Justin Badour scored twice, including the overtime winner, in the Chatham Maroons' 6-5 win over the St. Marys Lincolns Sunday at Memorial Arena.
The Maroons finish the regular-season with the third seed in the GOJHL Western Conference and 64 points. The Lincolns end in last place, out of the playoffs, with 29 points.
Although the game was meaningless as far as standings and playoff seeding was concerned, it had a special meaning for the nine "graduating" Maroons players who competed in their final regular-season home game in a Chatham uniform. One St. Marys player, Brett Whitehead, played in his last junior-B game.
Badour took time before the game to reflect on where his love of the game has taken him over the years.
"It was crazy driving to the rink today just thinking about all those times. Seventeen years ago I started out, so it felt good to get that out of the way, and it's going to be a fun last run," said Badour.
The Lincolns got on the board first midway through the first period, when Justin McIntyre found the net. Chatham then took the lead with back-to-back goals, off the sticks of Badour and Zach Power. St. Marys fought back and tied the game at 2-2 when Carter Schoonderwoerd lit the lamp. A goal by Evan Wells put the Maroons ahead 3-2 after the first 20 minutes.
Chatham maintained its lead through the second period as both sides exchanged two goals apiece. Kyle Fisher's first goal at 4:51 gave the Maroons a 4-2 lead, but Mason Goldie got that goal back for St. Marys a minute and six seconds later. Fisher picked up his second score of the night later in the frame; then Josh Martin responded for the Lincolns to trail Chatham 5-4 at the second intermission.
Austin Maietta's goal in the third period for St. Marys tied the game at five-all and forced overtime.
Badour's winner was scored at 2:07 in the extra frame.
HEAR THE CALL ON BADOUR'S OVERTIME WINNER AS HEARD ON CFCO Country 92.9FM/AM 630:
[audio wav="https://blackburnnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/badour-OT-winner.wav"][/audio]
Despite the lame-duck feel of the contest, Badour could see that the Lincolns were playing for pride and wanted to keep the game competitive.
"It was a big push from them," said Badour. "We came back and stuck to our game plan and stuck to our systems, we just kind of bared down and said 'All right, let's get going.'"
Tristan Lewis took the win for the Maroons in net, with 36 saves. Justin Richer concludes his season with 37 saves for St. Marys.
The Maroons now focus their attention to the playoffs and their quarterfinal round opponent, the Komoka Kings. The best-of-seven series kicks off at Memorial Arena on Thursday night. That and every Maroons playoff game can be heard live and in its entirety on CFCO Country 92.9FM/AM 630.
---with files from Matt Weverink---
