Lincs up 3-0 on Nats in West semi-final
- Spencer Seymour
- Apr 9
- 8 min read
By Spencer Seymour
Heading into Game 4 on April 9, the St. Marys Lincolns were one win away from their third consecutive Western Conference Finals appearance after winning each of their first three semi-final games against the London Nationals.
The series began on April 4 when the Lincolns hosted the Nationals for Game 1 and doubled London by a score of 4-2. St. Marys got off to a hot start with Lincoln Moore firing the game’s first goal just 42 seconds after the opening puck drop. Just under 11-and-a-half minutes later, Blake Elzinga sniped home his second of the post-season.
Head coach Jeff Bradley was very happy with his team’s start to the game, which he said guided the Lincolns to the eventual victory.
“We achieved our primary goal, and that was to win the game,” Bradley told the Independent. “I thought for the first half at least, we showed we were a tough team to beat. I was really happy with what we did in that part of the game. Everything was really good. We were good in every part of the ice. We were responsible. We were physical. We were on the right side of pucks. Our goaltending was excellent.”
Bradley noted the team’s performance in the back half of the game left a little to be desired.
“Later in the game, I thought we gave London some momentum and some belief. We were a little bit undisciplined penalty-wise, and we started doing things with the puck that we didn’t need to be doing. We were passing up good shots and turning pucks over. Momentum is a big thing and we held it for over half the game, but we gave it back, and that’s something we have to correct.”
Kyle Morey scored a powerplay goal in the final minute of the third period, celebrating with an emphatic point to the centre ice, a response to three disallowed goals in the first two periods because the London net was dislodged by goaltender Casimir Weckström.
Bradley acknowledged the frustration that comes with having so many goals waved off, but made it clear he didn’t fault the on-ice officials for making the calls.
“I thought we did as well as we could,” Bradley said of the Lincolns’ ability to deal with having multiple goals not count. “Anyone is going to get frustrated in situations like that, but there is nothing the referees can do about it. There is a rule set by the league and the referees can’t do anything about that. That isn’t going to take the frustration away, obviously, but we can’t blame the refs for calling the rule that is in place.”
A third-period powerplay saw Luca Spagnolo finally bury his first goal of the post-season, which Bradley said was a weight off the back of the Lincolns’ captain.
“It was good to see, and hopefully it’s the first of many for Luca (Spagnolo). He’s been working hard, and scoring is certainly something he always thinks about. He does think about it. He wants to produce. He provides so much for our team, but I know he wants to provide offence as well. Being an offensive contributor means something to him, so I’m glad he got it.”
The Lincolns’ four-goal lead was cut to just two by a pair of goals by Aydan Doyle and Connor Clark, the first of which came on a Nationals’ man advantage, while the second came as London was shorthanded. However, despite a bit of a sleepy finish to the third period, Colby Booth-Housego preserved the Lincolns’ lead to earn the 29-save win in goal and help the Lincolns take a 1-0 series lead.
Chase MacQueen-Spence posted two assists in the game, although the assistant captain was still looking for his first goal of the post-season heading into Game 4.
Lincs withstand Nats’ surge in Game 2
As great teams have to do from time to time, the Lincolns found themselves needing to weather a storm in Game 2 when the series moved to London for the first time, and despite segments of the game in which the Nationals put on tons of pressure, St. Marys never floundered and escaped with a 4-1 victory to take a 2-0 series lead.
Bradley credited the opposition for the dangerous offensive-zone time the Nationals managed to find in the second game of the series.
“That has something to do with them coming out and pushing hard. They did a good job putting pressure on us and, at times, you just have to withstand what the other team is doing, and I thought we handled that pretty well. And in the end, we got the win, which is what matters at the end of the day.”
It took just three minutes and seven seconds of the opening period for Noah VandenBrink to fire the icebreaker, giving the Lincolns a 1-0 lead into the intermission.
In the second, Cohen Bidgood cranked a powerplay one-timer past Weckström, which was followed almost exactly nine minutes later by a shorthanded goal by Owen Voortman.
Down by three minutes heading into a four-on-four situation, the Nationals pulled their netminder in favour of a five-on-four advantage, which resulted in a goal by Aiden McDonald, the only blemish on an otherwise stellar game for Booth-Housego.
“Colby (Booth-Housego) is getting the opportunity to be the guy right now because he’s earned it,” Bradley said. “He’s earned this opportunity to be the man. He works so hard and he’s proud of his craft, so it’s of course impressive to see him give us such good play like he has, but it’s no surprise knowing him, and the way he’s grown here is the natural progression for an elite athlete like him.”
