Sarnia Legionnaires


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Sarnia Legionnaires vs LaSalle Vipers
October 21, 2010

By Dan McCaffery

A furious third period rally wasn't enough to save the Sarnia Legionnaires from their first regulation loss in six games last night.

Coach Jeff Perry's Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League club stormed back from a three-goal deficit to tie the LaSalle Vipers, only to see the visitors score the winner late in the third period.

But despite the amazing rally, the final score flattered the Legionnaires, who were badly outshot and, for much of the game, clearly outplayed. In fact, the speedy Vipers exploited Sarnia's slow defence time and again, pumping 54 shots on net. The Legionnaires had only 26 shots on the LaSalle cage.

Poor start

The visitors jumped into a 2-0 lead in the first period and led 4-1 at the end of the second.

Jesse Drydak was the only Legionnaire to find the back of the net in the first 40 minutes, lighting up the lamp on the power play with his sixth of the campaign.

Wasted comeback

Tanner Tomlinson started Sarnia on the comeback trail with his third of the year just 33 seconds into the final stanza. The puck appeared to bounce off his chest and into the net. The play was unassisted.

LaSalle took what looked like an insurmountable 5-2 lead not long after that.
 

But the never-say-die Legionnaires pulled even with three goals in under three minutes.

Newcomer Colton Ryz started the rally with a breakaway goal at 13:27.

"We were on a two-on-one and I got a feed from Drydak (and got into the clear),” the big centre said afterward. “I slid it between his legs. I took a peek, saw the five-hole was open and slipped it in.”

That opened the floodgates.
 

Brett Thompson wired home a hard drive from the faceoff circle at 15:16 and Shawn Waldie dented the twine at 16:18 to square matters at 5-5. Both were power play markers.

But the Vipers showed why they're in first place, scoring a power play goal of their own at 18:33 to win the game 6-5.

  • Thomas Moxley led a couple of nice rushes for the Legionnaires. He also had an assist.

  • Other Sarnia assists went to Tyler Cicchini, Waldie, Owen Rogers, Brent Sauve, Drydak and Josh Chapman.

  • Thompson missed a penalty shot in the third period. The puck slid off his stick and, when he recovered it, he was in too close for a good shot.

  • Andy Sokol pummeled LaSalle's Spence Van Buskirk, getting in several hard lefts in a third period fight.

  • Paid attendance was 1,246.

  • Things don't get any easier for the Legionnaires, who are in Guelph Saturday to face the top club in the Midwest Conference. They return home next Thursday to play the Chatham Maroons.

  • Sarnia is now 6-7-2 on the year.

  • The Legionnaires were missing defencemen Tanner Ferguson (injured) and Steve Farlow (sick) as well as high-scoring forward Chase Clark (sick).