CHATHAM – The Sarnia Legionnaires played a stinker here last night.

Coach Jeff Perry's defending Western Jr. 'B' champions were blanked 3-0 by the Chatham Maroons in Game Three of their Western Ontario Hockey Conference quarter-final.

The loss leaves the Legion crew trailing the best-of-seven affair two-to-one in games. The fourth contest goes Saturday at the Brock Street Barn, beginning at 7:30 p.m.

"Chatham worked harder for the win than we did,” Perry admitted afterward. “I didn't think we were real sharp. Our execution was off, we just weren't crisp. Our passing wasn't good.”

Still, the coach is not about to throw in the towel. “We have to win one in their building and we've got two more cracks at it.” But first, he added, “We've got to protect our home ice. We've got to make sure we're ready to go Saturday.”

Neither team did a lot in the first period, but the Maroons went into the locker room leading 1-0. They upped that advantage to 2-0 just shy of the seven minute mark of the second stanza.

That seemed to wake the Legionnaires up and they pressed hard to get back into the game. And they almost did just that on three separate occasions. First, captain Tyler Cicchini sailed in alone on a breakaway, only to be foiled by Chatham goalie Mike Ostropolec. Then defenceman Jeff Paulley rang a shot from the point off the post. Not long after that, right-winger Josh Teschke was beaten from in close.

For the period as a whole, the Legionnaires held their own, at least in terms of territorial play, and the shots on goal were 13 apiece.

In the third frame Sarnia had a number of powerplay opportunities but couldn't capitalize. Nevertheless, they were in the contest for more than 56 minutes, with Chatham only putting the final nail in the coffin with a goal that came with a little over three minutes left on the clock.

• Ostropolec, a 21-year-old who was named the league's Player of the Year at the end of the regular schedule, kicked out 33 shots to get the shutout. Jesse Raymond, who was selected Goalie of the Year last season, made 32 saves for the Legionnaires.

• Attendance was 718.

• Three players were ejected for checking from behind, including Cicchini and Tanner Tomlinson from Sarnia. Tomlinson was knocking Maroons over like bowling pins, including two that he flattened on one shift.

• The home team was one-for-seven with the man advantage while the visitors were zero-for-five.

• Owen Rogers almost scored a third period goal for Sarnia when he slid into the net with the puck underneath him. But the marker was disallowed because the cage came off its moorings a split second before the disc crossed the line.