Game 6, Western Conference Championship Series
(1) St. Marys Lincolns 6
(2) Chatham Maroons 2
(best-of-7 series tied 3-3)
Lincolns force deciding Game 7 with decisive Game 6 win
The St, Marys Lincolns (11-7) jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first period and went on to defeat the Maroons (11-7) 6-2 in front of 1715 fans at Chatham Memorial Arena, forcing a seventh and deciding game Tuesday in St. Marys.
The St. Marys fans in attendance were rewarded early when the Lincolns took advantage of the Maroons recent power play struggles.
St. Marys opened the scoring 4:55 into the game when Lincoln Moore (7) scored shorthanded. As a 5-on-3 Maroons power play ended, Moore exited the penalty box, picked up a loose puck at centre ice and scored on a partial breakaway.
VIDEO: Moore’s shorthanded goal jumpstarts Lincolns to Game 6 win
Kyle Morey (8) and Jaden Lee (6) scored 75 seconds apart late in the first to extend the Lincolns’ lead to 3-0. Maroons starting goalie Gannon Hunter was replaced by Samuel DeBlasi after Lee’s goal and finished the game.
Two minutes into the second period, Jacob McLellan scored his 3rd goal of the playoffs on the power play to put the Lincolns up by four. Chase MacQueen-Spence — who scored 26 goals in the regular season — scored his first goal of the playoffs — to make it 5-0 after two periods.
In the third period, Ryan Hodkinson‘s team-leading 11th goal of the playoffs for the Lincolns was sandwiched by Maroons goals from Sean Truby (8) and Connor Hunt (5).
Lincolns netminder Colby Booth-Housego (W, 8-2) made 29 saves. Hunter (L, 11-7) stopped 13 of 16 shots faced, while DiBlasi made 16 saves on 19 shots.
St. Marys head coach Jeff Bradley noted the importance of having a good start with their season on the line. “We have a lot of experience in our room and we’ve been on both sides of this type of series. We know that losing an elimination game can sometimes plant seeds of doubt in your head, so getting a good start was really important for us.”
Bradley credited his team for approaching Game 6 as an opportunity. “We were really excited about the possibility of hosting another game 7, and that showed in our play (tonight).”
Maroons GM/head coach Richard Santos’ summary of Game 6 was simple. “We need to do a better job.”
Moore’s goal was the Lincolns’ league-leading 4th shorthanded goal of the playoffs. St. Marys has scored 12 shorthanded goals in the last two playoff seasons combined.
After losing games 2, 3 and 4 by a combined score of 12-5, the Lincolns have outscored the Maroons 12-3 in their last two wins.
The Lincolns improved their away record in the playoffs to 3-5, while the Maroons suffered just their second loss in 10 home games (8-2).
St. Marys was 2/11 on the power play, and are now 7/28 (25.0%) in the series. After scoring a total of 2 power play goals in the first 4 games of the series, the Lincolns have scored 5 in their last 2 wins.
The Maroons were 0/5 with the man advantage and are 2/22 (9.1%) in the series. Chatham had a league-best 27.2% success rate in the regular season and were 17/50 (34%) in their 12 playoff games entering this series.
Tuesday’s Game 7 at the Pyramid R.C. in St. Marys starts at 7:30pm. The winner will face the Eastern Conference champion St. Catharines Falcons in the Sutherland Cup final.
