The Chatham Maroons kept their winning streak going with a high-scoring affair Sunday at Memorial Arena.
The back-and-forth affair culminated in a 7-6 double-overtime win for the Maroons over the LaSalle Vipers. Chatham`s Nolan Vandenboorn had two goals including the winner. He called it a gratifying victory.
"It's the best feeling ever now. We knocked them off their ten-game winning streak. We started with their ten-game winning streak, we figured we're the ones to end it," said Vandenboom.
Vandenboorn picked up two goals on the night, the first at 1:49 in the second period. The overtime winner came at 1:07 in the second extra period.
The Vipers came to Chatham with their double-digit win streak while the Maroons went into the contest with a nine game climb under their belts. Vandenboorn said he was surprised at the amount of scoring accomplished by both sides.
"I think we expected it to be a low-scoring game, we knew it was going to be close, being two big streaks, first place for second place, and we knew we had to play big against them," said Vandenboorn.
Steven Beenackers began the scoring for the Maroons at three minutes even into the first period. The Vipers responded with two unanswered goals, the first from Daniel Beaudoin and the second from Liam MacDougall, who would score a total of four in the game. Michael Douglas also had a goal in the first period for a 3-2 Vipers lead after one.
MacDougall completed his hat trick just after the start of the second period, 1:14 to be exact. Just 35 seconds later, Vandenboorn scored his first of the game. Blair Derynck would tie it up at four-all with 6:48 gone in the second period.
The third stanza consisted of the two teams trading goals twice over. Tyler Russell gave the Vipers back the lead, and Kevin Gursoy knotted it up again at 6:05 in the third. MacDougall picked up his fourth goal of the night soon after and Gursoy answered back again later in the period, sending the 6-6 game into OT.
Lucas Patton was the winner in goal for Chatham, turning away 36 of LaSalle's 42 shots. Eli Billing stopped 36 shots for the Vipers.
With the win, the Maroons remain a point behind the Vipers for first place in the GOJHL Western Conference. Chatham travels to St. Marys on Friday night while the Vipers welcome Lambton Shores to the Vollmer Complex on Wednesday.