Sarnia, ON
- After dropping the first game of a home and home
in London 5-4, the Legionnaires returned home to
Sarnia for their final preseason match up, where
Sarnia came away with a 4-2 victory over the
Nationals.
Jesse
Drydak scored the go ahead goal in the third,
sneaking out from the corner and putting it passed
the London goalie against the post to give the
Legionnaires a 3-2 lead. Evan Dixon would get the
insurance goal on the powerplay, as a redirected
point shot would find its way onto Dixon's stick
parked at the side of the net.
Sarnia
went 3-1 in preseason play with two wins over
Strathroy. But an underlining concern with the
Legionnaires is the returned of undisciplined play,
something that Head Coach Dan Rose says, is going to
change.
"We got to
many penalties in the first half of the game," said
Rose, as the Legionnaires spent the majority of the
second period in the penalty box. "Guys are not
thinking right now and were going to have to put an
end to that."
In the
first game in London, Sarnia racked up 30 minutes in
penalties, and allowed London 11 powerplay
opportunities in which they capitalized on three. In
Thursday's game, Sarnia took 10 penalties including
five in the second period. London only capitalized
on one powerplay in the first period.
"Once we
start playing five on five we control the play,"
said Rose. "Our team historically has not been
disciplined and we will put an end to it."
Sarnia
was down one heading into the second, but a quick
goal by Andrew Sokol evened it up. London would
retake the lead as Sarnia was killing off a 4 on 3
powerplay, as Tyler Bryden scored for London to put
the Nationals back in front. But quickly after,
Anthony Donati would cut into the slot and fire a
wrist shot into the back of the net, knotting the
game up at 2-2, and escaping a penalty filled
period.
The
Legionnaires season begins on September 8th as they
head to Leamington. With a 7th place finish last
season and an exit in the first round of the
playoffs, the expectations are higher for Sarnia's
junior B team.
"I think
we have a good enough team that we will win more
then we lose," said Rose. "I know we are solid on
the back end, I know we have great goaltending, we
have five of our top six scorers back, and we
got us some good young talent. The potential is
there to have a good season."
Sarnia
opens at home on September 15th against the LaSalle
Vipers.
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