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Legionnaires Defeat London
November 20, 2015
COMMUNITY NEWS
By Dan
McCaffery
In a game
that
featured an
old-fashioned
donnybrook,
the Sarnia
Legionnaires
defeated the
London
Nationals
4-2
Thursday.
With a
season-high
crowd of more
than 1,500 fans
looking on, the
two teams
engaged in three
fights during
one stoppage of
play late in the
third period.
Several players
are expected to
be suspended as
a result of the
incident, which
started when
London's Matt
Doty checked one
of the
Legionnaires
from behind.
Before Doty could
get to the penalty
box he was
intercepted by
Sarnia's P.J.
Vandervaart. As
those two traded
fists, two other
fights broke out.
The battle almost
overshadowed a great
goaltending display by
Sarnia's Adian Hughes,
who made 34 saves to
pick up his fourth win
of the season. His
brother, Connor Hughes,
took the loss in the
Nationals net, despite
making 25 saves of his
own.
Another hero was Ryan
Vendramin, who scored two
goals and added an assist to
pace the home team's attack.
Vendramin, who missed 10
games to injury earlier in
the campaign, now has 24
points in 12 contests. More
impressive still, he leads
the Legionnaires in scoring,
enjoying a three-point lead
over linemate Brandon
Layman.
Speaking of Layman, he set up
one of Vendramin's tallies with
a brilliant pass.
Captain
Hunter Tyczynski opened the scoring
late in the first period with a
wrap-around effort. Assists went to
Vendramin and Jordan Fogarty.
The two
teams traded goals in the middle frame,
with Vendramin getting one and London's
Rai Di Loreto the other.
In the third
stanza Vendramin scored his second of the
game and eighth of the season when he batted
a puck out of the air and into the cage
while standing at the side of the net.
Fogarty and Brock Perry had helpers on the
power-play marker.
London's John Warren
got the visitors close with a power-play strike
of his own at the 18:46 mark.
But Perry put an end to
the drama with an empty netter that came with just
seven seconds left on the clock. Konnor Roskovich
had the lone assist.
The Legionnaires, who are
now 11-8-1-2. find themselves right in the thick of a
tight race for the top four spots in the Western Ontario
Hockey Conference standings. Although they are in sixth
place, they are only one point behind Chatham and just
three back of both LaSalle and London.
Legionnaires assistant coach
Justtin Day, who helped handle the bench in the absence of
head coach Mark Davis, said, "I thought we played really
well. It was a good team game. We got contributions from
everybody and our goalie played well. We're 4-1-1 in our
last six games so we've got a nice streak going."
Sarnia returns to action next
Tuesday when its hosts the first place Leamington Flyers. Game
time at the Brock Street barn is set for 7:10 p.m.
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