Greg Hay scored twice for the Sarnia Legionnaires in their 6-3 win over the Maroons in Chatham Sunday night.
Chatham is now in sixth place in the GOJHL Western Conference with 36 points. Sarnia is in a three-way tie for second with 50 points.
It was the first game action the Maroons saw in a week, and head coach Ron Horvat says it showed.
"I think coming off a week, they're in your face," says Horvat. "They work hard, and it wasn't a good matchup there tonight, being off for seven days."
The Legionnaires opened things up in the first period with a goal from Alec DeKoning at 4:51. Hays' first goal of the night made it 2-0 Sarnia. The Maroons got on the board before the first intermission when Dane Johnstone shot the puck in on the power play.
Sarnia broke it open in the second period with three straight goals. Josh Barraclough, Cameron Hough and Zach Vanderwal were the goal scorers, all before the 12th minute of play in the frame. Maroons goalie Lucas Patton was pulled from the game and replaced with Ryan Wagner.
Johnstone scored his second goal of the game for Chatham, but Hay got that goal back for the Legionnaires with his second of the game, giving Sarnia a 6-2 lead after two periods.
Horvat says the Legionnaires took advantage of their flubs.
"It just seemed that every shot, every mistake we made, the next shot went in," says Horvat. "You can't have that. you can't dig yourself a 6-2 hole going into the third."
Chatham got one goal back in the final stanza off the stick of Justin Badour.
Patton and Wagner combined for 41 saves in goal for the Maroons. Blair Coffin faced 50 shots for the Legionnaires and stopped 47 of them.
Chatham travels to London Wednesday for a game against the first-place Nationals. Puck drop is at 7:30pm, and all the action can be heard live on CFCO Country 92.9FM/AM 630.