Pat Payton
Sports Editor
St. Marys Lincolns will host the Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League’s ‘Showcase Weekend’ on Thanksgiving Weekend, Oct. 8-10, at the Pyramid Recreation Centre.
“It was confirmed (Saturday, Jan. 16),” Lincs’ GM Warren Nye recently told the Gazette. “We had to get the okay from GOJHL commissioner Mark Ellis.”
All 25 GOJHL teams in the province will be taking part. All games will be held at the PRC.
A special tribute will be held for former Lincolns’ coach Barry Hearn on Friday, Oct. 9. Hearn coached the last St. Marys Jr. B team to win an All-Ontario title (in the spring of 1976 in Collingwood).
Hearn, who was in his 70th year, died peacefully on Tuesday, Feb. 3, 2009 at St. Marys Memorial Hospital, surrounded by his family, following a courageous battle with cancer.
Holding it next fall will also give the Lincs’ organization more time to contact alumni (spanning 55 years) about the special night, GM Nye says.
• Stratford Cullitons’ coach Phil Westman says goalie Cody Vinnai will get the nod this Saturday when Cullitons host the Lincolns in the much-anticipated ‘Hockey Day in Canada’ game.
The GOJHL inter-locking game is slated for 7:10 p.m. at the Allman Arena. It will be Vinnai’s sixth straight start.
Lincs will likely counter with No. 1 puck-stopper Stephen Heming, a 19-year-old from Newmarket.
• The Tribe played last Friday’s game against Brantford without two of its top defencemen – Craig Dalrymple and Nik Knezic. Dalrymple has a sore hand, but will be ready for this Saturday, and Knezic has an infected spleen.
• Four members of the Cullitons – defenceman Dalrymple and forwards Cohen Adair, Kyle Wilhelm and Brad McClure – played in the GOJHL Prospects game last Monday, Jan. 18 in Fort Erie.
Dalrymple and Wilhelm both picked up assists, helping Team White defeat Team Black 7-2.
• The Dorchester Signpost newspaper reports that five Dorchester residents are spearheading a drive to bring a Junior hockey team to that community.
Five local men are investing $50,000 and have put together an application and business plan, the newspaper says.
They hope to ice a team in Dorchester for the 2010-11 season in the town’s new expanded arena complex.
A recent SignPost article says the new team’s coach will be former Lincolns’ coach Jeff Van Vliet, a Dorchester resident.
