St. Marys Lincolns lose six forwards to age. Captain Anthony Soboczynski, Blair Brewer, Josh McDonald, Kyle Provily, Connor McFarlane and Dave Hutchinson, all 20, played their final games for the green, white and blue last Tuesday.
Lincs will miss all six, as each of these veteran players played a different role with the club.
Some good news is, all of the St. Marys defencemen are eligible to come back next season.

•With Lincolns eliminated, Seth Griffith (London) and Ryan Davidson (Kingston) have been called up by their respective OHL teams. Goalie Stephen Heming, 19, is also available to the Knights.

•Lincs’ head coach Merlin Malinowski and veteran forward Josh McDonald served the first of two-game suspensions last Tuesday night.
Both received ‘travesty of game’ gross misconducts for verbal abuse of officials during the third period of Game 4 in LaSalle March 7, won 9-2 by the Vipers.
Lincolns were upset after one of the referees allegedly threw centre Blair Brewer to the ice during an altercation.
“The thing that bothers me is, if I did that to player, I would never coach kids again,” Malinowski said last week. “To physically man-handle a kid like that . . . throw him to the ice. A referee can do that, and it’s all hush-hush. It’s frustrating.
“But you also wish you could have controlled yourself in the heat of the moment. But the referees operate under immunity, and they get away with a lot more than I would as a coach,” he added.

•Ryan Baldwin, a former OHL enforcer with over 400 penalty minutes in four seasons, led LaSalle in scoring in the quarter-final series. The solid winger had three goals, including an overtime game winner, and nine points.
“I played in the OHL for four years and used to have a different role,” he said. “Now that I’m here (with the Vipers), I’m playing a different role and they’re putting me on the ice in key situations. It’s definitely building my confidence.”
Coach Malinowski added: “Baldwin was the glue for them.”

•Baldwin, meanwhile, thinks Lincs’ centre Seth Griffith will be a star in the OHL with London Knights. Griffith, from Wallaceburg, had 43 goals and 78 points, and nine more points (6-3) to lead St. Marys in the playoffs.
“He’s got the skill and speed, now he just has to put on some weight and get a little stronger,” Baldwin said of the 17-year-old Griffith. “He’s going to be a star in that league.”
A Knights’ scout at last Tuesday’s game said he hopes Griffith scores 30 goals for the Knights next season.

•What is it going to take to get to the next level, specifically the OHL, Seth Griffith was asked. “I’m going to work on my speed this summer and try and get faster, so I can have a little more time with the puck,” he replied. “Playing here in St. Marys was a great experience; I wouldn’t want to play Jr. B anywhere else.”

•Vipers’ coach John Nelson admitted that he didn’t think the series would last only five games.
“I thought it was going to go six or seven games, that was my prediction,” Nelson said. “St. Marys has a great coaching staff; they keep you on your toes and they make you think the game.
“That’s why I thought it would be a tough series.”

•Shockingly, second-place Strathroy Rockets lost all three games on home ice and were knocked off in five games by the seventh-place St. Thomas Stars.
During the regular season, Rockets won 15 more games than the Stars, and finished 27 points ahead of the team they lost to.

•St. Thomas will now play the first-place Nationals, and Stars have had a lot of success in London this season. The other best-of-seven semi-final features LaSalle against Chatham.

•Former Lincolns’ goalie Matt Dalton (2003-05) dressed as a back-up for Boston Bruins in a recent NHL game against Toronto Maple Leafs.