The Sarnia Legionnaires will face a tough test tonight when the LaSalle Vipers come slithering into town.

The Essex County squad is in third place in the Western Ontario Hockey Conference, while the Legion crew is in sixth.
Here's a preview of the contest:

WHO – Sarnia Legionnaires (13-13-2) vs. LaSalle Vipers (16-7-6).

WHEN – 7:10 p.m. at the Sarnia Arena

WHO'S HOT:
Sarnia – Shawn Waldie has nine points in his last five games, including a goal in each of his last three contests.
LaSalle – D. J. Turner has 23 goals on the season. In his last five outings he has 10 points.

SIGNIFICANCE – Sarnia is just one point ahead of Leamington and only three up on Chatham. But the Legionnaires have two games in hand on the Maroons and one on the Flyers. So this is a chance for the Legionnaires to use one of those extra games to put some distance between themselves and the clubs chasing them. A win would also pull Sarnia within two points of fifth place St. Marys.

HISTORY – LaSalle has won two of three meetings with Sarnia this year. During their last encounter, which came Nov. 24 in LaSalle, the Legionnaires won 7-6 in a shootout.

SPECIAL TEAMS – The Vipers kill off penalties 78.4 per cent of the time and score on the powerplay an impressive 27.2 per cent of the time. Needless to say, Sarnia will have to stay out of the penalty box to have a realistic chance of winning. The Legionnaires have been doing just that since Dan Rose took over as head coach. In their last outing, for example, they faced only three shorthanded situations.

Sarnia's powerplay clicks just under 20 per cent of the time. Legionnaire penalty killers have a 77.2 per cent success rate.