Junior Ontario Hockey

Jesse Drydak claims Legionnaires MVP award
HOCKEY: Junior 'B' team honours its best

Jesse Drydak was humbled last night when he saw the legendary names engraved on a trophy he was about to receive from the Sarnia Legionnaires.

The speedy right-winger, who had just won the Jr. 'B' hockey club's Most Valuable Player award, realized at once that he was joining very select company.

"It's a great honour," the 18- year-old Camlachie resident said. "There are a lot of really high-end names on that trophy, names like Matt Abercrombie and John Faulkner. There are a lot of names of guys who went on to play higher levels of hockey."

Indeed, the fabled franchise has sent 25 players to the major leagues (either the NHL or the old WHA) over its 60-year history, including Hall of Famer Phil Esposito.

Drydak, who had 32 goals and 31 assists last winter, also won an award as the team's top point-getter.

But the scoring ace said he couldn't have captured either honour without the support of his teammates. As for next season, he hopes to have an even bigger impact. "The plan right now is to come back and take my game up to a whole new level. I want to score more goals."

Drydak added the Legionnaires should be a top contender because most of the players are eligible to return. "Our goal is to bring the (Sutherland) Cup right back here. We've got a good corps of guys who will be back next year."

As for his own future, Drydak plans to study at Lambton College and, after his junior career is over, possibly play hockey in Europe.

Other Legionnaire winners last night included:

* Tanner Ferguson, rookie-of-the- year.

* Tanner Tomlinson, most improved player.

* Jesse Raymond and Chase Clark tied for the Outstanding playoff performer.

* Owen Rogers, spirit award.

* Kyle Washer, people's choice award.

* Captain Tyler Cicchini, most dedicated player.

* Anton Zupancic, best defenceman.

* Harold Williams, volunteer of the year.

In other news, club vice-president Cliff Smith announced more than 150 season tickets have been sold, an unprecedented number for this time of year. And head coach Jeff Perry told the gathering all of his assistants have agreed to return for another campaign.

Here we go again........



This I took from wikipedia:

Esposito signed with the Chicago Black Hawks as a teenager and was assigned to the Sarnia Legionnaires Jr. 'B' hockey team for the 1960-61 season. In just 32 games with the Legionnaires he scored 47 goals and 61 assists, for 108 points.

Ok the "franchise" that Phil Esposito played for in Sarnia folded about 9 years after he played there. It was 10 years before I was born and I know this. Granted I am from Sarnia and know my history about the team more than a lot of people but I think the Legionnaires and their media need to stop pretending that team has been around for 60 years - I had to laugh at the 60-Year Anniversary logo they had on the ice this year too.

It's just not true.

To put that in perspective it would be like the Windsor Spitfires claiming that the Franchise started in the 1940's. Though they have the same name they do not celebrate a 60 or 70 years. Wikipedia shows that the Sarnia franchise started in 1969.

I think it it just means that the club was celebrating 60 years of junior B hockey in the city not specifically the name of Legionnaires.
Information that is associated with their web site says
Come celebrate 60 yrs of Jr B Hockey in Sarnia

So Sarnia's Jr. B team has had different owners and different nicknames over the decades. Who cares? Do you think Chatham doesn't celebrate its entire 50 year history. Look at the banners in their rafters. The Maroons have been known as the Mic Macs, Maple City Fords and even the Admirals, as I recall. They have played in the Border Cities jr. b, the Western Jr. B, the Western Jr. A and the Southern Ontario Tier II Jr. A. But they are essentially one franchise that changed names and moved from league to league over half a century.
There are people who don't take pride in Sarnia's Jr. B franchise and are always looking for ways to bash it.

Another way to look at this whole thing is that in the '50s and '60s Sarnia's Jr. B team was named the Sarnia Legionnaires, it played out of the Sarnia Arena, was in the Western Jr. B league and was affiliated with Sarnia Branch 62 of the Royal Canadian Legion. Today, the team is called the Sarnia Legionnaires, it plays out of the Sarnia Arena, is in the Western Jr. B league and it is affiliated with Branch 62 of the Royal Canadian Legion (where its awards banquet was held last week). The only difference is that the Legion doesn't own the team. But it is a strong supporter.

Some don't like the fact that the Legionnaires have come back to life, just as there may be some who didn't want the Maroons or the Strathroy Rockets brought back. Too bad. Smart organizations like Sarnia, Chatham and Strathroy tapped into the community's roots and brought the legends back.

