The Chatham Maroons wasted no time making a statement.
The Maroons dominated the action Sunday night and collected a victory, a 7-1 win over the Strathroy Rockets on opening night at Chatham Memorial Arena.
Chatham's first-year head coach Kyle Makaric said he was pleased to experience the buzz surrounding the team himself for the first time.
"There's been a buzz around this team and around this city for the last little bit," said Makaric. "To see them [the fans] come out and support the team and get a good show tonight was real positive for our group."
The Rockets did score the first goal of the game, at the 11-minute mark of the opening period when Carson Perry found the net. The Maroons tied the game, then took the lead for good before the first intermission. Jake O'Donnell scored the equalizer and Josh King gave Chatham the lead for good with a power play goal.
It was all Maroons in the second period as they scored four unanswered goals to put the game out of reach. The goals all came after the 13-minute benchmark of the frame and were scored, in order, by Zach Power, Sean O'Brien, Dane Johnstone and Nolan Gardiner. The Rockets pulled goaltender Vince Michelizzi after the period and replaced him in the third with Joshua Diamond.
HEAR THE CALL: Nolan Gardiner puts Chatham up 6-1 following a flurry of goals in the second period.
[audio mp3="http://blackburnnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/gardiner-goal.mp3"][/audio]
Diamond allowed just one goal in the third, from Thomas Michaud on the power play.
Makaric said he liked the share-the-wealth approach to offence shown by his players all evening.
"When you have a team as deep as ours, everyone that goes over the boards has an opportunity to make something happen and create, and we saw that today with our offence," said Makaric. "I think that's one of the best parts of our team is that they're very unselfish. They work together really well."
Maroons backstop Tristan Lewis knocked away all but one of the 25 shots sent his way. Michelizzi and Diamond combined for a total of 41 saves in net for Strathroy.
The Rockets travel to Komoka Tuesday night and play the Kings. The Maroons will play the Legionnaires in Sarnia Thursday night. Puck drop is set for 7:10 p.m. and all the action can be heard on CFCO Country 92.9FM/AM 630.