The Sarnia Legionnaires will face the St. Marys Lincolns in the opening round of the GOJHL hockey playoffs.
The action kicks off Friday night at Pyramid Recreation Complex in St. Marys, with game two set for Saturday night at Sarnia's Pat Stapleton Arena.
The full schedule can be found below.
The seventh seeded Legionnaires had one victory in six regular season meetings with the second place Lincolns. St. Marys outscored them by a margin of 30-17.
Legionnaires Head Coach Brian Irwin said it's a very exciting time of the year.
"It's something that we've built towards all season, especially the back half of the season here leading up to Friday night," said Irwin. "I think we're ready to go. St. Marys has a veteran team, they have some high-flying forwards that can score. It's going to be on us to defend hard in the neutral zone and continue to work on slowing them down and containing their speed. We need to get some good goaltending and take care of the defensive zone. There's no concern about scoring with the group that we've got this year. We can score with any team in the league, it's just a matter of containing their big guns."
Irwin is looking forward to getting back to Pat Stapleton Arena and entertaining the hometown crowd.
"We had a really strong home record with 11 wins on home ice this year, which is great," he said. "We've got to protect the house and take advantage of the friendly confines of the Pat Stapleton. I'm looking forward to Saturday for sure, but we've got to get things going Friday with a strong effort on the road. We know we have to get at least a win on the road to win the series."
Irwin said the Legionnaires had a really strong finish to the regular season.
"We had a strong effort last Thursday night at home against Komoka, and then went into Strathroy on Saturday night," said Irwin. "That was kind of a precursor to playoff hockey. Strathroy was playing for second place and we were preparing thinking that Strathroy could have been our first round opponent. We played just a classic GOJHL hockey game Saturday in Strathroy and came out with a 5-4 win. It was nice to finish with two wins going into the playoffs with some confidence."
Austin Harper led the way for Sarnia with 48 points, while Anthony Tudino chipped in a team high 25 goals to go along with 46 points.
Players to watch for the Lincolns include Luca Spagnolo, Jaden Lee, and Ethan Weir.
Goalies Jack Martin and Logan Phillips split time in the Legionnaires' crease this season.
They combined for a 4.87 GAA and .877 save percentage.
Lincolns rookie netminder Colby Booth-Housego had a 16-3-1 record with a 2.06 GAA and .922 save percentage.
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- Fri. Mar 08, 2024 - 7:30 p.m. (SAR @ SMY) - Sat. Mar 09, 2024 - 7:10 p.m. (SMY @ SAR) - Mon. Mar 11, 2024 - 7:30 p.m. (SAR @ SMY) - Thu. Mar 14, 2024 - 7:10 p.m. (SMY @ SAR) - Fri. Mar 15, 2024 - 7:30 p.m.* (SAR @ SMY) - Sat. Mar 16, 2024 - 7:10 p.m.* (SMY @ SAR) - Tue. Mar 19, 2024 - 7:30 p.m.* (SAR @ SMY)