By MICHAEL PARENTE

Sports writer

Lincoln’s task is improbable, but certainly not impossible.
Underdogs against top-seeded Burrillville, the Lions are confident heading into this weekend’s Division I-A semifinal series based on their performance against the Broncos during the regular season.
They lost three times, but were competitive in each game, dropping a 4-2 decision at Levy Rink on Dec. 21 and a 3-2 verdict on Jan. 18 at Adelard Arena. The best-of-three series begins Friday at 6:30 p.m. at Burrillville and continues with Game 2 Saturday at 7:30 p.m. at Lynch Arena.

“We’re all excited about playing Burrillville this weekend,” Lincoln co-coach Ted Polak said. “I was always told you want to play the best teams right off the bat. I think we have more hockey in us and I hope we lay it all out this weekend.”
The Lions are one of three local teams in Divisions I and I-A playing for a trip to the finals this weekend. Burrillville, which finished 12-4-0 to earn the No. 1 seed, is aiming for its first finals’ berth since it won the D-II state championship in 2005, while undefeated Mount Saint Charles will play Moses Brown in the D-I semifinals beginning Friday at 9 p.m. at Adelard. The fifth-seeded Quakers upset La Salle in the quarterfinals. Mount, which hasn’t won a state title in four years, beat Moses Brown twice during the regular season by a combined score of 12-2.
The regular-season series between Lincoln and Burriville wasn’t nearly as lopsided. Outside of a 5-2 victory against the Lions on Feb. 2, the Broncos had their hands full with Lincoln’s inexperienced, yet talented, lineup. The Lions have only three seniors and rely heavily on their underclassmen with freshmen centering their top two lines.
“That’s almost unheard of,” Polak said. “Two of our seniors, Kyle Dagesse and Corey Martone, have provided tremendous leadership. The biggest thing is they never gave up. We have a lot of young kids and other players might’ve lost patience when things weren’t going well. Their patience has helped us.”
Lincoln – the No. 4 seed – won only three games during the regular season, but swept East Greenwich to reach the semifinals for the third year in a row. Only two years removed from a state title in D-II, the Lions are playing their best hockey entering this weekend, particularly on defense.
“This series is going to be all about our defensive zone, which has improved a lot,” Polak said. “We saw that in our series against East Greenwich. Burrillville has a great first line that scores in bunches. We need to contain them. Our top six forwards are going to have to play extremely hard.
“This team has probably had the most growth I’ve ever seen. I think we’re a strong No. 4 team. I told the kids going in, ‘Don’t be too pleased you’re playing a play-in round.’ It’s nice and it’s a good victory, but we want to be able to establish ourselves as a team Burrillville has to prepare for. I think we’ve done that.”
The Broncos coasted to a first-place finish behind two long winning streaks. After starting 0-2, they won seven in a row to open up a sizeable lead on second-place Barrington. They lost to Mount in a non-league game on Jan. 12 and bounced back with eight consecutive wins to bury the Eagles, including a 7-6 non-league victory over the Quakers. Burrillville also beat Division I Toll Gate on Jan. 26.
“Their defense is extremely strong,” Polak said of the Broncos. “It’s hard to get to the net and hard to get the puck down low, especially if you try to go through them. They’re a very tough, hard-hitting defensive team – very aggressive – and they back it up with very good goaltending.”
Cam Leduc led the Broncos with 16 goals while Craig Koprusak finished first on the team in scoring with 28 points. Goalie Jon Henault finished with a 2.88 goals against average, including two shutouts.
“(The series) is so hard to call,” Polak said. “Even in crossover games, we haven’t fared that poorly. In most of those games, we made mistakes that cost us. Obviously, we’re working on cutting down our mistakes. Untimely penalties, losing a backcheck – everything characteristic of a young team.
“I won’t say we’re peaking, but we’re getting better in all areas. We have to improve a lot from what we did against East Greenwich to get by Burrillville. We measure it everyday in practice.”
The Lions and Quakers are in similar positions entering this weekend. Moses Brown is also a heavy underdog against Mount, which coasted in Division I and finished second in the league in scoring with 101 goals. The Mounties have five legitimate scoring threats, led by John Guay (team-high 43 points), Jim Fuoroli (36), Tim Coffey (27) and Josh Fattore (27). Peter DeAngelo returned from an injury after missing the first month of the season and still finished fifth on the team in scoring with 22 points.
The Broncos aren’t as deep, but the Lions will need an equally-strong effort from their defense to pull off the upset. Stranger things have happened in playoff hockey.
“We need Corey Martone to have a huge series, and (junior) Scott Boulis to have a huge series,” Polak said. “Justin Lavigne was injured most of the year, and we didn’t know what we’d get from him, but he’s come back strong to steady our defense. Tim Hervieux and Jake Cabana round out our defense. We have players – it’s just finding that right mix between veterans and young kids.”