The Chatham Maroons have signed another affiliation contract with the Memorial Cup Champion Saginaw Spirit.
The affiliation allows the Spirit to loan prospects the Maroons so they can prepare to play in the OHL and it will also help Chatham with recruiting players to the team.
Maroons Head Coach Richard Santos told CK News Today Saginaw is a top-notch organization that can only rub off on the Maroons.
"The more successful they are, the more successful we're going to be. We're putting players up with them and we're able to get higher-end caliber players because those players want to play for a winning organization and an organization that takes care of you," said Coach Santos.
Santos said the affiliation is great because he gets to bounce ideas off of them and gets to see their young players and draft picks at their mini-camp.
"As you saw last year, we had four Saginaw players on our team. Three of them are going to be on the big club next year. Three of them got called up for the Memorial Cup run, which is pretty good. Hopefully, we get that fourth one up there next year," he said.
Santos said the benefits from the Saginaw partnership can only grow.
"It looks like already this year we'll have three or four already in our lineup. So, not only do you get to see Chatham Maroon kids play, but you also get to see kids that will be playing for Saginaw the following year and hopefully they get to go for another Memorial Cup run," the coach said.
The Maroons were Saginaw affiliates this past season as well.
