Who says that Junior 'A' is where it's at, where all of the premier hockey players and coaches develop the most? What we observed last night in Sarnia was true small town hockey where the ENTIRE community (or so it seems) makes the Thursday night trek out to the old Sarnia Arena to take in some amazing hockey!

The kids are hangin' over the glass highfiving the players as they skate past in warmup and check out the attendance, are you ready for this? ......

ATTENDANCE: 1,435

And that was NOT a fabricated/inflated total either! There was actually a traffic jam whe vacating the arena parking lot after the game! These are truly passionate fans who cheer their hometown stars without berating the opposition or officials!

Despite surrendering the first goal midway through the first, the Sarnia Legionaires came storming back in the third behind some highlight reel goaltending (at both ends) to knock off the visiting LaSalle Vipers by a score of 3-1!

This truly reminded my of my youth when we used to go see the Streetsville Derby's play when I was about 12 years old, simply amazing!

There are plenty of players (including BOTH goaltenders last night) who could easily step UP (?) to play in the Junior 'A' loop without hesitation, the consideration would be ...... WHY? When everything that they could ever ask for is right in front of them.

Every night these boys get to sleep in their own beds, with respectable coaches, responsible fans, an atmosphere one could only reflect upon from their youth, and a chance for these young men to be local town heros!

Hell, even the largest crowds in the Junior 'A' circuit (i.e. Wellington) don't even come close to such a passionate core of supporters! I remember just a short two or three years ago when Dan Rose (former and hopefully soon to be returning to this league) had invited me down to Southwestern Ontario to take in a game. Who would ever have thought that just a couple of years later that I'd be down here working full time and taking in as many as two of these games per week!

In conclusion, the game is fast, wide open end to end action, the players leave it all out there not holding anything back in search of a "better" place to play. From what we witnessed last night there are plenty of players who COULD move to a higher level, but then again WHY would they want to when EVERYTHING that is the core of junior hockey exists in the small towns who take pride in their hometown team!

I'll take this over the daddy owned, move 'em, screw the fans mentality that exists within Junior "Eh" teams like the Etobicoke, Westwood, Rexdale Chesswood Derby's anytime!

Here's last nights game summary! 

FINAL

Sarnia Arena    Thu, Oct 30, 2008 at 7:30 pm EST

LaSalle 1

Sarnia 3

GAME DETAILS SCORING SHOTS   1 2 3 TOTAL LaSalle 1 0 0 1 Sarnia 0 0 3 3   1 2 3 TOTAL LaSalle 9 10 6 25 Sarnia 13 11 13 37

POWERPLAYS LaSalle 1 for 9 : Sarnia 1 for 7

SCORING SUMMARY Period 1 LaSalle - David Sharpe (powerplay) (Chad Rivait, Dan Whitehead) 10:55 Period 2 (no scoring) Period 3 Sarnia - Chris McGuffin (powerplay) (Tyler Lewis, Zack MacQueen) 2:04 Sarnia - Tyler Peters (Dave Hutchinson, Craig Hottot) 8:00 Sarnia - Tyler Lewis (Zack MacQueen, Clark MacPherson) 9:12

