Good calibre of player attends Lincs’ camp
Pat Payton, Sports editor Head coach Merlin Malinowski said he was “very impressed” with the calibre of player at St. Marys Jr. B Lincolns’ evaluation camp at the Pyramid Centre this past weekend.
Approximately 115 prospects attended the Western Ontario Hockey League club’s spring skate, held Friday night, Saturday and Sunday. Players came from as far away as Michigan, Toronto and Fort Erie.
“There’s a lot of good 1992 and ‘93s here at camp (15 and 16 year olds),” Malinowski said Saturday.
“I’m impressed with the level of skill and intensity that the kids are bringing . . . all weekend long. And I’m very impressed with the level of skill that the St. Marys kids are showing,” he added.
The prospects (ranging in age from 15 to 19) were divided into six teams, and a total of nine games were played. The camp featured 18 goaltenders and 18 local players (from the St. Marys minor system or SMMHA grads who are now playing ‘AAA’ hockey).
“I think it was worthwhile for the coaches, and we’ve had good feedback all weekend,” Lincs’ GM Warren Nye said. “The camp was a great success for the organization.”
Four current Lincolns—Colin Martin, Reuben Smith, Brett Petrie and Curtis Logan—skated on the weekend.
Nye estimates that 60 of the prospects have been invited to the team’s two summer skates in mid-July. The two-hour summer skates will be held July 10 and 17.
Nye says Lincs have committed to two offensive forwards—Kyle Provily and Bryan Phillips.
Provily, 18, from London, played for the Southern Ontario Junior Hockey League’s Thamesford Trojans this past season. Trojans won the provincial Jr. D title.
Phillips, 17, from Norwich, was a member of the Norwich Jr. C Merchants in 2007-08.
Talk, demonstration on strength, conditioning
Guest speaker following lunch on Saturday was Clinic Manager Cyril Moss, from Stonetown Physiotherapy. He talked about strength and conditioning and off-season training.
Moss, a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist, designs programs for both individuals and teams.
Moss and local goalie Brett O’Drowsky demonstrated a number of exercises—highlighting speed, agility, resistance training, plyometrics training (jumps) and cardio vascular.
“The biggest thing with any type of strength and conditioning program is that you want to reduce risk of injury, and increase athletic performance as well,” Moss explained.
Moss noted that warm-ups are “critical” for hockey players, requiring 15 to 20 minutes to “get the heart rate up.”
Lincolns’ staff member Mark Nelson also conducted a two-hour goalies’ clinic on Saturday.
Malinowski makes it official
Merlin Malinowski, meanwhile, made it official this past weekend. He
announced that he will return to coach the Lincs for a sixth season.
“I feel pretty motivated to do this,” Malinowski said. “It’s kind of exciting to see these prospects, these quality kids, coming in.
“I feel a pretty good excitement inside to go at it again.” League turns down Lincs’ request
A request by the Lincolns was turned down by the rest of the Western Ontario
Hockey League teams at a league meeting in Chatham Monday, April 21.
Lincs asked that any player they sign, who lives in the north part of
Middlesex County, be regarded as a non-import. At the present time, St.
Marys can sign non-imports from three counties—Perth, Huron and Oxford, plus
the town of Lucan.
However, the other eight league teams unanimously turned thumbs down on
Lincolns’ request to expand their non-import territory. At the present time,
London, Strathroy and St. Thomas are league teams which can sign players out
of Middlesex and they’re regarded as non-imports to them.
GM Warren Nye says St. Marys’ territorial request could be voted on again at
the OHA’s annual general meeting in Kingston in mid-June.
Petrolia seeks franchise move
In other league news, Petrolia Jets are seeking a franchise move to the town
of Forest, beginning next season. WOHL teams gave their approval at the
April 21 meeting. The OHA board of directors will vote on Petrolia’s request
at a meeting next month.
Nye says if and when Petrolia’s request to move to Forest is finally okayed,
team officials will ask the league to include Middlesex County in their
non-import territory.
The new Forest team will apparently be nicknamed the Lambton Shores
Predators.
Notes:
—Tecumseh Chiefs own a 2-0 lead on Elmira Sugar Kings in the Sutherland Cup
Jr. B final.
Chiefs won the opener 5-4 in overtime Friday in Tecumseh, and took Game 2 by
a 3-1 margin Sunday in Elmira.
Chiefs have now won nine of their last 10 playoff games, and are 7-2 in nine
playoff away games.
Game 3 in the best-of-seven series is tonight (April 30) in Tecumseh.

—Several local hockey players have been invited to a selection camp for the
Ontario Under-17 team in Ottawa.
Five Elgin-Middlesex Minor Midget Chiefs will head to the camp, including
defenceman Derek Hartwick, of Prospect Hill, and Stephen Shipley, of
Ilderton. Shipley is the son of former Lincs’ captain Jeff.
Hartwick and Shipley are expected to be selected in the top rounds of the
OHL draft this Saturday, May 3.

—After 41 years in Jr. D, Mitchell Hawks recently applied to join the
Western Jr. C Hockey League for the 2008-09 season.
“There is nothing to suggest it won’t happen at this point in time,” Junior
C chairman John Kastner said in a recent edition of the Beacon Herald. He
said five of the league’s teams have told him they would not oppose the
move. He has yet to hear back from the sixth.
The next Jr. C council meeting takes place May 10 in Kitchener.
Another Southern Ontario Junior Hockey League team, Mt. Brydges Bulldogs,
have apparently applied to join the nine-team Great Lakes Jr. C League.

—Forward Kurtis Bailey, son of former Lincoln and St. Marys native Jon,
recently won two awards with New Hamburg Firebirds.
Bailey, a Stratford native, was the Niagara West Jr. C team’s leading scorer
with 18 goals and 37 points in 33 games, and was also named Firebirds’
rookie-of-the-year.