Chatham Maroons Face Top Ranked Rockets in Round One

Chatham Maroons - CKSN Photo by Ian Kennedy

Chatham, ON – When the puck drops on the Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League playoffs, the Chatham Maroons, who made the playoffs as the 8th and final seed, will face the top ranked Strathroy Rockets. Although this may seem like a first versus worst scenario, the Chatham Maroons experienced strong results against Strathroy this season.

If not for a terrible month of November that saw the Chatham Maroons lose a dozen straight games, the team may have finished much higher in the standings as they have flourished recently under mid-season replacement Head Coach Brad Meredith.

During the regular season however, the Maroons and Rockets played close, with Strathroy taking the season series 3-2. In fact, the Rockets were key contributors to Chatham’s November slide, but were played tight during their other meetings, including 6-2 and 3-2 Chatham wins.

The Strathroy Rockets were led this season by Walter Easter who notched nearly 90-points, finishing in the top 5 in Jr.B scoring in Ontario.  Only a few points behind Easter was former Wallaceburg Lakers star Derek Nap. Nap also finished in the top 10 in scoring in the province and cracked the 80-point mark this season. Both players represented the league as All-Stars.

For the Maroons, they’ll rely heavily on scorer Patrick Watling, but will also need big contributions from their other 20 plus goal scorers including Mike Rivard, Devon Roeszlar, Sean Myers, and Alex Morgan.

Schedule for Chatham Maroons opening playoff series

Game 1: Saturday February 26, 7:00pm in Strathroy
Game 2: Sunday February 27, 7:00pm in Chatham
Game 3: Tuesday March 1, 7:30pm in Strathroy
Game 4: Thursday March 3, 7:00pm in Chatham
Game 5: Saturday March 5, 7:30pm in Strathroy (If Necessary)
Game 6: Sunday March 6, 7:00pm in Chatham (If Necessary)
Game 7: TBA in Strathroy