The Sarnia Legionnaires will face a rapidly improving opponent at the Brock Street Barn tonight.

Here's a preview of the Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League contest.

WHO – Sarnia Legionnaires (4-6) vs. Lambton Shores Predators (0-9).

WHEN – Thursday, Oct. 7 at 7:10 p.m. in the Sarnia Arena.

WHOSE HOT:

Lambton Shores – Defencemen Dan Morin and Kevin Raine were recently obtained from the OHL London Knights and both are big, bruising players who like to hit. Morin has a goal and three assists.

Sarnia – Brent Sauve has six goals for the Legionnaires, including two picked up Sunday while playing defence in a game at Chatham.

LAST OUTINGS

Lambton Shores – The Predators have been playing well of late, despite their record. In fact, they lost just 4-3 last time out in a match played in Welland. The game before that, the powerful St. Thomas Stars needed an empty net goal to escape from Forest with a 3-1 win.

Sarnia – The Legionnaires are hoping a 9-3 drubbing they laid on the Maroons right in Chatham on Sunday is a sign that they're finally headed in the right direction.

ABSENT PLAYERS

Sarnia – The Legionnaires have been playing without several players every game this year. Captain Tyler Cicchini, for one, is expected to miss tonight's game with a foot injury.

Lambton – The Predators will be without scoring ace Ryan Rupert, who picked up a four-game suspension in the St. Thomas contest. It's a big loss because Rupert has eight goals and four assists already this campaign.

SIGNIFICANCE

Sarnia – The Legionnaires must win if they hope to put together any sort of a winning streak and finally start climbing up in the standings. A victory would be their second in a row and the club faces a struggling Wheatfield Blades squad on Saturday at the GOJHL Showcase Tournament in St. Marys.

Lambton Shores – The Preds are starting to play very well but they must pick up some points soon or they may find themselves in a hole too deep to climb out of.

HISTORY

Sarnia won the only previous game between the two, defeating the Predators 7-3 in Forest. But the score was deceiving. Indeed, the contest was tied 3-3 in the second period. Last year, the Legionnaires won all six encounters between the clubs, although some of them were close games. One, in particular, ended with Sarnia squeaking out a 2-1 victory.

STATISTICS

Lambton Shores is better at special teams. In fact, the Predators are clicking 17.2 per cent of the time on the powerplay, compared to 16.9 for Sarnia. The Predators are killing off penalties 76.5 per cent of the time, compared to 69.2 for Sarnia.

SPECIAL EVENT

Between the first and second periods the Legionnaires will be honouring the 1968-69 Sarnia bantam club that won an Ontario championship. The McIntosh Empire Plumbing and Heating squad of that season featured a virtual whose-who of future Sarnia stars. Most of its players went on to play either professional, OHL or college hockey, with a number seeing action in the NHL. Names that fans will recognize include Robbie Moore, Mike McKegney, Jamie Hislop, Mike Hobin and Rick Fraser, just to name a few.