Legionnaires Win in St. Thomas to Tie Series
MARCH 4, 2015
By Dan McCaffery
file photo - Cameron Clarke set
up first goal
The Sarnia Legionnaires pulled
off an almost 'must win'
Tuesday, edging the St. Thomas
Stars 3-2.
The triumph, which came right in
the Elgin County city, evened
the best-of-seven Western Jr.
'B' hockey quarterfinal series
at two games apiece.
Game Five goes Thursday at the
Brock Street barn, with the puck
drop set for 7:10 p.m.
"It wasn't our best game, we
seemed to be playing a little
tentative for the first 10
minutes,” head coach Dan Rose
said. “The guys wanted to win so
badly that they were gripping
their sticks a little tightly.”
But that changed just past the
mid-point of the opening frame
when rushing rearguard Cameron
Clarke got on his horse and
charged into the St. Thomas
zone.
Stars goalie Braden Polasek
stoned the flashy defenceman but
Sarnia's Brandon Layman pounced
on a rebound to put the visitors
ahead 1-0.
In the dying seconds of the
period Davis Boyer made it 2-0,
backhanding home a nifty pass
from Cody Trowell.
However, Sarnia ran into penalty
trouble after that, giving St.
Thomas the extra man for eight
minutes in the middle frame.
The Stars scored two goals,
including one on the powerplay,
to square matters going into the
third period.
In the intermission, Rose said,
he told his players “to keep
battling. All we had to do was
win one period and the momentum
would shift. We won the period
by one goal. It was a little
close, but it was a real team
builder and character builder.”
Trowell got the
winner with four minutes left on
the clock when he scored with a
blazing drive from the faceoff
circle.
Ryan Trottier set the play up,
racing into the St. Thomas zone
and going wide before getting
the rubber to Trowell.
The Legionnaires were handed two
penalties in the final four
minutes but held on, thanks to
the goaltending of Andrew
Masters and some solid penalty
killing.
"Our PK did a really good job,
they were diving to get pucks
out,” Rose said.
In all, Masters turned back 27
shots for his second playoff
victory. Polasek faced 29 shots
in the St. Thomas cage.
GAME NOTES:
P. J. Vandervaart played his
first game in over a month,
having been sidelined with an
upper body injury.
file photo - Cody Trowell
scores game winner
“He didn't see a lot of ice but
P. J. had some good shifts,”
Rose said. “His a big, strong
kid and he puts a little fear
into smaller players.”
He added Vandervaart will likely
be in the lineup again Thursday.
Trottier has nine assists in the
series to go with one goal.
Boyer, meanwhile, has five goals
to his credit.
Sarnia received 16 minutes in
penalties on eight infractions
while St. Thomas was handed just
three minors.
The two teams are
back in action on Thursday in
Sarnia. Puck drop 7:10 pm
at the Sarnia Arena.
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