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Legionnaires get thrilling victory against LeSalle
dan mccaffery December 9th, 2010

Rookie Jeff Schroeter's spectacular third period goal lifted the Sarnia Legionnaires to a thrilling 7-6 win over the LaSalle Vipers last night.

The big left-winger came roaring over the blueline with the home team clinging to a one-goal lead. Using a pair of teammates as decoys, the 17-year-old moved in close before scoring with a hard wrist shot.

"That was a beauty!” winning coach Dan Rose exclaimed afterward.

The bench boss added the game was “a barn burner.”

In fact, the action was relentless from start to finish, with both teams roaring up and down the ice in wave after wave of non-stop action.

Quick start

The Legionnaires came out flying, led by Captain Tyler Cicchini, who was all over the ice all night long.

With the game less than four minutes old, Cicchini outraced a LaSalle defenceman to a loose puck in the corner and quickly tossed it out front. In the blink of an eye Shawn Waldie had deposited the rubber in the net for his 10th of the campaign.

Sarnia went ahead by a pair at 11:08 when Ilya Arkalov jumped on a loose puck just outside the crease and fired it home. For Arkalov, it was his fourth of the year, not counting two game-winning shootout goals.

Less than three minutes later, Jesse Drydak gave the Legionnaires what looked like a commanding 3-0 lead when, standing behind the LaSalle net, he reached around with one hand and tapped in a puck that was sitting on the goal line. For Drydak, it was his team-leading 18th of the year.

Furious rally

After that, the Legionnaires got into penalty trouble and the Vipers scored three straight goals to tie the contest by the mid-point of the second frame.

But Tanner Tomlinson restored Sarnia's lead when he jammed the disc home during a mad scramble in front of the Vipers cage.

LaSalle, which was on a four-game winning streak coming into the match, squared matters at 4-4 heading into the third stanza and took a 5-4 lead early in the final frame.

Rookies take charge

Cicchini delighted the crowd of 1,231 when he deflected in a passout from Waldie at the 2:35 mark to deadlock the game yet again. For Cicchini, it was his seventh of the year.

After that, Sarnia's youngsters took over. Sixteen-year-old Nathan Mater deflected in a point shot from Tanner Ferguson for his third of the season and then Schroeter got the winner.

Schroeter's goal, his third of the year, turned out to be  crucial because, with 1:30 left, LaSalle scored to make the final score 7-6.

Legionnaires notes:

·         Kyle Washer missed five minutes of the second period with an injury, but returned in the third frame to pick up the victory. He now has a won-lost record of 11-2 (plus one overtime loss). With him in the nets, Sarnia has picked up 23 of a possible 28 points. Mike Reed came in cold as a mackerel and made four stops on five shots.

·         Owen Rogers and Tanner Ferguson had two assists for the Legionnaires, while single helpers went to Tyler Annett, Brett Thompson, Brent Sauve, Jeff Paulley, Josh Chapman, Tomlinson, Mater, Andy Sokol, Waldie and Cicchini.

·         Sarnia is now 7-3 under the direction of Rose.

·         The Legionnaires are in sixth place in the Western Ontario Hockey Conference, three points ahead of seventh place Leamington and five up on the Chatham Maroons, whom they host Saturday night at the Brock Street Barn.

·         Fourteen different Legionnaires picked up points.

 




 

 

 

 

 

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