WATERLOO — The processing of emotions only started as the Waterloo Black Hawks drifted through the handshake line on Tuesday evening.
A 6-1 loss to the Lincoln Stars in game two of a first-round playoff series meant the end of Waterloo’s 2023-24 season.
According to Black Hawks’ head coach Matt Smaby, the bond shared amongst his team made the premature end that much more difficult.
“The processing of emotions will continue for a while,” Smaby said. “Going through the game, you are trying to find any way to spark something. You are trying to figure out any way to get something going, to do something a little bit different. When the horn sounds, the thought process starts. There is also emotion involved because we … spend more time around each other than our families at times. There is that bond as well which is tough when it comes to an end.”
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The third-year head coach added that the body of work speaks more to the 2023-24 season than its end.
“It is hard to craft a message,” Smaby said. “As a coach, you do not really prepare for those moments. You hope they do not happen. It is a disappointing end to a great year. The group, on a whole, showed a ton of growth. In the end, we did not get the result we wanted.
“I am proud of the guys for the work that they put in. It was a great group to be around, great group of kids. They made it fun to be a coach. They made it fun to come to the rink. It is hard to say goodbye to some of them.”
Waterloo finished with a regular-season record of 35-25-0-2 before bowing out in the first round of the playoffs.
The Stars struck early and often on Tuesday night, scoring a pair of goals to take a commanding 2-0 lead in the first five minutes of action.
Stars forward Aiden Janz managed to get a piece of a loose puck in front of the Waterloo net, putting it over the outstretched glove of Waterloo netminder Calvin Vachon. Max Ferkodic and Kai Janviriya earned assists on the goal — the first of Janz’s career — to put Lincoln ahead 1-0 with 17:35 remaining in the first period.
Less than two minutes later, Lincoln’s Ryan Spinale gathered a stretch pass from Martin Masa while standing just outside the attacking zone. With a defender in his face, Spinale flicked the puck on net. Vachon did not manage to coral the shot as it squeaked through his pads, putting Lincoln ahead 2-0 with 15:55 remaining in the frame.
According to Smaby, the Black Hawks tried a number of different strategies — pinching aggressively on Lincoln’s defensive zone break outs and sending more players up the ice on break outs of their own — after falling behind in the second period.
“We were just trying to do something to spark something,” Smaby said. “Their goalie played outstanding. I thought we had some looks, had some chances — probably not enough looks, enough chances.”
Lincoln struck with another pair of goals in quick succession to start the second period.
Stars forward Dashel Oliver scored off a centering pass from Jared Mangan to make it 3-0 with 18:55 to play. A broken stick prevented Waterloo defenseman Tyler Miller from breaking up Mangan’s pass as he chased the forward behind the net.
Justin Mexico made it 4-0 just over a minute later with a goal on the rush off a lead pass from Janz.
Matthew Maltais made it five unanswered Lincoln goals with a tally 55 seconds into the third period. The Omaha commit put a spinning backhand through the five hole of Vachon to swell the advantage to 5-0 and bring Vachon’s night to a close.
Netminder Jack Spicer relieved Vachon after five goals on 17 shots.
Waterloo pulled Spicer with 8:31 remaining in the game to gain an extra attacker.
Captain Myles Hilman scored Waterloo’s lone goal of the postseason with 4:30 remaining in game off a redirection of a Dylan Compton shot.
The goal broke a 115-minute long shutout streak to start the postseason for Lincoln netminder Yan Shostak, who blanked Waterloo on Monday night.
Lincoln head coach Rocky Russo said Shostak’s performance was no surprise despite giving up 11 goals in three regular-season matchups against Waterloo.
“He has been playing that way for weeks,” Russo said. “[Waterloo] saw the first half of the year Yan. With every player in this league, there is growth and he has really cleaned up some of the bad habits that he had early on in the year. He is such a competitor. He rises up when you need him. This weekend was a great example of that.”
Shostak finished the first round with a .988 save percentage and one goal allowed on 80 shots.
Though not a surprise, Russo noted the performance gave his team more confidence to face Waterloo.
“We are still going to defend hard and we are still going to compete,” Russo said. “But, if we make a mistake, he is back there to make some big saves. He did that both nights this week.”
Lincoln added an insurance, empty-net goal with 2:27 to play to push the final score to 6-1.
Smaby offered one takeaway from the season-ending loss.
“You never want to learn from losing,” Smaby said. “That is not the ideal scenario, but you can remember what it feels like. In life, in hockey, this will not be the last loss these guys have. You can choose to learn from it, you can choose to grow from it, you can choose to be better because of it.”
“I am looking forward to starting again. I am not ready to think about that yet, but I know the guys coming back will be better for the experience they had this year.”
With the win, the Stars earned a 2-0 series sweep of the Black Hawks and advanced to the Western Conference semifinals. Lincoln will face second-seeded Sioux City (34-22-6-0) in a best-of-five series beginning on April 19.
“They are really talented,” Russo said. “They are probably the best transition team in the league. So, for us, we need to make sure and slow them down in those areas. They are a club that gives everybody fits. They are well-coached, they are disciplined. So, we are going to have to match that.”