The Chatham Maroons fell behind early and paid for it Sunday night at Memorial Arena.
Despite outshooting the Komoka Kings 26-23 in the first two periods, the Maroons' offence was virtually non-existent in those first 40 minutes, losing to the Kings 6-4 in Game 3 of the Western Conference quarterfinals.
Komoka got off to a rousing start with a pair of goals in the opening period. Ryan McAllister opened the scoring at 2:07, and Jacob Rochford doubled the Kings' lead later in the frame. Despite the goals, the Maroons led Komoka 11-8 in shots on goal.
The Kings continued to dominate offensively in the middle frame. Blake McConnell-Barker extended the lead to 3-0 with a goal at 3:48. Chatham goalie Tristan Lewis was pulled in favour of backup Adam Harris, who allowed a fourth Komoka goal when Barker struck again.
The Maroons finally got on the board at 1:14 of the third period on a Griffin Robinson goal, though Komoka's Joel Mazzilli responded soon after for a 5-1 Kings lead. Chatham began to fight back in the latter half of the third by scoring three unanswered goals, from Brett Fisher, Sean O'Brien and Nolan Gardiner. Harris was pulled for the extra attacker in an effort for the Maroons to tie the game and sent it to overtime, but Luc Arsenault scored into the empty net to give Komoka the 2-1 series lead.
Lewis and Harris saved 19 shots between them. For the Kings, Owen Say had 37 stops in goal.
Game 4 of the best-of-seven series takes place Tuesday night at Komoka. Puck drop is set for 7:15 p.m. and all the action can be heard live on-air and online at CFCO Country 92.9FM/AM 630.
