Griffin Robinson scored a breakaway goal in overtime as the Chatham Maroons beat the Sarnia Legionnaires 5-4 Sunday night at Memorial Arena.
The Maroons are tied for second place with the Leamington Flyers with 31 points in the GOJHL Western Conference. Sarnia is in fourth with 26 points.
Evan Wells scored an unassisted goal to put Chatham up first in the first period, at 6:56 in. Late in the period, Jon Sanderson tied the game for Sarnia to knot the contest at 1-1.
The second period was a case of deja vu, as the Maroons again scored unassisted to take the lead, thanks to Eddie Schulz. Again, the Legionnaires knotted it late in the period when Isaac McLean put the puck in the net, but then Alec DeKoning provided Sarnia with the lead when he scored before the second intermission.
Despite being down at this point, Robinson had confidence in himself and his teammates.
"I think we just had to keep plugging away," said Robinson. "We battled hard. We didn't give up and we just believed in ourselves. That's how we came out with the win."
The Maroons outscored the Legionnaires in the third period, starting with a goal by Dane Johnstone to tie the game at 3-3. Brendan Kennette's goal at 9:28 gave Sarnia the lead again, but the Maroons roared back and forced overtime when Sean O'Brien scored about two minutes after the Kennette score.
Robinson scored the winner at 4:35 in the overtime period. With their next opponent being red-hot Leamington, Robinson says they need to keep that focus up.
"They're doing good right now," said Robinson. "We got to go in, play a lot harder and keep it simple."
The Legionnaires head to LaSalle on Wednesday night. Chatham's date with the Flyers is Thursday. Puck drop is just after 7 p.m. and you can hear all the action on CFCO Country 92.9FM/AM 630.
