The Sarnia Legionnaires' first game in a month-and-a-half saw the club defeat the visiting St. Marys Lincolns 2-1 Thursday night.
Sarnia forward Ryder Nienhuis opened the scoring on the powerplay at 8:29 of the first period, and Austin Harper would add another goal with the man advantage at 14:14 making it 2-0. The Legionnaires had six power plays in the opening 20 minutes and led St. Marys 18-7 in shots on net.
A scoreless second period saw the Lincolns fail to convert on three power play opportunities. St. Marys outshot Sarnia 11-5 in the middle frame.
The Lincolns kept up the pressure in the third period, outshooting Sarnia 22-9. Spencer Hazell got St. Marys on the board at 17:47, breaking a shutout bid for Sarnia's Brenden Stroble, but that's as close as the road team would get.
"I thought the first period, we played with a lot of energy and everybody stayed positive," said Legionnaires head coach Derek DiMuzio. "In the second period, we ran into penalty trouble, we bent but we didn't break and we got great goaltending -- Stroble played great. St. Marys really pushed hard and we found a way to figure them out."
Stroble turned away 39 of the 40 shots he faced in his second game played with Sarnia since coming over from the Chatham Maroons.
"They got pucks through, they got a lot of shots from the point, he found a way to stop them and he competed," said DiMuzio. "He's been competing in practice and working on his game, so good for him."
There were 437 fans at Sarnia Arena for Thursday night's contest. Current provincial restrictions for larger venues cap attendance at 50 per cent capacity or 500 people, whichever is less.
The Legionnaires are back in action Saturday night in Komoka.
With files from Josh Boyce