Even when they had lacklustre stretches throughout the game, the Lincolns never wavered in hurling their bodies in front of pucks, resulting in cavalcades of blocked shots, which Bradley said is a necessary part of championship pedigrees.
“It’s their desperation when things are going wrong,” Bradley said. “In the defensive zone, they’re laying down, blocking shots and chipping pucks out. They’re just doing simple things and slowing down London’s progress and push and making it harder for them to gain momentum.
“It’s something that is expected and is a standard here. We’re trying to get to our third conference finals in a row here, and many of the guys in this room have been there and know what it takes to get there and what it takes to win it. And playing with that desperation is just part of it. They know they need to do it, so they do.”
Nats come undone as Lincs take 3-0 series lead
In a game eerily reminiscent of the Nationals’ last regular-season visit to the Pyramid Recreation Centre (PRC), London’s performance was the tale of two vastly different teams. In the first period, the Nationals played their best hockey of the series, but by the third period, the very same team had descended into a fist-flinging carnival act.
The Lincolns, on the other hand, got better as the game went on, which was good news for St. Marys fans considering the poor start to the game for the home side.
“It felt like pond hockey to start,” Bradley said. “I went into the dressing room after the first period and said, ‘We just played probably our worst period of the playoffs.’ We decided to play London’s style of hockey, which we specifically talked about not wanting to do in our pre-scout meeting. It was a matter of getting back to playing our game, and to their credit, we did that.”
Despite the Nationals having a decidedly better opening 20 minutes, the Lincolns managed to go into the first intermission tied at two apiece, getting goals from Ryder Livermore, his first of the post-season, and Elzinga, who scored a virtually identical goal to the one he recorded in Game 1.
David Brown and Anthony Tudino got the Nationals on the board, which gave London a 2-1 lead at one point. It was the first time so far this series the Lincolns have trailed.
Less than two minutes into the second stanza, it was clear the Lincolns were going to respond to the challenge from their head coach, as Ryan Cornfield tapped the puck into an open net on a feed from Morey.
A little less than nine minutes after Cornfield’s goal, Ryan Hodkinson jammed home his third of the playoffs on a wraparound, one of three points the hometown centreman put up in the game.
Hodkinson, along with linemates Elzinga and Bidgood, have been the Lincolns’ best line all playoffs.
“The line of Ryan (Hodkinson), Blake (Elzinga) and Cohen (Bidgood) is just unbelievable right now. They are the best line so far these playoffs, and the only line we haven’t changed. Ryan has been an absolute monster everywhere. Blake isn’t playing any special teams right now, but has just been outstanding at everything we’ve needed from him. And Cohen is just so consistently effective. They have just worked so well together, and they are eating their opponents alive.”
Jaden Lee potted his third of the post-season midway through the third, with Spagnolo and Hodkinson adding empty netters in the final four minutes of the game to seal a 7-3 final in the Lincolns’ favour.
Before the game was done, the frustrated Nationals turned to simply trying to take a pound of flesh and instigated a brawl that resulted in Aydan Doyle and Jacob McLellan getting ejected for a fight. Doyle was also assessed an extra helmet-removal charge. Luke McSorley was also booted from the game for unsportsmanlike conduct. In the final minute, Matthew Balloch was assessed a six-minute penalty, including four for facemasking and two for cross-checking Elzinga, along with a 10-minute misconduct that saw him sent to the dressing room early for inciting.
While the Nationals were unravelling, Bradley was able to take note of several other strong performances from throughout his lineup.
“Jacob (Montesi) just stabilizes everything so well,” Bradley said. “He’s so intelligent and he can slow the game down when we need it. It was great to see Luca (Spagnolo) and Jaden (Lee) both get rewarded for their hard work. Ryan (Cornfield) was absolutely awesome. Ryan plays responsibly when he needs to. He knows when to play up the ice and push the play faster.”
Looking ahead to Game 4, Bradley explained how better powerplay looks and a 60-minute effort, driven in particular by a strong start to the game, are the team’s focuses heading into what could be the final game of the series on April 9.
“We need a good first two periods. I want us to have a really good first two periods and, ideally, take away hope from London by the third. Obviously, we need to look at it shift-by-shift and take the periods five minutes at a time, but in totality, I want to see us have a really good first two periods. I want to see a truly complete effort. I want our powerplay to look more focused because it was absolutely rotten (in Game 3).”
A Lincolns’ legend was recently honoured in significant fashion with the Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League (GOJHL) renaming its regular season scoring champion award after St. Marys great Terry Crisp. In two seasons with the Lincolns from 1959-1961, Crisp scored 194 points and was a two-time league-leading scorer and Western Ontario League champion.
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