Saturday night’s game against St. Marys marked the last regular season game for the Nationals. The Nationals organization honour the graduating players Zack Springer, Christian Polillo, Kyle Dawson, Austin Jeffers, Adam Keyes, Riley MacRae, James Turner, and Colin Wilson with a ceremonial puck drop to kick off the game.
Two and a half minutes into the game, George Diaco scores a goal off of a quick break. Shortly after, Diaco buried the loose puck outside of the blue paint to make the score 2-0 and his second of the game. Good pressure in both ends keeping the fans on their toes until St. Marys received their first penalty at 15:30. An unlucky bounce gave St. Marys Tanner Hertel a shorthanded breakaway drawing him a penalty shot which he was unable to capitalize on. Just under a minute later, Hertel got into some penalty trouble receiving a two-minute minor and 10-minute misconduct for head contact. Unable to capitalize on the 5-on-3 the Nationals go into the second period 2-0.
The period started off with some action after the whistle drawing offsetting penalties at 2:52. An odd bounce gave St. Marys Austin Maietta a breakaway to put them on the board 2-1. Good pressure in both ends, however, neither team was able to capitalize. London goes into the third period on the power play due to some action after the buzzer.
Good pressure in the St. Marys zone to start the period however, the Nationals were unable to capitalize on the power play. A beautiful goal, bar down goal from the top of the circle by Nationals Wes Dobbin made the score 3-1 at 13:34. St. Marys put on the pressure at the end of the game, however, two big saves by Jukka Schotter solidified the London’s win over St. Marys.
The Nationals kick off their first round of playoffs this Wednesday 7 pm at home against the St. Thomas Stars.
