty net.
According to the head coach, the Lincolns’ push in the final two periods came too late.
“I don’t think we were ready to go. It seemed like they thought it was going to be two points given, and that showed in the first period. We were quite physical in the second and third periods. I thought we were good on chasing down pucks and getting away from St. Thomas and taking away certain things from them,” Bradley began.
“But, if you spot a team two goals, you put your goalie in a situation where he can’t mess up, and their goalie has a good game for the next two periods, you’re still chasing, and chasing in this conference is not a good thing to do. You can’t take a night off. We feel we’re going to get everybody’s best, and we’ve got to be ready for the opening puck drop.”
Lincs trounce Navy Vets in first-ever trip to Woodstock
Just 24 hours later, the Lincolns went to Woodstock in search of a response, and got it in the form of a cannonball through the Navy Vets’ bow, winning 9-1.
“It was very important (to bounce back from the loss to St. Thomas),” Bradley noted. “Right from the start, we were physical, we moved the puck well, we took time and space away from them, and we supported the puck well. I saw the good little things that we need to do to be successful. We’re trying to build confidence all throughout the lineup, and a 9-1 win normally will do that.”
The Lincolns’ dominance was evidenced by David Heath scoring the game’s first goal 30 seconds in, while it took the Navy Vets eight minutes to register their first shot of the game. In the end, the Lincolns outshot Woodstock 40-13, and went four-for-seven on the powerplay, including two that were scored during a nine-minute man advantage in the third period resulting from Jordan Jacobs receiving two minutes for charging, two for instigating, and a five-minute major for fighting an unwilling player.
Bradley detailed what he liked about the work done by his powerplay units.
“We executed with the puck in-zone for the most part. When you have that many powerplays, you should score on a bunch of them, and we did. There’s still definitely work to be done on the powerplay. We want to touch up our entries, breakouts, and retrievals on the powerplay, just the details like that, but to get goals in the meantime is nice.”
Heath’s goal was his first of two in the contest and came with Heath playing on the right wing of Hodkinson and Blake Elzinga.
“As long as you’re willing to work to their pace and move the puck to them and be ready for the puck whenever they can get it to you, you should be able to fit with that line,” remarked Bradley. “David (Heath) earned a good opportunity with his work ethic in the first three games, so I figured it was a good chance for him to jump in, and he did a great job.”
Hodkinson tied a GOHL-era Lincolns record for most points in a single game with two goals and four helpers.
Ethan Weir found his first goal of the season as part of a three-point night, with the goal coming after some of the most tenacious, hard-nosed hockey Weir has ever played in a Lincolns jersey over the first few games of the young season.
“I’m really happy that Ethan (Weir) is diversifying his game a little bit,” said Bradley. “He’s a lot more physical than he was in the past. He’s a good veteran. He’s a good voice on the bench and in the locker room. He’s really becoming a good leader for us. He’s been to two Sutherland Cups, and he’s able to set a good example for the guys who haven’t played in those types of games.”
McAuley had a five-point game including a goal, making it three straight games with a goal for the Timmins, Ont., native. Elzinga had a goal and three assists, giving him a point in every game so far this season, and Colebrook also made it a four-game point streak with a goal of his own. James MacGregor also found the back of the net for St. Marys.
Turnovers have been an early focal point for the Lincolns, and while still having some work to do in that and a couple other areas, Bradley saw some noticeable improvement in Woodstock.
“Our puck management was better. We still had a lot of turnovers, but when you have the puck the whole game, you’re going to turn it over. We’ve got to keep working on how we defend in our zone and how we defend in the neutral zone for sure. Those are just things that we’ve got to touch up on, and that’s the plan.”
David Heath, pictured, made the most of an opportunity on a line with star forwards Ryan Hodkinson and Blake Elzinga, scoring two goals in the Lincolns’ 9-1 win over the Woodstock Navy Vets Sept. 19. Photo credit: Spencer Seymour
