By Dan McCaffery
The Sarnia Legionnaires lost
a heart-breaker Sunday,
falling 5-4 in overtime to
the St. Thomas Stars. As a
result, the Elgin County
team leads the best-of-seven
Western Jr. 'B' hockey
quarterfinal two games to
one.
St. Thomas, which went into
the round as the clear
underdog, now finds itself
with home ice advantage.
The game started well for
Sarnia, with Cody Trowell
lifting home a backhander
after coming out from the
side of the net.
Assists went to Davis Boyer
and Ryan Trottier.
With less than two minutes
to go in the opening frame,
Boyer jumped on a loose puck
in the slot and drilled home
a blistering drive to give
the Sarnains a 2-0 lead.
Trowell and Trottier
assisted.
But St. Thomas scored twice
in the dying seconds to get
even going into the
intermission. Carson Moniz
and Jordan Babb got the
goals for the visitors.
"We went to sleep for one
minute in the first period,”
Rose said in explaining why
his charges were defeated.
Another turning point, he
said, came in the middle
frame when the Legionnaires
failed to capitalize on a
5-on-3 power play that
lasted a full two minutes.
St. Thomas went ahead 3-2
before the period was out,
thanks to a goal by Carson
Brookshaw.
The Stars scored again in
the final frame, with Andrew
Chambers finding the back of
the net.
But the Legionnaires battled
back, with Boyer scoring a
pair of power-play markers
to send the contest into OT.
Both tallies were similar in
nature, with the artful
forward connecting with
drives from the side of the
net. Mitch Read and Trottier
assisted on the first, while
Trottier and Trowell had
helpers on the second. In
all, Trottier set up four
goals on the night.
In the overtime the
Legionnaires missed a number
of good chances, including a
breakaway thrust by
Trottier.
Carson Brookshaw got the
winner at the 18:38 mark.
The series resumes Tuesday
in St. Thomas.
Game Five will be played
Thursday at the Brock Street
barn.
GAME NOTES:
- Sarnia outshot St. Thomas
54-42
- Andrew Master made 37
saves for the home team,
Brendan Polasek
earned the win making 50
saves
- Sarnia scored twice on
eight power play
opportunities; St. Thomas
was
scoreless on one opportunity
