The Sarnia Legionnaires lost a nasty, hard-fought battle with the Chatham Maroons last night.

Coach Jeff Perry's Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League squad dropped a 5-4 decision to the visitors before 1,165 excited fans at the Brock Street Barn.

The spirited contest saw two fights, a head check and a hit from behind, among other things.

It was a back-and-forth contest all the way, with both clubs taking turns making sweeping forays into the other team's zone. And the outcome was only decided with half a minute left in regulation time.

It was also a game in which special teams played a huge factor. In fact, Chatham scored four powerplay goals on eight opportunities, while Sarnia found the back of the net three times on six tries. The Legionnaires also had a dramatic shorthanded goal that tied the affair late in the final frame.

Chatham got on the board first, scoring less than 90 seconds after the puck was dropped at centre ice. But the Sarnians squared matters at the 2:58 mark when Joel Steeves streaked into the corner and threw a perfect passout to Chase Clark. The big Petrolia lad made no mistake, denting the twine from point blank range while standing directly in front of the Chatham net. Jesse Drydak also drew an assist on what was Clark's 18^th of the season.

In the second stanza Sarnia took its only lead of the game. Steeves again went into the corner, sending a nifty cross-ice pass to captain Tyler Cicchini, who slapped the puck into the open side of the net. Drydak was also credited with an assist.

Chatham scored the next two goals to grab a 3-2 lead, then ran into penalty trouble, with the Legionnaires being handed a four-minute powerplay, including over a minute with a two-man advantage. Unfortunately, the best they could manage was to ring a shot off the crossbar.

Just 12 seconds into the third period the Maroons went ahead 4-2 with their third powerplay goal of the game.

But the stubborn Legionnaires came storming back. Cicchini got them close with less than nine minutes to play when he jumped on a loose puck in the crease and tapped it into a yawning cage behind goalie Mike Ostropolec, who was down and out of position. Steeves and Drydak again got helpers, giving each of them three assists on the night.

The Sarnians appeared to be finished when, with just two-and-a-half minutes left, Clark received a five-minute major for head checking. But at 18:33 Cicchini stole the puck at centre ice, raced in alone, deked Ostropolec out of position and deadlocked the game at 4-4. The goal, his third of the night and 22^nd of the season, was unassisted.

But Sarnia was still shorthanded, and the Maroons took advantage, with Sean Myers getting the winner at 19:28.

In the dying seconds there were two fights, with Legionnaires Tanner Garrick and Jordan Leyser taking on a pair of Maroons. Garrick appeared to get in a couple of solid punches before taking his man down. Leyser ended up on the bottom in his scrap, but neither pugilist appeared to land a significant blow.

• Cicchini was named the game's first star, while Steeves was third star.

• Chatham outshot Sarnia 33-27, with Jesse Raymond taking the loss in net.

• The St. Thomas Stars defeated the Leamington Flyers last night to move within two points of the Legionnaires in the battle for sixth place in the nine team Western Conference. Both teams have three games left in the schedule.

• Sarnia, which is now 20-21-6, plays in St. Marys tonight against the Lincolns.

• Owen Rogers missed last night's tilt, serving the second of a two-game suspension. Ryan Hunt was up from the Jr. 'C' Mooretown Flags and played well.

• Tanner Tomlinson and Andy Sokol played robust games, banging and crashing Chatham players all over the place.

• Jeff Paulley was ejected for checking from behind.

• Sarnia now has an amazing 16 shorthanded goals in 47 games.