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Sarnia, ON - With three goals in the third period,
the Sarnia Legionnaires continue their quest to lock
up first place in the Western Conference, defeating
the LaSalle Vipers 3-1 on Hockey Day in Sarnia.
 The Vipers
played the trap defence on the Legionnaires,
clogging up the neutral zone for the majority of the
first and second period causing Sarnia to turn the
puck over numerous times. But once Sarnia got their
break out moving north and south in the third, the
goals soon followed.
"They came
in with a good game play, playing a road game, they
set up a good trap and they trapped the whole game,"
said Legionnaires Head Coach Dan Rose. "We know how
to get out of it but it is the first time we had to
do it all year. So we didn't have the experience.
One they settled down and guys started to move the
puck, we started to play a north and south, our
skill took over and we scored some pretty nice
goals."
After a
scoreless first period, LaSalle opened the scoring
late in the second period as Jonathan Woelk found
Eric Noel in front of the net where he banged it in
past Sean Parker for the 1-0 Viper lead.
The lead
would not last long in the third as 39 seconds in,
Nathan Mater would find a streaking Jesse Drydak who
sped past the defence and put a back hander into the
top of the net to tie the game at 1-1.
Drydak
would get in on the second goal, leading the rush
into the Vipers zone but putting on the breaks, he
would spot a wide open Jason Teschke who came in
alone, with his shot flipping over the goalie and
into the back of the net for the first Sarnia lead
of the game.
 The Vipers
would run into penalty trouble late in the game, and
some quick passing would lead to a Daniel Nikandrov
goal, as Drydak and Teschke would pick up points on
the assists with the fast passes, putting Sarnia
ahead 3-1 for a final score.
"We played
a pretty good defensive game ourselves," said Rose.
"We were not playing bad we were just not generating
any offence."
Sean
Parker got the start and made 21 saves for his 13th
win of the season. Anthony Donti would also have a
multi point game for the Legionnaires with two
assists.
Rose sees
the test tonight with the Vipers trap defence as a
valuable test heading into the playoffs, and
something the Legionnaires will continue to work on
in the weeks to come. Sarnia can seal up first place
in the conference within their next two games and if
so, will take on the 8th place seed which is
currently being contested between the Chatham
Marrons and the Lambton Shore Predators. Rose says
though, in this years playoffs, he wouldn't put his
money on any team winning any series because every
team is close this year.
"There is
no good or bad teams in this league this year," said
Rose. "I would not want to bet on any series at all.
I'd bet on my own team because I believe in my team
but beyond that I would not place money on any one
of the other series."
Sarnia
will next take on St. Thomas on Sunday and will
return to the Sarnia Arena on their regular Thursday
night game against Chatham.
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@sarniasports.
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