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Sarnia, ON
– It is still early in the season for the
Sarnia Legionnaires, who sport a 1-2-0 record
through three games. But focusing on each game as an
individual may be a lesson moving forward for
Sarnia's Jr. B hockey team.
"It's hard
to play when you have one hand on your stick, and
one hand patting yourself on the back for a good
effort the night before," said Head Coach Dan Rose.
Sarnia had
a very successful home opener last Thursday, potting
nine goals in a 9-3 victory over the LaSalle Vipers.
But the goal production did not carry over into
Friday's game against St. Marys, were the
Legionnaires were handed their second road loss in a
6-2 defeat. In both games, letting up late in the
game was a theme pointed out by the Legionnaires
coach.
"We let up
a little bit and they kept coming at us" said Rose
about Sarnia's third period against the Lincolns.
"It was a good lesson learned early in the year that
you got to play every game and play it to win and it
rests on your accolades. We know we do have a good
hockey team but we do have to show up and play every
game. It's not going to be automatic."
Heading
into the third week of play, Sarnia has two games
scheduled. A home game with the seemingly turned
around Lambton Shores Predators, and a road game in
St. Thomas to take on one of the better teams over
the last few years in the Stars.
Lambton
Shores is a different team that last season,
sporting the best powerplay in the entire Greater
Ontario Jr. B league with 33.33%. With 9 goals on 27
attempts, the Predators are dangerous with the man
advantage. In Sarnia's 3 games the Legionnaires have
been short handed 20 times and allowed five
powerplay goals, which put them near the bottom the
league in penalty kill. Discipline has always been
an underline factor for the Legionnaires, and could
be headache against the Predators should they begin
to fall back into their old habits.
Sarnia's
own powerplay has produced only a single goal in 22
chances, something Rose would like to see turned
around, but he notes that both units are new, and it
will take some time for them to adjust.
St. Thomas
is also skilled on the powerplay, scoring three
goals on ten chances. Sarnia will be the home opener
for the Stars who have played on the road the first
four games of the season. Sarnia is currently 0-2-0
on the road, allowing 9 goals and scoring 3.
"We just
have things we have to work on," said Rose. "We have
five or six new players, I'd like to see our
powerplay get working. When you have as many skilled
guys as we do, the powerplay will come."
Thursday's
game against Lambton Shores begins at 7:10 at the
Sarnia Arena.
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