Game 7, Western Conference Semi-final
London Nationals 2
St. Marys Lincolns 3
(SMY wins best-of-7 series 4-3)
Lincolns reach conference final for 2nd straight year
Ryan Hodkinson scored two goals (video) and Nico Armellin made 18 saves for his 2nd career playoff win as the Lincolns won the seventh and deciding game in front of a season-high crowd of 1439 at the Pyramid Recreation Centre in St. Marys on Tuesday. The top-seeded Lincolns — who had won the first three game of the series before suffering three straight losses — advance to their second straight conference final where they will face the 2nd-seeded Chatham Maroons, who also needed seven games to win their conference semi-final against Stratford.
For Hodkinson, the goals were his 5th and 6th of the series. His scoring heroics were all the more important with the Lincolns’ top line of Luca Spagnolo, Jaden Lee and Owen Voortman being held to a total of 3 goals and 6 points in the last four games of the series. Lee scored the third Lincolns goal with 29 seconds left in the second period — just seven seconds after an apparent goal by Ryan Cornfield was disallowed.
Armellin — selected to the GOJHL All-Rookie Team — took over starting duties after the 4-2 loss in game 4, and earned his first win since game 2 of the conference quarter-final against Kitchener-Waterloo.
The victory marked the first Game 7 home-ice win for the Lincolns since a 5-2 decision over the St. Thomas Stars in the 2012 Western Conference quarter-final. St. Marys improved their record in Game 7’s to 4-1 since 2008, while the Nationals are now 3-4 in Game 7’s over the same period.
Ty Moffatt and Denis Beley-Camara scored for Nationals, who came up short in their attempt to become just the second team in GOJHL history to win a best-of-seven series after trailing 3-0.
The schedule for the St. Marys-Chatham Western Conference Championship series will be announced later this week.
