Article content
A quick road trip and face-to-face meeting cemented the St. Marys Lincolns as top Sutherland Cup contenders.
Article content
With the Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League trade deadline looming last week, Lincs GM Pat Powers asked St. Thomas Stars counterpart Joe Daniels for one final chance to convince high-scoring Lincoln Moore to come to Stonetown.
“Joe said he’s on the ice for practice right now’,” Powers recalled, “and I asked him if he was OK if I go in the dressing room and talk to Lincoln. He said absolutely, so I quit my workout, drove to St. Thomas, talked to him about our team and stable environment. He said, ‘I’m in.’
Article content
“We did the trade on the spot.”
St. Marys acquired the appropriately named star forward and defencemen Evan Roach and Ian Gedney from the Stars for forward Zander Kechego and rearguards Julian Stubgen and Rowan Reid.
The 19-year-old Moore, from Garden River near Sault Ste. Marie, has scored 19 goals and 38 points in 22 games this season. He won the Memorial Cup last year with Saginaw and that pedigree should pay off during a long playoff run.
“He’s such a polished hockey player for our level,” Powers said. “He can score, he’s physical, works his ass off in the defensive end and impacts the game in every possible way.”
St. Marys swooped in to deny several teams, including the rival London Nationals, for Moore’s services. The 2024 Sutherland Cup finalists also brought back forward Kyle Morey from the Quebec league’s Baie-Comeau Drakkar and added Edmonton blue-liner Jake McPherson, who had been with Northern Ontario’s Soo Thunderbirds.
London, who faces defending champ Listowel on Wednesday at Western Fair, picked up 19-year-old forward Denis Beley-Camara and defenceman Braedon Clark from Strathroy.
“We’re happy with what we have right now,” London GM Tony Mandarelli said. “He (Moore) was someone we targeted and were hoping to land. Unfortunately, it just didn’t work out. I think we addressed our back end and we’re deep up front to begin with.
“We’re always trying to make the team better and I think we accomplished that. We have the strongest conference and there are a lot of good hockey teams here.”
The Nationals are right in the contending mix. But when it comes to the favourites, the Lincolns are clearly now in the driver’s seat.
Share this article in your social network