The Chatham Maroons are a junior ice hockey team based in Chatham, Ontario, Canada. They play in the Western division of the Greater Ontario Hockey League (GOJHL). The Maroons were the 1970 Western Ontario Junior A Champions and 1973 Southern Ontario Junior A Champions. The Maroons have won Twice won the Sutherland Cup as Ontario Hockey Association Junior B Champions in 1999 and 2025. In the 2021-2022 season, the Maroons won the GOJHL Western Conference Championship 4-2 over the Leamington Flyers. The Maroons dedicated their Championship in honour of their longtime equipment manager and team volunteer, Randy DeWael, who died suddenly during the playoffs.
History
The Maroons originated in the Border Cities Junior B Hockey League in 1959. The team later moved to the stronger Western Junior "B" league in 1964 and continued with the league, even when it became the renegade Southern Ontario Junior A Hockey League in 1970. The Maroons left the league in 1976, became the Maple City Fords and rejoined the current Western Junior "B" league. The Maroons became the MicMacs in 1988, but switched back to their traditional "Maroons" moniker in 1995.
At the 2004 NHL entry draft, Ryan Jones was drafted as a Maroon in the fourth round by the Minnesota Wild, 111th overall. He attended and played for Miami University. After his collegiate career, Minnesota traded Jones to the Nashville Predators.
The Maroons participated in the 2006 Sutherland Cup round robin, but lost out to the Niagara Falls Canucks and the Cambridge Winterhawks with a 1-3 record.
The Maroons began the 2013-14 season slowly and resorted to trading for four of their territorial rival's, the Lambton Shores Predators, top players (Kyle Brothers, Adam Arsenault, Tanner Ferguson, and Connor Annett) in a series of high-profile trades for players and cash. The Maroons also released 2012-13 starting all-star goaltender Darien Ekblad and replaced him with the Cambridge Winter Hawks' goaltender Jacob Keogh while picking up NOJHL Jr. A forward Kyle Rowe. Ekblad would get picked up by the Junior C Essex 73's and tend them to a Great Lakes League championship. Right before the trade deadline, the Maroons picked up forward Charlie Izaguirre from the fizzling Port Colborne Pirates for cash and prospects. On January 28, 2014, the Ontario Hockey Association ruled against the Maroons for exceeding their limit on import players. General Manager Bill Szekesy was suspended for an entire season and the franchise fined $4500. In addition, during the 2014-15 season, the Maroons will be limited to 30 cards instead of the usual 35. On February 19, 2014, the OHA announced that despite a Maroons' appeal, the punishment will stand. In addition, two wins were stripped from their record (versus Leamington Flyers and St. Marys Lincolns). Despite the trades and controversies, the Maroons would sweep the Western Conference quarter-final against the Strathroy Rockets and semi-final against the LaSalle Vipers, before being quashed 4-games-to-1 in the conference final by the Leamington Flyers.
The Maroons have since remained a presence in the ultra competitive Western Conference of the GOJHL. In 2017-18 the Maroons were only able to secure the 6th seed in the playoffs but upset a major rival the Lasalle Vipers in a highly competitive 7 game series in which the Maroons trailed the series 2-0 and 3-2 before prevailing. The Maroons would then battle the 1 seed London Nationals in another highly competitive series. The Maroons took game one in a classic game on a Bryce Yetman double overtime goal. However, the Maroons would not be able to overcome the Nationals high powered offense and suffering defense, and fell in 6 games.
In the off-season the Maroons made many moves to attempt to once again rain supreme over the West acquiring many veterans of various junior leagues highlighted by the acquisition of Nolan Gardiner, a former Ottawa 67, from the Caledonia Corvairs.
In the 2018 - 2019 season, the Maroons placed a competitive 3rd out of the 9 teams in the Western Conference. However, they would fall to the 6th seed Komoka Kings in 5 Games in the first round of the playoffs. The 2019 - 2020 season was cut short due to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020. There was no playoff games played in the 2020 Sutherland Cup, and the entire 2020-2021 season was cancelled.
In the 2021 - 2022 season, the Western Conference remained very competitive with there being only a 7 point difference between the first place Leamington Flyers and the third place Maroons. The Maroons began the Western Conference playoffs on a strong note beating 6th seed Komoka Kings in 5 games. In the second round, they faced frequent rivals, London Nationals without home ice advantage in the series. The Nationals had knocked the Maroons out of the playoffs in 4 of the last eight seasons. After losing a whopping 8-2 in Game 1, the Maroons came back to win 4 in a row and win the series 4-1 in 5 Games. For the first time since 2014, the Maroons appeared in the Western Conference Championship Final against first seed rival Leamington Flyers. After losing Game 1 in Leamington 3-1, the Maroons came back to win 6-1 on home ice in Game 2. Leamington would take Game 3 in overtime, but the Chatham Maroons would come back to win Games 4,5 and 6 to win their first Western Conference Championship in 16 years. The Maroons dedicated their championship to their equipment manager and longtime Maroons staff and volunteer, Randy DeWael who died suddenly following their first round win over Komoka. Chatham faced the Cambridge Redhawks, Champions of the Midwestern Conference and the Golden Horseshoe Conference Champion St Catharines Falcons.
