STRATFORD - It wasn’t a win for St. Marys Lincolns here last Friday night at the historic Allman Arena.
But it was definitely a morale victory for Lincs as they earned a point after being down 4-2 with just over three minutes to play. Lincolns tied it with two goals 51 seconds apart, before eventually dropping a 5-4 overtime decision to the home-town Cullitons in front of one of the biggest Jr. B crowds in Stratford in 10 years.
“Never once did I get the feeling from the boys that they were going to quit,” Lincolns’ coach Jamie Baker said. “You don’t know if you’re going to score the goals to tie it up, but I knew we weren’t going to quit and I’m very proud of the way we played and competed.
“Stratford is a very good team; they’re at the top of the Midwest Conference for a reason. They compete hard; they don’t have any weak links. In their rink with a lot of people cheering for them, they were revved up. But I thought we matched their intensity, and we competed hard with no quit.
“It’s always nice to win, but I’m very pleased with the way we battled back to tie it up,” Baker added.
Cullitons are now 17-1 on home ice, and 15 of their wins have come in regulation time. It’s a tough building for visiting teams to take points, and the Lincs are only the second team this season to take Stratford into extra time at the Allman.
Every game close
It’s the fourth straight year that Lincolns and Cullitons have met in GOJHL interlocking play. The game has sometimes been promoted as ‘The Highway 7 Showdown’ and the two Perth County teams certainly gave the fans their money’s worth. Stratford now holds a 3-1 edge in wins, but every game has been been decided by just one or two goals.
“Their goalie (Devin Golets) got off to a slow start, and if he doesn’t St. Marys wins the hockey game tonight,” Cullitons’ coach Phil Westman said.
“We got the early two-goal lead, and you get it in your head that it’s going to be 10 or something. And our guys got out of that strong forecheck and intensity that we came out with.
“St. Marys, give them full credit. They kept coming back, and pushing it at us and pushing it at us. We were back on our heels, and I thought we had a really bad second period. I’m feeling fortunate that we won tonight.”
Like a swarm of bees
Cullitons came out like a swarm of bees, and in impressive fashion grabbed a 2-0 lead before the contest was four minutes old.
Chett Binning made it 1-0 with a shorthanded goal at 1:22, and defenceman Tyler Marchand’s low shot from the point made its way through traffic at 3:47.
Golets settled down after that, and some big stops kept Lincs in the game as it could have been 3-0 or 4-0 before the 10-minute mark of the first period. Lincolns’ best chance came late in the period on a powerplay when centre Brady Wiffen beat goalie Jesse Raymond, but not the crossbar.
Stratford held a 15-8 edge in shots in the opening 20 minutes.
Lincs got back in the contest at 4:23 of the second period when captain Sean Consitt finished off a nice three-way passing play with linemates Wiffen and Calvin Penney.
Cullitons answered quickly with two goals—just 42 seconds apart—and appeared to be in full control of the game at that point. Ray Huether made it 3-1 at 6:26 and Binning scored his second of the night at 7:08.
However, St. Marys refused to lay down. A breakaway goal by Wiffen at 8:42, after being sent into the clear by Consitt, closed the gap to 4-2 and kept the visitors within striking distance.
Golets’ best save in the middle frame came when he stoned Stratford veteran Steve Dol at his doorstep on a 2-on-1 break.
Lincs rally late in third
In the third, with less than four minutes to play, another point-blank stop by Golets probably salvaged the night for the Lincolns. Just seconds later—on the same Cullitons’ powerplay—rookie Tyson Baker stole the puck and beat Raymond on a breakaway at 16:47. The sudden turn of events left St. Marys trailing just 4-3 with still over three minutes to play.
With new life, Lincs turned up the heat and Stratford native Mitch McIntosh tied it 51 seconds later when he converted a rebound. Shayne Rhyno, another former Culliton, assisted on the equalizer.
A slashing penalty to centre Mitch Berzins—with 50 seconds left in regulation—proved costly for the Lincolns. Another big Golets’ save got the Lincs to overtime, but the Cullitons’ powerplay carried over into extra time.
While holding a 4-on-3 advantage, Huether’s second of the night—and 26th of the season—was the game winner at the 52-second mark of OT.
Take the first five minutes away, and Golets could have stolen the two points for the Lincs.
“He made some huge stops for us,” coach Baker agreed. “I’m sure there’s a couple he’d like back, but Devo played well tonight.”
Overall, Stratford out-shot St. Marys 48-29, including 4-0 in overtime.
The win improved Cullitons’ record to 29-4, and moved them four points ahead of the second-place Brantford Golden Eagles (26-6-2) and five up on Elmira Sugar Kings (26-7-1) in the Midwestern Conference standings.
The OT loss leaves the fifth-place Lincolns (16-14-5) just one point behind St. Thomas Stars (18-14-2) and only two behind the third-place Leamington Flyers (18-11-3) in the Western division.
Is this a game Lincs can build on going forward, Baker was asked.
“We talked about that,” he replied. “We came into Stratford’s barn against a very good hockey team, if not the best in the league right now, and I thought we were right there with them.
“I don’t know if we have the depth that Stratford has, but we have 20 guys who are going to compete hard every night. I’m happy with the way they battle. There is no quit on this team.”
This weekend, Lincolns host LaSalle Vipers Friday night before heading to Forest Saturday to play Lambton Shores Predators. Both games start at 7:45 p.m.
Game notes:
•Last Friday’s annual Lincolns-Cullitons’ interlocking tilt drew over 1,800 fans. It was Stratford’s biggest crowd to date this season.
“I went back in my records and found that it was the second-largest paid attendance in the regular season since October of 2002,” Cullitons’ treasurer Brian Hobson told the Journal Argus. “Too bad St. Marys isn’t here more often.”
•Jim Wiles, of Kirkton, won over $1,100 in the 50-50 draw. He’s the father of Jacob Wiles, a player with the Dunny’s Sports A-E Atoms. They played an exhibition game against a Stratford Atom team just prior to last Friday’s Jr. B game at the Allman.
•Last Friday, coach Baker said Lincs’ No. 1 puck-stopper Greg Dodds was still about a week away from returning to game action. He has been sidelined for the past month with a groin injury.
•Lincolns’ overall record in 11 games in December was 3-5-3. Lincs were involved in eight one-goal games last month.