Maroons Happy With Roster, Ready For Showcase

The Chatham Maroons will open their 2019-2020 regular season this weekend at the annual GOJHL Showcase, and head coach Kyle Makaric believes his team is ready.

“So far we are very happy with how the roster has shaped up,” said Makaric. “We have great depth and firepower up front and we are very happy with how our young defenseman have handled the transition to junior. Having played the first game with almost an entirely 03’ roster it was great to give some young guys and our AP’s experience before getting our main group into a game.”

While some chatter took place online about the impact of the Maroons committing to the majority of their roster early in the tryout process, Makaric feels like this is the norm now in hockey, and is thrilled with the young crop of players Chatham recruited.

“Having most of our roster in place through commitments and signings looks like it is the norm and not a trend. Teams are on players early and if you see someone you like you have to make a decision fairly quickly,” he said.

“We are thrilled with the quality of our recruit class from the net out. We might have some hiccups from time to time but these guys battle and they are very interested in getting better. Which is great to see from a coaches perspective.”

With the preseason behind them, and a vastly different roster than the one that ended last season, the Maroons are now looking toward building on the positives at the annual GOJHL showcase, which runs this weekend.

“Our focus at the showcase will have a lot to do with just that, showcasing skill. We want to put our players in a position that their skills and ability can shine through as individuals by playing a competitive and structured team game,” said Makaric.

“Each individual looks better as the collective group has success so we just want to be sure that we get off to a positive start.”

The Chatham Maroons will play the Listowel Cyclones and Niagara Falls Canucks this weekend to open their season.