The puck is set to drop on the Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League regular season with the annual showcase weekend.
This year's showcase will be at the Wayne Gretzky Sports Centre in Brantford, after the event was held at London's Western Fair Sports Centre the last few years.
Sarnia opens play against Niagara Falls at 2pm Saturday, followed by a 10:30am meeting with Fort Erie Sunday morning.
After a six game exhibition schedule, Head Coach Mark Davis is looking forward to getting the season started.
"We got some practices in this week to gear up for the weekend showcase, things are starting to come together a bit and the guys have been working hard," says Davis.
2017 GOJHL Showcase in Brantford, Ontario.
The Legionnaires will start the year with a 23 man roster, which Davis says will create a competitive atmosphere with players battling for spots in the lineup.
"There's going to be a bit of a rotation, but that's a good thing, in those years when I've been with winning teams, we had as many as 25 guys on the roster," says Davis. "It can make it tough to get everyone in, but if I guy is going through a slump or has been lazy, then they get taken out and I put somebody in. It's healthy competition."
The Legionnaires have had to fill some holes on the blue line left by the departures of former captain Brett Storr, Nash Nienhuis and Derrick Johnson. Storr is now too old for the league, while Nienhuis has left to play in the United States Hockey League (USHL), and Johnson is heading west to play in the British Columbia Hockey League (BCHL).
Davis says as a result, they'll have a good mix of youth and experience on the back end.
"We'll be pretty young back there, but we have a group of returning guys who should be able to lead the younger guys," he says.
Davis says they'll rely heavily on captain Sam McCormick and Ben Schoch, who enters his second season with the Legionnaires.
Cade Robbins is now set for full time duty with the team after getting a couple games as a call up while with the Mooretown Flags last season. Jordan Hurtubise and Alec Trusler will be making the jump after playing last year with the Lambton Junior Sting Major Midgets. Michigan's Matt Stoia expected to make an impact on the back end as well after the Oshawa Generals prospect had a very impressive camp with Sarnia.
Up front, Sarnia will look to a handful of third year guys in Jarret Marks, Ethan Dupont, Joey Zappa, Alex DeKoning and Josh Barraclough. Greg Hay joins the Legionnaires after a very strong rookie season in Mooretown, scoring 20 goals and 38 points in 38 games with the Flags. Guys like Joel Pavey and Jake Vince can expect a bit bigger work load after the two settled into the league as 16-year-olds last season. Nolan DeGurse and Aaron Jamieson are the two 2001 born players on the Legionnaires roster this year. Each team in the GOJHL can sign up to two players born in 2001.
The Legionnaires will be going with a young duo in net, with Sarnia Sting prospect Blair Coffin and Will Barber. Coffin played a couple of games with the Sting last year while Barber was drafted by the North Bay Battalion in the inaugural Under-18 Priority Selection.
Legionnaires in action against Leamington in the first round of the 2016 GOJHL playoffs.
Davis, who enters his third season as Head Coach of the Legionnaires, will be joined behind the bench by Assistant Coaches Brad Wilson, Bob Farlow and Derek Di Muzio.
Last year, Sarnia lost to Leamington in the first round of playoffs. They forced a fith and sixth game in the series after losing the first three games.
The Legionnaires open their home schedule Thursday, September 14 at Sarnia Arena against the Komoka Kings.