The Sarnia Legionnaires won an old fashioned barn burner last night.

In what may have been the most thrilling contest seen at the Sarnia Arena all season, Coach Jeff Perry's defending Western Jr. 'B' champions scored in overtime to edge the formidable St. Marys Lincolns 7-6.

"It was a huge character win,” rookie leftwinger Josh Teschke said afterward. “Going into the playoffs (which start next month) we're flying high.”

In fact, the Legionnaires have knocked off two good teams in the last two days (they beat LaSalle Wednesday in the Essex County town), giving them an overall record of 16-17-5. The four points picked up with those victories have put them into sixth place in the nine-team Western Conference of the Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League, three up on the St. Thomas Stars.

Teschke got things started in the first period when he went hard to the net and batted a puck in out of the air. “I remember going to the front of the net and Owen Rogers throwing it out front,” he said. “It bounced up and I touched it in.”

Teschke, who now has seven goals to his credit, just missed another when he shot from close range, only to be foiled by the glove hand of starting Lincs goalie Marc Nother.

The Legionnaires outshot the Lincs 14-4 in the first frame and had several glorious chances, including one in which Jesse Drydak's blinding speed got him into the clear, where he was stopped by Nother.

As a result, although they probably deserved a bigger lead, the Sarnians went into the dressing room ahead only 1-0.

From there it was a sea-saw battle, with the teams trading goals in a breathless contest that had the crowd in an almost continuous uproar.

St. Marys tied it early in the second stanza, only to see Brent Sauve blink the red light for the third time this season to put the home side ahead again.

St. Marys scored the next two goals to take a 3-2 late in the second period. But before the buzzer went, Andy Sokol notched his 10^th to deadlock matters again.

In the final 20 minutes it was almost non-stop action, with the visitors jumping ahead 4-3 before Drydak came out from the side of the net and snapped home the equalizer.

But it looked as if Sarnia was done like dinner a few minutes later when a Lincs drive from the point give St. Marys the lead with only about five minutes left.

Captain Tyler Cicchini tied the game with a powerplay goal at the 17:20 mark when he put the puck between Nother's legs from the lip of the crease.

Nother left the game at that point, to be replaced by backup netman Stephen Heming. Sarnia's Tanner Tomlinson took advantage of the situation, firing a blazing slapshot past a stone cold goalie to give the Legionnaires a 6-5 advantage with just two minutes and 40 seconds left. For Tomlinson, it was his eighth of the campaign.

But the never-say-die Lincs tied it up again, this time with less than a minute left, to force overtime.

Drydak finally put the game on ice with his second of the game and 25^th of the season. The unassisted effort came at 3:28 of OT.

“"I got in high on the forecheck and forced the 'D' to make a play, got a lucky bounce and put it in the five-hole,” the speedy rightwinger explained later.

Drydak said the Legionnaires are, “Starting to come together as a team. Our first-year guys are playing like second-year guys and we're getting secondary scoring.”

• Blair Brewer, who had two goals and two assists for St. Marys, was named the first star. Owen Rogers, who had two assists and put on his usual forechecking clinic, was second star. Drydak, who now has a team-leading eight game-winning goals, was third star.

• Kyle Washer got the win in net, stopping 24 of 30 shots. The Legionnaires fired 44 pucks on the two Lincs goaltenders.

• In addition to the two assists collected by Rogers, other Sarnians who had two helpers included Sokol, Shawn Waldie and Anton Zupancic. Tomlinson had a single assist.

• The Legionnaires are in Leamington Saturday and return home to face the Lambton Shores Predators next Thursday