Legionnaires Fall to Vipers
FRIDAY FEBRUARY 5, 2016
COMMUNITY NEWS
By Dan McCaffery
The Sarnia Legionnaires saw
their chances of gaining home
ice advantage in the first round
of the playoffs all but
disappear Thursday.
Coach Mark Davis's Jr. 'B'
hockey club lost 3-1 to the
LaSalle Vipers, dropping them
four points behind the Essex
County club, which holds down
fourth place in the nine-team
Western Conference. The Vipers
also have two games in hand on
Sarnia.
The top four teams get home ice
advantage in the first round.
With just seven games left – two
of them against first place
Leamington – Sarnia's chances of
climbing out of sixth place
appear slim.
LaSalle jumped into a 2-0 lead
in the first period, thanks to a
pair of goals by Nathan Savage.
After that, they implemented the
neutral zone trap, clogging the
middle of the ice surface for
much of the last two periods.
When the Legionnaires did get
through, goalie Paolo Battisti
was usually there to stop them.
Brandon Layman scored the only
Sarnia goal in the third period.
The Legionnaires had a couple of
great scoring chances after
that, but failed to connect.
Daniel Beaudoin snuffed out any
comeback hopes with an empty net
goal in the final minute of
play.
Overall, LaSalle outshot Sarnia
38-23.
However, Davis said when it came
to “really good scoring chances,
we out-chanced them.”
The big problem, he continued,
was that “our power play was
terrible. We had a 5-on-3 and
didn't even get a shot.”
The Legionnaires are back in
action Saturday when they host
the Flyers.
Game time is set for 7:10 p.m.