PENALTIES Period 1 Sarnia - Josh Cornelissen - (Holding) (HO), 2 min, 1:31 LaSalle - Mike Souligny - (Interference) (INT), 2 min, 5:29 Sarnia - Kyle Gallinger - (High Sticking) (HS), 2 min, 9:33 Sarnia - Brent Andriash - (Charging) (CHG), 2 min, 13:56 LaSalle - Matt Beaudoin - (Interference) (INT), 2 min, 19:21 Sarnia - Tyler Cicchini - (High Sticking) (HS), 2 min, 19:58 LaSalle - Mike Souligny - (High Sticking) (HS), 2 min, 19:58 Sarnia - Craig Hottot - (Roughing after Whistle Double Minor) (RAW), 4 min, 20:00 LaSalle - Drew Palmer - (Roughing after Whistle) (RAW), 2 min, 20:00 Period 2 Sarnia - Jesse Drydak - (Cross Checking) (CC), 2 min, 0:57 LaSalle - Dave Bingeman - (Too Many Men Bench Minor) (TMM), 2 min, 4:10 Sarnia - Craig Hottot - (Interference) (INT), 2 min, 13:09 LaSalle - Derek Lanoue - (Tripping) (TR), 2 min, 13:39 Period 3 LaSalle - D.J. Turner - (Hooking) (HKG), 2 min, 0:39 LaSalle - Chris DiNatale - (Too Many Men Bench Minor) (TMM), 2 min, 3:10 Sarnia - Craig Hottot - (Roughing) (RO), 2 min, 10:42 Sarnia - Josh Cornelissen - (Fighting Game Misconduct) (GM30), 0 min, 11:31 Sarnia - Josh Cornelissen - (Fighting (Instigator)) (INS36), 2 min, 11:31 Sarnia - Josh Cornelissen - (Fighting Major) (FI), 5 min, 11:31 LaSalle - Derek Lanoue - (Fighting Game Misconduct) (GM30), 0 min, 11:31 LaSalle - Derek Lanoue - (Fighting Major) (FI), 5 min, 11:31 Sarnia - Thomas Policelli - (Checking from Behind Game Misconduct) (GM50/51), 0 min, 14:42 Sarnia - Thomas Policelli - (Checking from Behind) (GM50), 2 min, 14:42 Sarnia - Tyler Lewis - (Fighting Game Misconduct) (GM30), 0 min, 18:00 Sarnia - Tyler Lewis - (Fighting Major) (FI), 5 min, 18:00 LaSalle - Mike Souligny - (Fighting Game Misconduct) (GM30), 0 min, 18:00 LaSalle - Mike Souligny - (Fighting Major) (FI), 5 min, 18:00 LaSalle - Bobby Barrett - (Interference) (INT), 2 min, 18:37 LaSalle - Chris DiNatale - (Fighting Game Misconduct) (GM30), 0 min, 19:55 LaSalle - Chris DiNatale - (Fighting Major) (FI), 5 min, 19:55 Sarnia - Andrew Sokol - (Fighting Game Misconduct) (GM30), 0 min, 19:55 Sarnia - Andrew Sokol - (Fighting Major) (FI), 5 min, 19:55 Sarnia - Dave Hutchinson - (Fighting Game Misconduct) (GM30), 0 min, 19:56 Sarnia - Dave Hutchinson - (Fighting Major) (FI), 5 min, 19:56 LaSalle - James Woodcroft - (Fighting Game Misconduct) (GM30), 0 min, 19:56 LaSalle - James Woodcroft - (Fighting Major) (FI), 5 min, 19:56

LaSalle  Sarnia # NAME G A PTS S PIM 1 Lyons, Connor 0 0 0 0 0 5 Souligny, Mike 0 0 0 0 9 8 Chauvin, Scott 0 0 0 0 0 9 Hickey, Brett 0 0 0 0 0 12 Barrett, Bobby 0 0 0 0 2 14 Koumaris, Jason 0 0 0 0 0 15 Rivait, Chad 0 1 1 0 0 17 Lanoue, Derek 0 0 0 0 7 18 Danese, Justin 0 0 0 0 0 22 DiNatale, Chris 0 0 0 0 5 23 Bingeman, Dave 0 0 0 0 0 26 Querin, Anthony 0 0 0 0 0 30 Brown, Clayton 0 0 0 0 0 43 Beaudoin, Matt 0 0 0 0 2 51 Whitehead, Dan 0 1 1 0 0 57 Turner, D.J. 0 0 0 0 2 72 Sharpe, David 1 0 1 0 0 81 Murphy, Patrick 0 0 0 0 0 89 Palmer, Drew 0 0 0 0 2 90 Woodcroft, James 0 0 0 0 5 # NAME G A PTS S PIM 2 Gallinger, Kyle 0 0 0 0 2 3 Yearego, Tony 0 0 0 0 0 4 Flemington, Kyle 0 0 0 0 0 8 MacQueen, Zack 0 2 2 0 0 10 Sokol, Andrew 0 0 0 0 5 11 Andriash, Brent 0 0 0 0 2 12 Hutchinson, Dave 0 1 1 0 5 15 MacPherson, Clark 0 1 1 0 0 16 Hottot, Craig 0 1 1 0 8 17 Cicchini, Tyler 0 0 0 0 2 18 McGuffin, Chris 1 0 1 0 0 19 Abercrombie, Matt 0 0 0 0 0 20 Lewis, Tyler 1 1 2 0 5 22 Drydak, Jesse 0 0 0 0 2 23 MacKinnon (APJ), Darby 0 0 0 0 0 25 Policelli, Thomas 0 0 0 0 2 27 Cornelissen, Josh 0 0 0 0 9 29 Berglund, Matt 0 0 0 0 0 30 Washer, Kyle 0 0 0 0 0 77 Stafford, Scott 0 0 0 0 0 79 Peters, Tyler 1 0 1 0 0  GOALIES NAME DEC MIN SHOTS SAVES 1 Connor Lyons LOSS 59:39 37 34 30 Clayton Brown (b)         NAME DEC MIN SHOTS SAVES 29 Matt Berglund WIN 60:00 25 24 30 Kyle Washer (b)

PENALTY TOTALS LaSalle 38 minutes on 17 infraction(s) Sarnia 42 minutes on 20 infraction(s)

