How St. Marys Lincolns are playing going into the playoffs is more important than where they finish in the Western Conference standings.
That’s coach Merlin Malinowski’s mindset in the final week of the WOHC regular schedule.
Malinowski admits that getting second place is a “tall order” with two of Lincs’ final three regular-season games on the road. Those two games (against London and Strathroy) are also against the first and second-place teams at the present time.
“It’s going to be a nice test, but you have to be realistic, too,” Malinowski said following Lincs’ 4-2 win over Sarnia last Friday night. “It’s going to be very, very difficult to get second place.
“What we’re focusing on right now is getting our team ready for the playoffs. As coaches, we’re looking at different areas of our game. At our last practice, we really worked on penalty killing in our own zone. And we’re going to pick apart other areas of our game and work on them.
“We’re going to take it one game at a time . . . and where we finish, we finish. I’m not going to put on a big push to get second place. If we happen to get it, great, but I want our team ready for playoffs in all areas. I want everyone to know what their responsibilities are,” he added.

—Lincolns wore their light green ‘Hockey Day in Canada’ jerseys last Friday night against Sarnia, and this time they won with them on.

—Merlin Malinowski has now won at least 30 regular-season games for the fourth time in his seven years behind the St. Marys bench.
Lincs had 36 wins last season, 31 in 2007-08, and 33 in 2005-06. The green, white and blue had 24 wins in 2004-05, and 29 in 2006-07.
Malinowski and company hit the 30-win plateau Sunday in Chatham.

—Blair Brewer was a sparkplug for Lincolns this past weekend, collecting three goals and three assists in their two victories.
The veteran centre, who makes his team’s powerplay click, now has 26 goals and a team-leading 43 assists for 69 points. He sits five points behind Lincs’ scoring leader Seth Griffith (42-32-74).

—Lincolns’ Ian McIntosh still hasn’t gotten clearance to play, and the big forward sat out two more games this past weekend.
McIntosh, who recently turned 20, has missed five weeks (13 games) with concussion-type symptoms.

—Sarnia Legionnaires, tied for sixth place, are the most penalized team in the Western Conference with 1,403 minutes following weekend action.
“We’re trying to correct that,” Perry replied when asked about that team stat.
The Legionnaires’ coach said they’d like to finish in sixth spot, meaning a first-round playoff date with either Strathroy, Chatham or St. Marys.
“They are three quality hockey teams, but we’ve shown this year that we can play with them, so it’s not going to be an easy series for the team we eventually meet, either.
“In fact, I think the teams that sit from second place through to seventh, there’s going to be some interesting first-round match-ups.”