Nolan Gardiner scored a hat trick as the Chatham Maroons beat the St. Thomas Stars 6-2 Sunday night at Memorial Arena.
The Maroons are in second place in the GOJHL Western Conference with 28 points, nine points behind the London Nationals.
The first period was scoreless, with the Maroons dominating the Stars 17-3 in shots on goal. Chatham had a single power-play chance in the first 20 minutes of play.
Chatham's offence came to life in the middle frame. Griffin Robinson started things off with a goal at 4:43. Gardiner then scored back-to-back goals within the next four minutes to stretch the Maroons' lead to 3-0, the second one a short-handed tally. St. Thomas averted a shutout at 10:41 when Ian Lutowicz found the net.
In the third period, Craig Spence's goal at 2:05 provided Chatham with another three-goal lead. The Stars' Eric Langridge scored on the power play at 7:45, but Gardiner completed his hat trick just over a minute later to make the score 5-2 Maroons. Josh DiCarlo scored another Chatham goal for good measure.
Adam Harris faced just 18 shots in goal for the Maroons and stopped 16 of them. Jesse Hodgson had 39 saves in net for St. Thomas.
The Nationals are next up for the Maroons Wednesday night at the Western Fair Centre. Puck drop is set for 7 p.m. and all the action can be heard on CFCO Country 92.9FM/AM 630.