Head Coach: Nelson, John Assistant Coach: Langlois, Gil Assistant Coach: Winter, George Manager: McIntosh, Kevin Trainer: French, Al Trainer: Lalonde, Stan Head Coach: Abercrombie, Bill Assistant Coach: Dimuzio, Derek Assistant Coach: Knight, Darryl Assistant Coach: Lennan, Daryl Manager: Williamson, Bob Trainer: Anger, Dave Trainer: Lester, Rob Trainer: MacKinnon, Glenn Trainer: Williamson, Ryan

OTHER FACTS GAME LENGTH: 2:05 ATTENDANCE: 1,435 REFEREE: Sean Geene REFEREE 2: Rob Veccia LINES 1: Tyler Hawthorne LINES 2: Chris Harwood SCOREKEEPER: Theo Bet 1ST STAR: Lewis, Tyler (SAR) 2ND STAR: Peters, Tyler (SAR) 3RD STAR: MacKinnon (APJ), Darby (SAR)

Tony...well stated and bravely spoken. The concept of playing for your team and not your scholarship makes the difference and results in great hockey that requires teamwork.

These guys play for each other and don't see every game as a "showcase". I'll bet you not one of them checked the gamesheet to see how many points they accumulated either. Instead they probably checked at the standings. Herein lies the problem with Jr A. Just my "opinion".

Russ

Tony,

As a guy who scouts Jr. B on a regular basis, I agree with a lot of your comments.

There isn’t much difference between the two levels. The Jr. B game is a little slower, more of physical, grind it out style. It does make for closer, lower scoring games though.

The top guys for the most part in Jr. B would be top guys in Jr.A. OJHL teams have known this for a while.

I don’t feel the top Jr. B teams could defeat the top Jr. A teams consistently in a playoff series though because of the import rules. Jr. B teams are restricted in the number of out of town players they can have, which restricts their ability to recruit from a larger geographical area. It does allow more local kids to make the team but it hurts team depth. A lot of Jr. B teams would finish in the middle of the Jr. A divisional standings in my opinion.

I usually take a few weekend trips down to Southwestern Ontario to watch Jr. B hockey. Get a motel room and try to catch two or three games in a weekend. It’s usually a lot of fun. They treat me like gold when I’m wearing my OHL jacket and go out of their way to assist and promote their players. They even let my fiancée in for free, imagine that They are rabid fans. I went to Strathroy last winter and was asked to move because it was reserved seating for season ticket holders.

Legions of fans see win
NEARLY 1,500 TURN OUT AS LEGIONAIRES HONOUR PAST CHAMPIONS
Posted By DAVE BORODY, THE OBSERVER
Posted 12 hours ago


Three unanswered goals in the third period powered the Sarnia Legionnaires to a hard-fought 3-1 win over the LaSalle Vipers, Thursday night before as season-high crowd of 1,435 fans at the Sarnia Arena.

The win keeps Sarnia alone in first place in the Western Conference of the Greater Ontario Junior B Hockey League as the improved to 13-3-2.

The win came on a special night for the team as they honoured two past championship juniors B teams from the late 1950s when they were sponsored by the Canadian Legion. A special banner was unveiled at the west end of the arena during pre-game ceremonies.

LEGIONNAIRES ICE CHIPS

* Several member of the Legionnaire teams from the 1950s were introduced to the crowd prior to the game and they received a standing ovation from the fans. One of those players was 68-year-old Pat 'Whitey' Stapleton of Strathroy.

"It's always nice to come back and see your old teammates," said Stapleton, who was accompanied by his wife, Jackie. "Many of them are not with us anymore. I don't see the guys as much as I would like to."

Stapleton last played a competitive game in the Sarnia Arena in the early 1980s with the National Hockey League oldtimers.

"I can't even remember who we played against. This is still a a great junior B rink. Sarnia has done a good job this year."

Link:
http://www.theobserver.ca/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=1274750

Live in each season as it passes; breathe the air, drink the drink, taste the fruit, and resign yourself to the influences of each

Sarnia is averaging 1200 fans per game - very nice

the league's top 4 teams over 700 per game

sound like a great hockey atmosphere!!!!!!

Maybe have to go check out a game or 2





Live in each season as it passes; breathe the air, drink the drink, taste the fruit, and resign yourself to the influences of each

Did the GOHL teams get their wish of dropping the "Junior 'B'" label, so that they don't start losing their players to another league that is higher by title only?

The OHA still refers to them as Jr. B... but the idea of the amalgamation was to get rid of it. Initially there was talk of the GOJHL jumping to Tier II after a couple seasons... expansion... and redividing into four divisions instead of current three division format... but with the OHA's pending head-to-toe realignment of classification (god only knows when this will happen) I imagine some of this is on hold.