St. Marys

[RocketGirl]

Great article from Steve Rice at the Stratford Beacon Herald on St. Marys not being a awful team, just a young team.

http://www.stratfordbeaconherald.com/20 ... just-young

Lincolns not bad, just young
By Steve Rice, Stratford Beacon Herald

Merlin Malinowski acknowledges that this has been the most challenging season in his long coaching career.

It’s not just the 2-34-4 record and the lopsided losses that the St. Marys Lincolns have suffered through.

It’s seeing the look of dejection on his players’ faces and knowing that they are being unfairly judged by their record.

“It rips at my gut to see the kids’ heads down after a loss, and after the bad losses, I just feel for them,” Malinowski said Thursday night, a day after the Lincolns were eliminated from the GOJHL Western Conference playoffs with a 3-1 loss in LaSalle.

“They’re good kids and they’re skilled. But my top six forwards and three of my five D could play major midget this year, so you’re coaching a major midget team. It’s not like we even have three 20-year-olds who can hold off the other team’s top line, so the table’s a bit tilted. That’s the reality.

“I see these kids’ heads down after getting pounded by a Chatham that has 17 players 19 and 20 years and they’re feeling like they’re no damn good. And people see that on Pointstreak and say, ‘oh, they’re awful.’

“No, they’re not awful. They’re just very young, and they’re in a really tough place to try to compete. So the image on Pointstreak is they’re just a gawdawful hockey team when they’re not. And that’s what is tough for me. These kids are good, and their day is coming.”

Malinowski says the two ways to build winners in junior B hockey are to have the finances to go out and get good 19- and 20-year-olds, or to start with young players and hold onto them until that age.

The latter is the Lincolns’ game plan.

“We’ve identified six that we’d like to keep for two or three years, and if you can keep six, now you’ve got yourself a hockey team — as long as you make good decisions to surround them with good players,” said Malinowski.

“I expected to win a few more games than we have; didn’t expect to lose as bad as we have at times. But what keeps me going is seeing the development of the young players, seeing the promise of a better year next year and two years down the road and becoming a very strong team.”

The Lincolns traded several players leading up to the Jan. 10 trade deadline and two they hope to get back next season are captain and defenceman Mitch Read and all-star goalie Andrew Masters, both dealt to Sarnia.

Malinowski said the deals were “a rental”, but admits there’s no guarantee that the players won’t decide against returning, or perhaps even get offered a chance to play at a U.S. college or elsewhere.

Talented 16-year-olds Jack Wierenga, a defenceman from Woodstock, and forward Evan Krassey, from Atikokan, Ont., are both draft picks of the Niagara IceDogs and could be gone next season. Malinowski believes Wierenga is OHL-ready now and that Krassey warrants a good look at this fall’s camp.

What has impressed Malinowski is that, despite a 21-game winless skid, the players are continuing to work hard and stick together.

“They’re still playing for each other. The dressing room is together; it hasn’t splintered into smaller groups or finger-pointing,” he said. “At the end of the night, whether we’ve lost by two or six, they stick together and they all take ownership of it and they go back to work.

“They come eager to learn and I enjoy working with them, seeing them grow as hockey players.

“I guess that’s what you get with young kids. They just love to play and they seem to have a short memory when it comes to wins and losses.”

[Blades]

I am so impressed with Merlin. He's trying to build a team the "right way" in my eyes. I know it's difficult to watch those young men looking so down after each loss. I can totally empathize since I am involved with a lacrosse team that has had a losing record for more than five years. Occasionally, I would try to lighten things by asking how much everyone thought we would lose by in that particular game. We keep hoping that the younger players will come up and play at the junior level, but sometimes those with the better skills opt out because of ... well let's see what I've heard for excuses
1) I'm playing hockey and I want to commit to them more fully so I don't have time for lacrosse -- seasons overlap, well at least the practices for lacrosse over lap with playing hockey
2) I'm working and don't have time to play lacrosse
3) I have to devote more time for my studies rather than try out/play lacrosse
4) I need to spend more time on some other sport
5) none of my other friends who are playing midget plan to play junior
6) it's just not fun anymore.

I'm also glad to read that the boys are sticking together and that no finger pointing is going on and playing the blame game. Kudos to the Lincs.

[Port hockey1]

I don't understand how teams trade kids as rental players. Doesn't Masters belong to Sarnia now? Is he a FA at the end of the season, or St.Marys property?

[RocketGirl]

What it means is that they made an agreement in the trade that at the end of the season they revert back to St. Marys property.

Petrolia/Lambton Shores had a kid that for a few seasons he would be traded at the deadline to a higher team for the playoffs. I used to call him rent-a-kid.

[Port hockey1]

Thanks RG, is it a verbal agreement?