The Legion is not a sponsor but it gave its blessing to the name change and its members show up at the games all the time. The Sarnia Legion also approached the national Legion executive in Ottawa two years ago and got permission for the Blast to use the Legion logo. Without the blessing of the Legion, the name change would not have happened. Sarnia Legion executive members have often shown up at functions of the team and the club has helped sell Royal Canadian Legion memberships. I think they have helped bring in dozens of new members. The Legion didn't donate any money to the team (nor was it asked to). But the team holds functions at the Legion and if you go in the Legion you will see a photo of the 2009 team hanging on the wall with the Bill Weir Trophy. There is very definately an informal affiliation. At the opening game, the president of the Sarnia Legion dropped the puck and the Legion pipe band performed.

THe real point is that Sarnia has had a Jr. b team for 60 years and it doesn't matter what the nicknames have been, it's basically the same club. The WIndsor Spitfire comparison is not valid. The 1940s SPits were not a Major Jr. A team. Had they been, there would be a connection. Had the new Blast owners taken the team down to a Jr. C league and renamed it the Legionnaires, you could make a point that there's no connection. But when it's the same name, playing out of the same building, in the same league, it's pretty hard to claim it isn't the same team.

When Ottawa came back to the NHL they called themselves the Senators and hung Stanley Cup banners. They inherited the history and were proud to do so. The Legionnaires have started hanging banners (including two from when the team was nicknamed the Sailors) and will keep doing so, because they are proud of Sarnia's Jr. B history. I don't know this as a fact, but I bet they'll get around to putting up Sarnia Bees banners too.

Easy there legion, all I'm saying is that in the article the word "franchise" was used. The former Legionnaire "franchise" left Jr. B and soon after folded around the same time the new Sarnia Bees Jr. B franchise started up. Same name, same arena - different franchises. Because I point this out does not mean I'm bashing the current Sarnia team at all. I proudly volunteered for the Sarnia Blast for 5 seasons and enjoyed the opportunity. For years I made a good effort (as did many others) to make that team as successful as I could in the ways that I could - I sat in boaster-club meetings for years trying to get historical things like banners and stuff done and even though it took far too long I'm glad to see they've finally been put up. My earliest memories of the game of hockey come from Sarnia Arena when my Grandfather took me to the Ranson Bees games in the late 80's and early 90's. To me that arena is 'home' for me in some ways and that team will always mean a lot to me whether anyone there or on here chooses to believe it or not. I have more respect for history for this league then most would know and I love this level of hockey. Just because I moved on to work with another team don't think I'm here to take anything away from the Sarnia team. They have done an excellent job in getting fans in the seats and making the product of Jr. B Hockey a respected one, once again, in my hometown of Sarnia.

I don't claim to know Chatham's history nearly as well but it is possible that through all the name and league/level changes that it has remained the same franchise. I have no interest in looking it up really. Just don't buy 50/50 there, lol. Seriously though, anyone that knows me at all knows that I always admired how the Chatham Maroons honored their history - the banners in that old barn look great, very well done.

The Ottawa Senators (of today) were formed in 1992, not 1883 - I don't what city they play in, what banners they put up or what their name is. That argument is silly.

I would argue that it's just a technicality to say it isn't one franchise. Basically, we've had 60 years of Jr. 'B' hockey with the team named the Sailors, Legionnaires, Bees, Steeplejacks and Blast. It doesn't matter who owned it, as long as it didn't leave town. There is only one Sarnia. It is our Jr. B team. If the new owners of the Blast had changed the name to 'Legionnaires,' then moved the team to Wallaceburg or Woodstock, I would not be arguing that it is the same team.

Even if you take the year 1969 as the starting point, it would still be a great franchise with something like nine Western Jr. B championships and two Sutherland Cups (and 15 alumni who went on to the pros) to its credit. But it wouldn't make sense for the Sarnia Legionnaires to disown the part of the Sarnia Jr. B history in which the team was called the Legionnaires.

The Legionnaires revived Jr. B hockey in Sarnia by going back to that name. And that was no easy task, not with an OHL team in town. I think it's a miracle that the team has survived since the Sting arrived in 1994.

What you call a technicality, I call a fact.

If I started up a computer company in Cupertino, California (and Apple went out of business soon after) does that mean if I got the rights to the Apple name for my new company that it would be the same 'Franchise'.

You have no argument here - the two teams are even on separate Wikipedia pages. Case closed. You are wrong.

Now here is a little Sarnia Hockey history lesson for you - taken from a book about Sarnia printed in 1925 that I once found in Kincardine, ON.........Enjoy!

thegreat1

st marys is better than anyone out there!