The Chatham Maroons' path to the GOJHL's Western Conference Final wasn't easy and they will face their toughest test yet in St. Marys.
The Maroons beat Elmira in five games and the Stratford Warriors pushed the Maroons to a seven-game series.
Now, for the first time in the current playoff run, Chatham will be the underdog -- facing the top-ranked St. Marys Lincolns.
The Maroons faced the Lincolns four times during the regular season, with St. Marys winning three of those four matchups.
Chatham's leading playoff scorers going into the series are Saginaw Spirit prospect Ian Lachance (7 goals, 8 assists in 12 games) and North Bay Battalion draft pick Dylan Richter (8 goals and 7 assists in 8 games).
Maroons Head Coach Richard Santos knows if Chatham is going to succeed in the series, the team is going to need those scorers to keep up their pace.
"We are going to try to put the pucks in the net and keep the pucks out of our net," Santos told CK News Today, adding that the team's success so far has been an all-around effort. "The reason why we've been doing really well is because the dressing room... the boys love coming to the rink every day."
In net, Gannon Hunter has been leading the way for the Maroons with eight wins and four losses and a 0.910 save percentage through Chatham's 12 playoff games.
In addition to solid scoring and goaltending, Santos also gives credit to the fan support for their playoff run so far.
"The boys can feel every ounce of energy that our fans give... they're loud, they show up every Sunday and the boys feed off of it," said Richard Santos. "If there's gonna be any reason we're gonna win this series, it's our fans pumping the boys up."
He said he believes Chatham has the best fans in the entire GOJHL and the team is going to keep giving them something to cheer for.
"It's the 25 that are in the dressing room that are going to war for us and go to war for Chatham as a community," said Santos.
The official schedule was released Wednesday afternoon:
Game 1 - Thursday, April 17 in St. Marys 7:30 p.m.
Game 2 - Sunday, April 20 in Chatham 7 p.m.
Game 3 - Tuesday, April 22 in St. Marys 7:30 p.m.
Game 4 - Thursday, April 24 in Chatham 7:30 p.m.
Game 5 - Friday, April 25 in St. Marys 7:30 p.m.*
Game 6 - Sunday, April 27 in Chatham 7 p.m.*
Game 7 - Tuesday, April 29 in St. Marys 7:30 p.m.*
*Games 5-7 if necessary
With files from Matt Weverink