In the 24-25 season the Maroons would feature a league leading offense scoring 246 times in route to a second place conference finish in the newly aligned Western Conference. This finish set a first round playoff matchup with the 7th seeded Elmira Sugar Kings scoring 31 times in a 5 game series victory. This led to a second round matchup with the 3rd seeded Stratford Warriors. The Maroons jump out to a 3-1 series lead but the Warriors fought back to force a Game Seven in Chatham in which the Maroons earned a nail biting 2-1 victory to setup a Western Conference finals matchup with the top seeded St. Marys Lincolns, who themselves survived a Game Seven after leading the London Nationals 3-0 earlier in the series. The much anticipated matchup of the two top regular season teams did not disappoint as the teams battled to another Game Seven. The Maroons earned an epic victory 4-3 to win the Western Conference. The Eastern conference presented a familiar Sutherland Cup final opponent as for the Maroons second straight finals appearance they would meet the St Catharines Falcons. In the highest scoring league finals series in history with a total 56 goals, the Maroons would light the lamp 32 times including a staggering 4 goals in just 3:10 in a series clinching game 6 to lead the Maroons to their 2nd Sutherland Cup Championship
Season-by-season results Season GP W L T OTL GF GA P Results Playoffs1959-60 30 20 7 3 - 184 110 43 2nd BCJBHL Won League, lost SC SF1960-61 31 21 10 0 - 189 102 42 2nd BCJBHL Lost semi-final1961-62 30 23 7 0 - 179 122 46 1st BCJBHL 1962-63 35 23 11 1 - 221 114 47 1st BCJBHL Lost final1963-64 28 24 4 0 - 179 66 48 1st BCJBHL Won League, lost SC QF1964-65 40 31 6 3 - 257 135 65 1st WOJBHL Lost semi-final1965-66 40 27 13 0 - 211 174 54 2nd WOJBHL Lost semi-final1966-67 40 23 15 2 - 200 173 48 3rd WOJBHL 1967-68 52 36 12 4 - 289 193 76 2nd WOJBHL1968-69 56 26 29 1 - 235 253 53 3rd WOJAHLLost semi-final1969-70 56 43 12 1 - 305 182 87 1st WOJAHLWon League1970-71 44 30 9 5 - 254 161 63 1st SOJAHLLost semi-final1971-72 56 33 17 6 - 247 215 72 3rd SOJAHLLost semi-final1972-73 60 33 19 8 - 292 218 74 2nd SOJAHLWon League, won Buckland Cup1973-74 62 35 17 10 - 336 230 80 3rd SOJAHLLost final1974-75 60 25 27 8 - 241 246 58 3rd SOJAHLLost semi-final1975-76 60 36 18 6 - 333 229 78 2nd SOJAHLLost final1976-77 40 9 24 7 - 162 236 25 6th WOJHL1977-78 39 10 26 3 - 169 224 23 6th WOJHL1978-79 42 15 20 7 - 210 226 37 6th WOJHL1979-80 42 24 11 7 - 262 163 55 2nd WOJHL1980-81 42 26 15 1 - 255 176 53 3rd WOJHL Lost final1981-82 42 14 24 4 - 188 244 32 6th WOJHL1982-83 42 14 23 5 - 193 222 33 6th WOJHL1983-84 48 20 27 1 - 198 223 41 7th WOJHL1984-85 48 14 26 8 - 181 232 36 5th WOJHL1985-86 42 19 15 8 - 238 209 46 4th WOJHL Lost final1986-87 42 15 20 7 - 222 264 37 5th WOJHL1987-88 42 33 5 3 1 282 148 70 1st WOJHL Lost final1988-89 41 29 9 2 1 290 158 61 2nd WOJHL Lost final1989-90 39 33 5 1 0 309 141 67 2nd WOJHL Won League1990-91 48 28 17 1 2 246 202 59 4th WOJHL Won League1991-92 50 30 15 4 1 248 196 65 2nd WOJHL West Lost final1992-93 52 21 24 5 2 - - 49 3rd WOJHL