Former Sarnia Legionnaire Matt Abercrombie has launched his university hockey career with a bang.

Playing with the Brock Badgers, the lanky forward scored the winning goal last week to pace his school to a 2-1 win over the Laurier Golden Hawks.

Brock coach Murray Nystrom told the St. Catharines Standard he's counting on the Sarnia native to give his club some added scoring punch. He added Abercrombie was one of the best players in the province not playing in the OHL last winter.

Abercrombie, who still has one year of junior eligibility left, had a stellar career in the Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League. In all, he played 199 regular season games with the Legionnaires and Thorold Blackhawks, scoring 103 goals and 179 assists for a whopping 282 points. More impressive still, he collected 76 points (including two dozen goals) in 60 playoff games.

Two-time scoring champ

Along the way Abercrombie won two scoring titles. He led the Western Ontario Hockey Conference in scoring in 2009 while playing for the Legionnaires, then did the same thing in the Golden Horseshoe loop in 2010 while skating with Thorold.

In an interview in May 2009, Abercrombie said helping the Legionnaires win the Western Jr. 'B' championship that spring was a bigger thrill than capturing the scoring title. “It's a team game and the team comes first,” he said.

Abercrombie also holds the distinction of scoring the first Legionnaire goal of  the modern era. When the team was resurrected in the fall of 2008, some 38 years after the original Legionnaires had folded, Abercrombie got the first goal as Sarnia won its opener against Lambton Shores.