ST. CATHARINES – A deeply frustrated Sarnia Legionnaires hockey club was defeated 5-1 here last night by the St. Catharines Falcons.

The Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League inter-conference game was a chippy affair in which Legionnaire sniper Jesse Drydak was tagged with two 10-minute misconducts during the final minute of play. He will likely face a suspension.

Sarnia rookie Jeff Schroeter, meanwhile, was sent to the showers for a fight in which he appeared to get in the only punches.

Also booted from the match was head coach Jeff Perry, who was kicked out for abusing an official.

The Legionnaires got, by far, the worst of the penalties, receiving 59 minutes worth of time in the sin bin on 19 calls. On no less than three occasions the Sarnians were two men short, including once for a full two minutes. Immediately after that, they had to kill off a single penalty.

St. Catharines scored two powerplay goals over the course of the game, but none when they were up by a pair of skaters.

The Falcons were assessed just 25 minutes on eight infractions.

If there was a positive that came out of the game it was that Hockey Canada bureaucrats finally got around to giving Polish forward Jan Rodziewicz permission to play. The 6'3 centre responded with an assist on Sarnia's only goal, which came early in the second fame. He is a big, smooth skating forward who should become a fan favourite once he gets into game shape after an enforced rest of almost a month.

Shawn Waldie got the goal, skating deep into Falcons territory before scoring from close range. Defenceman Jordan McBeath also drew an assist.

Russian forward Ilya Arkolav continues to wait for the green light to suit up. The disappointment was visible on the youngster's face as he watched from the sidelines. Like Rodziewicz, he is a big forward who can skate miles. Both are attending school in Sarnia.

Also absent, by way of injuries, were captain Tyler Cicchini and rushing defenceman Tanner Ferguson. Ferguson, who was originally expected to miss up to a month, is back on skates and could return soon.

Another positive was the play of goalie Mike Reed. Although he lost for the fourth time this season, he could only be blamed for the first goal. And he made several splendid saves. Poor Reed tends to be hung out to dry by his teammates, receiving little in the way of offensive support. In two of his losses, the club scored only once.

Bus trip from hell

The Legionnaires went into the game after a bus trip from hell. Highway construction held up the team bus for prolonged periods. On several occasions it did nothing but sit on the road at a dead stop. At other times it crawled along at a few kilometres per hour. As a result, the club received only a short warmup and displayed obvious 'bus legs' in the first period, in which it was outshot 18-7. For the game as a whole, the shots were 36-27 for the home side.

Perry expressed concern about the passion of some of his veterans, saying they need to look in the mirror and decide whether they want to be hockey players.

The Legionaires return to action Sunday in Chatham.

After that, the schedule gets a little easier, with a couple of games against clubs playing below .500 hockey.