Pat Payton
Sports Editor
Kurtis Bailey calls it the biggest goal of his Junior career ... and most likely his life.
And for a 20-year-old Stratford native in his final season with his home-town Cullitons, it couldn’t have come at a bigger time and on a bigger stage.
Bailey’s second goal of the game, with just 56 seconds remaining in regulation time, snapped a 3-3 tie and proved to be the winner in a 5-3 Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League (GOJHL) inter-locking victory over St. Marys Lincolns Saturday night at the Allman Arena.
A sellout, standing-room-only crowd of 2,350 watched an intense, emotion-packed Hockey Day in Canada feature game.
Bailey emerges hero
Bailey’s winner is a goal that most hockey players dream about scoring: game tied, final minute, and the chance to be the hero on home ice in front of a full house . . .
Overtime was looming when he gathered up a long clearing pass along the right boards from defenceman Andrew Lorimer. After crossing the St. Marys blue line, Bailey snapped a wicked, perfectly-placed wrist shot over the right shoulder of Lincs goalie Stephen Heming.
“(Cullitons’ captain) Bucky (Nelson) played with Heming in St. Marys and he said you have to put it a foot over his pad or in the top corner,” Bailey said. “I wanted to go top corner and he gave me just enough room.
“It’s the biggest goal I’ve scored so far . . . unbelievable. You don’t get too many chances like that, and it was good to come through. It was a hard-fought game right down to the wire; nobody left anything on the ice tonight.”
Getting the two points was more important than his two goals, Bailey pointed out.
“That’s the biggest thing. I could have scored five goals tonight and it wouldn’t have mattered. As long as we get the W (win) and the two points, that’s the key to our season right now,” he said.
“It was a big win for us, especially on this day with all the anticipation leading up to the game. It was a great game for our fans.”
Saturday’s game started with good pace and energy, and Cullitons’ confidence seemed to grow as the night progressed.
Defenceman Myles Melchers finally broke a scoreless deadlock at 2:26 of the second period, converting a perfect centring pass from Cohen Adair.
Timely pep-talk
After Bailey put the Tribe ahead 2-0 on a powerplay at 14:03, Lincolns coach Merlin Malinowski called a time-out. The pep-talk seemed to spark the Lincs as captain Anthony Soboczynski scored 21 seconds later, and Paul Thompson tied it just 27 seconds after that.
Cullitons regained the lead midway through the third after Lincolns’ Dave Hutchinson took an undisciplined, head-checking penalty away from the play. Forty-seven seconds later, Brad McClure fired his team-leading 26th of the campaign to put Stratford back in front, 3-2.
To Lincolns’ credit, they refused the quit and Blair Brewer tied it with just over six minutes to play. After some sustained pressure, the veteran centre turned and backhanded a shot up and over goalie Cody Vinnai.
After Bailey’s dramatic goal, Brock Reynolds added an empty-netter with just nine seconds remaining.
The Cullitons’ Adair and Lincs’ Darren Young both finished the game with two assists.
‘Good emotional game’
“Other than a couple of minutes in the second period, it was a good effort by the guys tonight,” Stratford coach Phil Westman said. “St. Marys did a good of job calling that time-out, and they got some momentum going from it.
“It was a good emotional game, that’s what the people wanted to see . . . some scoring and some fighting. It was good hockey, the fans got their money’s worth, and we ended up with a good win tonight.
“But really all that matters is the playoffs. It’s a big win tonight, but it really doesn’t mean a thing. We have to win in the playoffs,” he added.
On the other side of the ice, Malinowski tipped his hat to the Cullitons.
“I just felt we were coming from behind all night,” he said. “Stratford played a heckuva hockey game and you have to give them credit. They skated well, they forechecked real hard, and their defence was pinching real hard.
“But it was our fourth game (last) week, and I think we just ran out of gas. And mentally, we weren’t doing things that were smart. Instead of making quick decisions, we weren’t sharp. It caught up to us and that’s basically what happened on their winning goal.”
Overall, Stratford out-shot St. Marys in every period and 40-27 overall.
The victory was Cullitons’ second in a row, and they finished their nine-game January schedule with a 4-4-1 record. They were 3-1-1 in their final five games last month.
Following weekend action, the Tribe (19-23-1) continues to sit in sixth place – four points behind Elmira Sugar Kings (19-19-5) – in the Midwestern Conference standings.
Lincolns (27-12-4), meanwhile, are tied for third place with Chatham Maroons (28-13-2) in the Western Conference, one point behind Strathroy Rockets (29-12-1) and four ahead of the LaSalle Vipers (25-15-4).
Lincs had a hectic schedule of 11 games in a span of 22 days last month. They went 6-4-1 altogether, but were 1-3 in their final four games in January.
