by WOHC staff
Craig Hottot scored midway through the third period to break a 2-2 tie and the Sarnia Legionnaires went on to defeat the LaSalle Vipers 4-2 on Wednesday in a very well played game before 871 fans at the Vollmer Rec Centre in LaSalle.

With their seventh win in eight road games, the Legionnaires (14-3-2) moved to within one point of the first-place London Nationals in the GOJHL Western Conference standings. Sarnia has one game in-hand. The Vipers (9-10-2) remain in sixth, two points up on the Chatham Maroons who have four games in-hand on LaSalle.

A power play goal from Tyler Peters and a short-handed marker from Tyler Lewis had give the Legionnaires a 2-0 first period lead before the Vipers rallied with goals from Chad Rivait and Anthony Iaquinta to tie the game at two heading into the third period. That set the stage for Hottot's game-winner four seconds shy of the midway point of the third period. Jesse Drydak added an empty-net goal with nine seconds left to round out the scoring.

The game was a very entertaining one for yet another large crowd in LaSalle. The Vipers currently rank second among the 26-team GOJHL with an average attendance of 937 per game, behind only the Legionnaires impressive average of 1224. At the gate, the Vipers' move from Tecumseh to LaSalle is proving to be a very beneficial one. Last season the Vipers franchise - known as the Tecumseh Chiefs - ranked eighth in the nine-team WOHL with an average attendance of 256. To date this season, their current average of 937 is an astounding 266% increase over last season.

The Vipers are off until Sunday when they travel to St. Thomas to take on the eight-place Stars (pre-game). The Legionnaires will have a chance to take over first place on Thursday when they host the Stars at Sarnia Arena (pre-game).

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