By Spencer Seymour
Although their two most recent performances were far from masterpieces, the St. Marys Lincolns extended their winning streak to 10 games by beating London, Sarnia, and Komoka in a stretch of three games in four days.
The unbeaten stretch, dating back to Dec. 20, is the second-longest win streak of the season by any team in the Western Conference, with the longest being the Lincolns’ 11-game heater to start the season.
St. Marys began their busy four-day stretch on Jan. 22 when they visited the London Nationals in the team’s first visit to the Western Fair Sports Centre since winning the Bill Weir Trophy in Game Seven of the 2024 Western Conference Final. After a murky start to the game, the Lincolns largely controlled the final 40 minutes and downed the Nationals 4-2.
Head coach Jeff Bradley told the Independent he was “really happy” with the team’s overall performance, even despite falling behind early in the game.
“There are some finer details that we’ve got to get better at,” admitted Bradley. “Going down 2-0 in the first period obviously wasn’t ideal, but we could have given up when things weren’t going our way, and we didn’t. The players kept plugging away and trusted what we believe is the right way to play, and eventually, their commitment to our process paid off.”
Bradley added that the squad found their way through the murky start thanks to the hard-working play of one line in particular.
“Jacob (McLellan), Chase (McDougall), and Quinn (Gavin-White) was the line that got us going in that period. They’ve been tasked with giving our guys momentum and playing tough minutes against the other team’s top lines, and they had to grind it out for long stretches in that first period. They cycled on the forecheck really well, the finished their checks, and they kept pucks moving up high and then back down low. Our success really was on their shoulders.”
With exactly eight minutes to go in the first period, David Brown tipped a point shot by Braedon Clark by Lincs’ netminder Colby Booth-Housego for a powerplay goal to put London ahead 1-0. Just under six minutes later, Michael Kopcok buried his third of the year to extend the Nats’ lead to two.
Booth-Housego made several big saves in the opening period to prevent London from running away with the game early, and finished the night with 25 stops in the Lincolns’ crease.
With just seven seconds left in the opening stanza, Ethan Coups clapped a one-timer by London goaltender Casimir Weckström to cut the Nationals’ lead in half heading into the first intermission. The goal came after a strong move by Lincoln Moore, who carried the puck down the wing and in behind the net before feeding it out front to Coups.
“What Lincoln (Moore) does with the puck to set up that goal speaks to the patience he has and the confidence he has in his playmaking ability,” Bradley said. “And then having Ethan (Coups) jump in to get that goal was incredibly timely for us and great decisions by two veteran players.”
The score stayed 2-1 until a powerplay goal by Chase MacQueen-Spence with just under three minutes left in the second frame tied the game at two apiece. Cohen Bidgood and Kyle Morey picked up the helpers.
Early on in the third, at the 4:14 mark, Jaden Lee found himself in on a partial breakaway and scored his 20th of the season. Linemates Luca Spagnolo and Owen Voortman earned the assists.
With a little less than eight minutes to go, a perfect pass by Morey landed on the stick of Moore, who ripped home his first goal since being acquired by St. Marys from the St. Thomas Stars. Coach Bradley noted the constant growth in cohesiveness amongst the trio of MacQueen-Spence, Morey, and Moore.
“That's a line that we expect big things out of, and they want to build chemistry and you could really see it on Lincoln’s goal. It’s steadily getting better and better. The three of them had never played together, and all have been asked to do different things in the past, but it’s obvious how much talent is there between the three of them, so we just need those guys to keep sticking to the gameplan and that chemistry will keep getting stronger.”
Lincs sleepy in back-to-back wins over Sarnia, Komoka
The Lincolns returned home on Jan. 26 to host the Sarnia Legionnaires before travelling to Komoka on Jan. 27 to take on the Kings. While they picked up back-to-back 3-1 wins to extend their winning streak to 10 games, their performances were far from perfect.
St. Marys had an overall solid first 20 minutes against the Legionnaires, with Moore firing the only goal of the period to put the Lincolns up 1-0 going into the second. However, their final 40 minutes were far less impressive.
