Maroons top Flyers 6-4
The Leamington Flyers travelled to Chatham on Sunday hoping to move into first place in the Western Conference of the GOJHL. They left in second place, one point behind St. Marys after the Maroons defeated the Flyers 6-4 in front of 707 fans at Memorial Arena.
Chatham chased former Maroons goaltender Bryce Walcarius at the 5:56 mark of the first period scoring three goals in less than 60 seconds, facing only seven shots.
Julien Gervais (21) started the scoring at the five-minute mark with assists going to Connor Dvorak (12) and Liam Doyle (29).
Nate Dowling (6) scored the first of his two goals on the night at 5:30 with Joshua Liu (4) assisting,
Rory Elston (4) celebrated his birthday scoring at 5:56 with Joshua Lepain (7) and Brendan McKay (7) getting the helpers.
Brendan Gouin (8) beat Boe Piroski at 14:09 with both Conor Dvorak (13) getting his second assist of the period with Joel Fonovic (10) picking up the first of his two assists.
Chatham outshot Leamington 13-10 in the first frame.
The second period ended in the same 4-0 score with Leamington outshooting Chatham 14-6.
The Flyers got to within one of the Maroons in the final frame scoring three goals.
Maroons Head Coach Richard Santos called a timeout at 13:56 to calm his troops following the shorthanded goal.
His charges responded by scoring their five goals on a power play 19 seconds later. Noah Mathieson (12) converted on the man advantage. Brayden Degelas picked up his 25th assist and Blain Bacik got his 19th of the season.
The Maroons went ahead 6-3 when Nate Dowling (7) got his second goal with Noah Mathieson (21) picking up his second point of the game. Joel Fonovic (11) got his second point of the game assisting on the goal at 15:48 of the third.
Leamington scored their fourth goal of the game on a power play at 18:22 but they wouldn’t get any closer.
The game ended with Chatham ahead 6-4.
Maroons goaltender Trevor Heslop turned in an outstanding performance stopping 37 of 41 shots. Leamington outshot the Maroons 41-29.
Noah Mathieson was selected Player of the Game.
The Maroons and the Rockets are tied for fifth place in the Western Conference, with Chatham having played two fewer games. They have 21 wins to Strathroy’s 19.
The Maroons will travel to Leamington Thursday night for the backend of the home and home series. Game time at the Nature Fresh Farms Recreation Centre is 7:10 p.m.
The Maroons’ next home game is Saturday, February 11 at 2 p.m.