The team that brought the legend of the Sarnia Legionnaires back to life in such spectacular fashion last spring will be honoured tonight at the Brock Street Barn.

The city's Jr. 'B' hockey club will hold a banner raising ceremony and welcome back members of the 2009 championship squad that was the first local team to wear the Royal Canadian Legion crest in almost four decades.

After that, the current edition of the fabled club will face off against the Elmira Sugar Kings.

Both teams should be hungry for a win. Elmira, which is 11-14-4, has lost four in a row and sits in sixth place in the Mid-west conference of the Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League. Sarnia, which has dropped two in a row, is 13-14-5 and is in sixth in the Western Conference.

The Legionnaires are 8-7-2 at home, while the Sugar Kings are 4-6-3 on the road.

The original Legionnaires won five Western Ontario titles and four Sutherland Cups as all-Ontario champs during the 16 years they operated from 1954 to 1970. Along the way they sent 10 players and one coach to the National Hockey League, including Hall of Famer Phil Esposito and all-star defenceman Pat Stapleton.

When the famous moniker was revived in the fall of 2008, there were those who feared the new Legionnaires would not live up to the legend of such a storied organization.

As it turned out, they had nothing to worry about. Under the direction of coach Bill Abercrombie and general manager Bob Willimason, the team came out of the gate with seven straight wins, then steamrolled to a 37-11-4 record that left them in first place at the end of the regular schedule.

In the playoffs, they eliminated St. Thomas, Strathroy and London to win the Weir Cup as Western Jr. 'B' champions.

In August 2009, The Observer named the them the eighth best squad in Sarnia junior hockey history, noting that in addition to their crown, they may have been the best 'community' team ever when it came to helping those in need.

Players from that championship squad who have seen at least some action in the Ontario Hockey League this year include Craig Hottot, Zack MacQueen, Tyler Peters, Anthony Donati, Kyle Flemington, Jesse Drydak and Curtis Crombeen.