West1993-94 49 28 17 3 1 258 235 60 3rd WOJHL West1994-95 52 17 33 0 2 206 288 36 4th WOJHL West1995-96 51 6 41 2 2 134 330 16 5th WOJHL West1996-97 52 20 23 6 3 223 232 49 4th WOJHL West1997-98 52 42 7 1 2 335 163 87 1st WOJHL West Won League1998-99 52 36 12 0 4 254 167 76 2nd WOJHL West Won League, won SC1999-00 54 47 6 0 1 286 144 95 1st GOHL Won League2000-01 54 44 7 1 2 279 155 91 1st GOHL Won League2001-02 54 43 9 0 2 307 163 88 1st WOJHL Lost final2002-03 48 27 19 0 2 208 166 56 5th WOJHL2003-04 48 33 12 0 3 232 150 69 2nd WOJHL Won League2004-05 48 40 6 1 1 210 93 82 1st WOJHL Won League2005-06 48 32 12 2 2 188 112 68 2nd WOJHL Won League2006-07 48 26 20 - 2 225 208 54 5th WOJHLLost semi-final2007-08 48 17 26 - 5 152 202 39 8th GOJHL-W Lost quarter-final2008-09 52 26 23 - 3 211 224 55 6th GOJHL-WLost quarter-final2009-10 50 33 15 - 2 199 163 68 3rd GOJHL-W Lost Conf. SF2010-11 51 22 23 - 6 213 222 50 8th GOJHL-W Lost Conf. QF2011-12 51 19 27 - 5 178 214 43 9th GOJHL-W DNQ2012-13 51 34 11 - 6 210 160 74 1st GOJHL-W Lost Conf. Final, 1-4 (London)2013-14 49 31 15 - 3 249 176 65 3rd GOJHL-W Lost Conf. Final, 1-4 (Leamington)2014-15 49 34 13 - 2 249 163 70 2nd GOJHL-W Lost Conf Quarter, 2-4 (London)2015-16 50 32 16 1 1 248 176 66 4th of 9-W9th of 26-GOJHL Won Conf Quarter, 4-1 (St.Thomas) Lost Conf Semifinals 2-4 (Leamington)2016-17 50 37 12 0 1 251 172 75 2nd of 9-W6th of 27-GOJHL Won Conf Quarter, 4-0 (St.Thomas)Lost Conf Semifinals, 1-4 (London)2017-18 50 25 22 1 2 202 192 53 6th of 9-W14th of 26-GOJHL Won Conf Quarter, 4-3 (Vipers)Lost Conf Semifinals, 2-4 (London)2021-22 48 29 12 4 3 202 157 65 5th of 9-W9th of 25-GOJHLWon Conf Quarter, 4-1 (Kings)Won Conf. Semis 4-1 (London)Won Conf Finals 4-2 (Leamington)Round Robin /2-2 (Redhawks}(Falcons}Lost League Finals, 0-2 (Falcons} 2022-23 50 25 21 2 2 191 194 54 3rd of 9-W14th of 25-GOJHL Lost Conf Quarter, 1-4 (Vipers)2023-24 50 27 20 2 1 195 174 57 5th of 8-W13th of 23-GOJHL Lost Conf Quarter, 2-4 (Vipers)2024-25 50 35 10 - 5 246 151 75 2nd of 12-W2nd of 23-GOJHLWon Conf. Quarter, 4-1 (Sugar Kings)Won Conf. Semis 4-3 (Warriors)Won Conf. Finals 4-3 (Lincolns)Won Sutherland Cup Finals, 4-2 (Falcons) 2025-26 50 37 8 2 3 243 146 79 1st of 12-West4th of 23-GOJHLWon Conf. Quarter, 4-0 (St.Thomas)Lost Conf. Semis 1-4 (Warriors)
2024–2025 executives, coaching and support staff
President - Bill Szekesy Vice President - Karen Szekesy Director of Business Development - Andrew Doran Assistant General Manager & Director of Player Development - Shawn Connors Head coach & General Manager - Richard Santos Assistant coach - Brennan Feasey Assistant coach - Shawn Connors Goaltending Coach - Bino Pereira Head Athletic Trainer- Eric Harvey Equipment Manager - Chad Strain Equipment Manager - Brayden Jee
Team Physician - Dr. Anthony Dixon M.D. Team Chiropractor - Dr.Jody Anderson D.C.
Playoffs 1969 Lost semi-final St. Thomas Barons defeated Chatham Maroons 4-games-to-2 1970 Won League Chatham Maroons defeated St. Thomas Barons 4-games-to-none Chatham Maroons defeated Brantford Foresters 5-games-to-2 WOJAHL CHAMPIONS 1971 Lost semi-final