Sarnia Legionnaires
2009 - 2010

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Playoff Series 1

Sarnia Legionnaires vs Chatham
March 6, 2010


by Dan McCaffery
special to

CHATHAM – The Sarnia Legionnaires overcame an astonishing amount of adversity here last night to crush the Chatham Maroons 8-1.

Down three-to-one in games and playing before a hostile crowd of more than 1,000 fans, the Legion crew opened the contest with one of the most courageous performances ever seen by a Sarnia Jr. 'B' hockey club.

Coach Jeff Perry's Western Ontario Hockey Conference team was penalized almost continously, playing shorthanded for half the opening period, including two minutes when they were two men short. But despite that, and despite the fact that Chatham was not assessed a single minor, they outshot the Maroons 17-12 and outscored them 5-0.

Captain Tyler Cicchini and centre Owen Rogers led the way over the course of the evening with four points each. In fact, both had three goals and an assist.

"They played like guys who didn't want their season to end tonight,” Perry said afterward. “I thought we came out with a sense of urgency right off the start of the game. We won all the battles required to be successful.”

Perry felt his veterans exhibited great leadership. “Some of the guys had leadership (experience) playing on a team last season that won a league title,” he said. “They set the pace and the younger guys followed. They played with desperation. I thought our guys competed extraordinarily hard.”

He is hopeful the victory will be a momentum shifter for the Legionnaires, who must win at home on Thursday to send the series back to Chatham for a seventh and deciding encounter on Sunday.

Big rightwinger Chase Clark set the tone early when his wrist shot from the slot went high into the net at the 21 second mark. The goal, Clark's fifth in five playoff contests, was set up by Rogers.

Just past the five minute mark Cicchini got his first of the night when he jumped on a fat rebound from rookie rearguard Tanner Ferguson's point shot and lifted it over goalie Mike Ostropolec. Rugged winger Andy Sokol was also credited with an assist.

While the Legionnaires were killing off their fourth straight penalty of the opening stanza, Rogers stole the puck, went in alone and scored an unassisted goal to make it 3-0 at 9:16.

The Sarnians were forced to kill off yet another penalty before the frame ended, but still found the time to add to their lead. Cicchini made it 4-0 at 10:44 (with an assist going to Tanner Tomlinson) and Rogers made it 5-0 six minutes later with the aid of Clark.

When the second period opened it was more of the same, with the Legionnaires taking their seventh and eighth penalties before Chatham was finally assessed its first minor of the game. Rogers took advantage of the situation when he grabbed a loose puck in front of the net, moved around a sprawled Ostroplec and fired his third of the night and fourth of the playoffs into a yawning cage. Clark got an assist.

Still the penalties kept coming to Sarnia, with the Legionnaires being assessed eight of the first nine.

But Chatham could not beat Legionnaire netminder Jesse Raymond, who made a number of solid stops.

In the third period Cicchini got his hat trick, scoring his fourth of the playoffs to make it 7-0. Jesse Drydak and Ferguson assisted.

Tanner Garrick got his first of the post-season with an unassisted blast at 14:09 to close out the scoring for the defending Western Jr. 'B' champions.

Chatham's Gabe Gervais was credited with ruining Raymond's shutout when he was awarded a goal for a shot that a video replay showed hit the crossbar and bounced out to the blueline without ever entering the net.

  • Sarnia outshot Chatham 39-24, despite playing much of the game shorthanded.

  • The Maroons were 0-for-12 on the powerplay.

  • Chatham took a number of penalties once the outcome of the game was no longer in doubt, but the Legionnaires managed only one powerplay goal.

  • Rogers was first star, Cicchini second and Raymond third.

  • Jordan Leyser, back from a bout of strep throat, played on Sarnia's blueline.

  • Tanner Tomlinson received a gross misconduct for foul language and faces a two-game suspension.