Game 7, Western Conference Championship Series
(2) Chatham Maroons 4
(1) St. Marys Lincolns 3
(CHA wins best-of-7 series 4-3)
Maroons rally to claim first conference title since 2022
The Chatham Maroons erased a 2-0 deficit with 4 unanswered goals and hung on to defeat the St. Marys Lincolns 4-3 in front of a crowd of 1422 at the Pyramid Recreation Centre, becoming the first recipients of the Joe Thornton Trophy as Western Conference Playoff champions and earning a berth in the Sutherland Cup Final.
In a rematch of the 2022 final, Chatham (12-7) will face the Eastern Conference champion St. Catharines Falcons. The Falcons won the 2022 series 2-0 in an abbreviated best-of-3 series.
Chatham’s Dylan Richter — who led the Maroons with 11 goals and 22 points through the three conference playoffs series — was named Western Conference Playoff MVP.
The Lincolns (11-8) jumped out to a 2-0 lead on the strength of their special teams.
Kyle Morey opened the scoring for the Lincolns with his 9th goal of the playoffs at 15:31 of the first period on the power play. Luca Spagnolo (7) made it 2-0 with a shorthanded goal at 2:26 of the second.
The Maroons’ comeback began just 81 seconds later when Jaxen Fortier-Smith scored his first career playoff goal. Chatham tied the game at 7:30 of the second when Carter Chadwick scored his 8th of the playoffs. Chatham outshot the Lincolns 15-8 in the second.
Josh Harding scored his first career playoff goal 4:47 into the third to give the Maroons their first lead of the game. Connor Hunt (6) scored the eventual game winner when he tipped in Fortier-Smith’s point shot at 9:48,
VIDEO: Maroons score 2 in third, clinch conference title
The Lincolns cut the lead to 4-3 with Owen Kalp‘s 3rd of the playoffs, but the Maroons held on for their second win of the series in St. Marys.
Maroons netminder Gannon Hunter (W, 12-7) made 30 saves, while Colby Booth-Housego (L, 8-3) stopped 27 of 29 shots faced for the Lincolns.
Hunter is just the 6th rookie goalie — and first Maroons rookie — in GOJHL history to win 12 playoff games and the first since David Egorov won 13 for the Hamilton Kilty B’s in their 2023 Golden Horseshoe Conference championship season.
Maroons captain Blain Bacik — the only player remaining from the 2022 championship team — raised the Joe Thornton Trophy in front of his team.
VIDEO: Maroons captain Blain Bacik hoists Joe Thornton Trophy
In the midst of the post-game celebrations, Maroons GM/head coach Richard Santos took time to note that the quality of the game lived up to the setting. “I thought it was a great game by both teams and came down to the last minute. I give St. Marys all the credit in the world.”
VIDEO: Richard Santos post-game remarks
Lincolns head coach Jeff Bradley did not hesitate to praise his opponents. “You have to tip your hat to Chatham. They played a great series. We got the start we wanted in tonight but we took our foot off the gas for five minutes or so, and that’s all it takes to give up the lead against a team like that. They gave us a good push in the third period and we allowed two unfortunate goals.
Bradley was proud of his team’s effort to try to late in the game. “Our guys emptied the tank and tried to do everything we could to tie it but came up a bit short. It wasn’t for a lack of trying, our players played really hard.”
VIDEO: full Game 7 highlights and interviews
The Maroons were 0/1 with the man advantage and were 2/23 (8.7%) in the series. The Lincolns were 1/1 on the power play and were 8/29 (27.6%) in the series.
This was the Maroons’ first Game 7 road win since 2018 when the defeated they LaSalle Vipers in the conference quarter-final,
The title is Chatham’s 11th league/conference championship since 1979. They will be making their 4th appearance in the Sutherland Cup Finals, seeking their 2nd championship, having previously won in the trophy in 1999.
VIDEO: Sights and sounds from Maroons’ Game 7 win
In addition to the 2022 final, the Maroons and Falcons faced each other in consecutive Sutherland Cup round robins. The teams split two meetings in 1999, with the Maroons advancing to the final and winning their only Sutherland Cup. In 2000, the Falcons took 2 of 3 meetings, including a double-overtime win in a sudden-death tiebreaker game.
The complete Sutherland Cup Finals schedule will be announced later this week.
