Grant Spence scored twice but the Chatham Maroons stumbled out of the gate.
The Maroons lost their regular season opener 8-6 to the Kitchener Dutchmen, at the GOJHL Showcase taking place at the Wayne Gretzky Sports Centre in Brantford.
Kitchener set the tone early with two first period goals. Ben Morris opened the scoring at 3:13 with an unassisted score. The Maroons evened things up 20 seconds later when Steven Fowler scored the team's first regular season goal, but the Dutchmen's Austin Gaboury put his team ahead on the power play.
Chatham even the score again to start the second period, on Eric Carter's first score of the season. Kitchener put the puck in twice before Jake O'Donnell scored unassisted just after the halfway point of the frame. Spence's first goal of the game was sandwiched between two Kitchener goals and the Maroons trailed 6-4 after two periods.
The Maroons were able to tie the game in the third when Thomas Michaud and Spence each scored with the one-man advantage, though the Dutchmen responded with two goals of their own.
Kyle Droge was in goal for Chatham across the first two periods but Nolan Hakr allowed the go-ahead goal for Kitchener in the third and was charged with the loss. Hayden Chieffo stopped 26 shots for the Dutchmen.
The GOJHL Showcase continues Sunday afternoon in Brantford when the Maroons take on the Caledonia Corvairs. Puck drop is set for 4:30pm.
