The desperately shorthanded Sarnia Legionnaires lost a close game in London last night.

Coach Jeff Perry's Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League club was edged 3-1 by the first-place Nationals in a game that saw the visitors dressed only 14 skaters.

"We went with eight forwards and six defencemen,” Perry said afterward. Two forwards (Tanner Tomlinson and Andy Sokol) were out with suspensions and two others (Shawn Waldie and Jake Unsworth) were sidelined with injuries.

Given the circumstances, Perry thought his club played well. "It was just a matter of not cashing in on our scoring chances," he said.

Jesse Drydak got the lone Sarnia goal, which went into the books as his team-leading 27^th of the year. Owen Rogers collected the only assist, which was his team-leading 38^th helper of  the campaign.

Perry said Sarnia goalie Jesse Raymond, who made 29 saves, played a strong game, although, “I think he'd like to have that second goal back. But after that, he buckled down. I thought Jesse played a good game in net.”

In the first period the Legionnaires had a number of good scoring chances but kept firing wide.

• Perry said Mooretown Flags Jason Teschke and Ryan Hunt will play for the Legionnaires tonight when they travel to Leamington to face the Flyers. Going into last night's game against Wallaceburg, Teschke had 17 goals and 20 assists for Mooretown. In his one previous appearance with the Legionnaires, he was credited with an assist. Hunt had two goals and seven assists prior to last night's game.

• Reinforcements were not forthcoming from the Flags last night because they were playing a game of their own.

• With the loss, the Legionnaires remain in seventh place in the nine-team Western Conference, two points back of the St. Thomas Stars. Their overall record stands at 17-19-6.

• London improved to 32-9-3.