“You have to give credit to Sarnia for sure, they made life tough on us, but I certainly didn't think we were at our best,” said Bradley. “There definitely was a bit of a fatigue factor there, we have been on the ice quite a bit as of late. But we can’t afford too many more performances like that. Our players know what we need to do and how we need to play to have success.”
Gage Brandon tied the game at 1-1 at the 7:59 mark of the second, a score that held until Ryan Hodkinson netted his 12th of the season three-and-a-half minutes into the third.
Coming into the contest, Lee had goals in six straight games, which was one game shy of tying the longest goal streak in the GOJHL this season. As time ticked down in the third, it appeared that Lee’s goal streak would come to an end, but, in a dramatic flare, a shot by Spagnolo hit off of Lee’s leg and sailed into the net with a serendipitous 7.4 seconds left on the clock.
Spagnolo, meanwhile, extended his point streak to 18 games with an assist on Lee’s goal, followed by a goal of his own in Komoka. As for Voortman, the Thunder Bay, Ont. native is closing in 100 career GOJHL points.
Lee and Spagnolo now sit side-by-side atop the league’s offensive streaks this year, with Spagnolo having the longest point streak in the league this season, while Lee tied the longest goal streak of the campaign.
Bradley said the flowers being heaped on the ‘Perfect Complement’ line is well-deserved.
“It's been three years in the making for them. They've had incredible leaders and top players to follow and model their game after, and now, it’s their turn, it’s their team, and they feel like it’s their league. To us, Luca (Spagnolo), Jaden (Lee), and Owen (Voortman) is the best line in this league because of what they’re able to do offensively and defensively.”
Both Spagnolo and Lee are currently tied for single-season franchise records. For Spagnolo, with his goal in Komoka going down as the game-winner, he now sits tied with Michael Noyes (2007-08) and Colin Martin (2008-09) for the Lincolns’ single-season record for game-winning goals at seven.
In Lee’s case, he has tied Sean Consitt for most shorthanded goals in a single season, with five. Consitt accomplished the feat in both the 2009-10 and 2012-13 seasons.
Against the Kings on Jan. 26, Morey and Spagnolo scored in the second period, with assists going to Lee, Ryder Livermore, and Evan Roach. After having three assists in 26 games with the Stars this season, Roach has already posted three assists with the Lincolns in just five games.
Ben Funston capitalized on a third-period misplay by the Lincolns’ powerplay to score a shorthanded breakaway goal for Komoka, before Jacob McLellan lobbed the puck into an empty net to seal a 3-1 win for the Lincolns.
Bradley elaborated on his thoughts of the games against the Legionnaires and Kings, adding that the team’s “focus” appeared to be lacking.
“I think when your focus isn't there, you start to try to do things on your own. A lot of what we saw, both against Sarnia and Komoka, came back to trying to do much on our own as opposed to how we typically try to play. We’ve had a great season so far, so I don’t think we need to be too harsh on them, considering we got four points. But, we’ve got some tough opponents coming up, and we need to get refocused if we’re going to have success against them.”
The two major bright spots for St. Marys came in between the pipes for the Lincolns, with the bench boss having glowing reviews for Armellin and Booth-Housego.
“Nico (Armellin) and Colby (Booth-Housego) were both great for us. We’re really fortunate to have such an incredible pair of goalies and when you have games when you’re not at your best, it’s comforting to know, no matter which guy is in net, that you have someone back there saving your back.”
Armellin finished with 27 saves against Sarnia, while Booth-Housego turned away 24 Komoka shots. Among goalies with at least 12 games played, as of press time, only four have a GAA under 2.00, and only three have managed a save percentage above 0.930. The Lincolns have two in each category.
Armellin sits first in the GOJHL in both GAA, at 1.66, and save percentage, at 0.944. Meanwhile, Booth-Housego has the third-best GAA, 1.80, and second-best save percentage, 0.937, in the league.
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