by David Honsberger
The Chatham Maroons won their third home game in as many tries with a 4-3 victory over the Strathroy Rockets before a crowd of 587 at Memorial Arena in Chatham on Sunday.

With the win, the Maroons (4-5-0) moved into a fifth place tie with the St. Marys Lincolns in the GOJHL Western Conference standings. The loss was costly for the Rockets (7-2-1), dropping them into second place, two points behind the front-running Sarnia Legionnaires who won 4-3 in overtime over the St. Thomas Stars. The Rockets are one point up on the third place London Nationals, who dropped a 7-6 shootout decision to the Lambton Shores Predators.

The Maroons were full measure for their win. They dictated the play throughout the game, were first to the puck and won the vast majority of one-on-one-battles along the boards. Chatham led 2-0 after one period on goals by Kyle Makaric and former Sarnia Legionnaire Jon Conrad. Makaric scored on a breakaway stealing the puck from Rockets defenseman Kent McPherson at centre and racing in alone on Rockets goaltender Ben Thomas (L, 6-2-1) while the two teams were playing four-on-four. It is the first four-on-four goal that the Rockets have sacrificed this season. Conrad scored on a Maroons' powerplay with a screened shot from the deep slot.

The Maroons, sporting new retro jerseys, increased their lead to 3-0 by the 6:37 mark of the second period when team scoring leader Justin Buzzeo beat Thomas with a shot from the slot on a nice pass from Brett Hope, who had two assists on the night. Just 51 seconds later, the Rockets finally found the back of the net behind Maroons netminder Mike Ostropolec (W, 3-4) when Brett Lashbrook buried a centering pass on a lovely setup from the corner from Andrew Secco.

Kraig Wright cashed in a Kyle Greenside pass at 6:37 of the third period to bring the Rockets back to within a goal. Jon Plouffe then tallied what proved to be the game winner at 14:30 quickly off a draw in the Rockets defensive zone. The faceoff was actually won by Greenside but Plouffe jumped into the play, stole the puck and stepped around rookie Rockets defenseman Coulter Cahill and beat Thomas to put the Maroons up 4-2. Wright gave the Rockets hope when he scored his second of the period just 52 seconds later on an innocent-looking play where his pass to the front of the net from a tight angle caught Ostropolec pulling away from the goalpost and slipped into the net.

The Rockets did apply pressure on the Maroons goal over the next two minutes but had their dreams dashed when Joey Beauchamp drew an elbowing penalty at 18:02.

The Rockets finished the night 0 for 8 on the powerplay while the Maroons went 1 for 7. The Rockets' inability to cash in with the extra man was also a huge contributing factor to their loss. They enjoyed extended periods of two-man advantage but ran into a very determined bunch of Maroon penalty killers.

Scoring opportunities were even at 15-15 while the Rockets once again dominated in the faceoff circle winning 52 and losing 34 draws (60.5%). Secco (11-3), David Morden (11-6), Dan Chadwick (9-5) and Greenside (14-9) all had stellar nights.

Next up for the Rockets is a Tuesday night home game at 7:30pm when they host the St. Marys Lincolns (pre-game). The game will be the Rockets home opener at the newly renovated West Middlesex Memorial Centre. The Maroons will be idle until next Saturday when they play the St. Catharines Falcons in St. Catharines during the first annual GOJHL Showcase Weekend. All 26 GOJHL teams will play two games each at the four-pad Seymour-Hannah Sports Complex in St. Catharines during the two-day event.

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