The Maroons originated in the Border Cities Junior B Hockey League in 1959. The team later moved to the stronger Western Junior "B" league in 1964 and continued with the league, even when it became the renegade Southern Ontario Junior A Hockey League in 1970. The Maroons left the league in 1976, became the Maple City Fords and rejoined the current Western Junior "B" league. The Maroons became the MicMacs in 1988, but switched back to their traditional "Maroons" moniker in 1995.
The Maroons began the 2013-14 season slowly and resorted to trading for four of their territorial rival's, the Lambton Shores Predators, top players (Kyle Brothers, Adam Arsenault, Tanner Ferguson, and Connor Annett) in a series of high-profile trades for players and cash.[1] The Maroons also released 2012-13 starting all-star goaltender Darien Ekblad and replaced him with the Cambridge Winter Hawks' goaltender Jacob Keogh while picking up NOJHL Jr. A forward Kyle Rowe.[2] Ekblad would get picked up by the Junior C Essex 73's and tend them to a Great Lakes League championship.[3] Right before the trade deadline, the Maroons picked up forward Charlie Izaguirre from the fizzling Port Colborne Pirates for cash and prospects.[4] On January 28, 2014, the Ontario Hockey Association ruled against the Maroons for exceeding their limit on import players. General Manager Bill Szekesy was suspended for an entire season and the franchise fined $4500. In addition, during the 2014-15 season, the Maroons will be limited to 30 cards instead of the usual 35.[5] On February 19, 2014, the OHA announced that despite a Maroons' appeal, the punishment will stand. In addition, two wins were stripped from their record (versus Leamington Flyers and St. Marys Lincolns).[6] Despite the trades and controversies, the Maroons would sweep the Western Conference quarter-final against the Strathroy Rockets and semi-final against the LaSalle Vipers, before being quashed 4-games-to-1 in the conference final by the Leamington Flyers.[7]
The Maroons have since remained a strong presence in the ultra competitive Western Conference of the GOJHL. In 2017-18 the Maroons were only able to secure the 6th seed in the playoffs but upset a major rival the Lasalle Vipers in a highly competitive 7 game series in which the Maroons trailed the series 2-0 and 3-2 before prevailing. The Maroons would then battle the 1 seed London Nationals in another highly competitive series. The Maroons took game one in a classic game on a Bryce Yetman double overtime goal. However the Maroons would not be able to overcome the Nationals high powered offense and suffering defense and fell in 6 games.
In the off-season the Maroons made many moves to attempt to once again rain supreme over the West acquiring many veterans of various junior leagues highlighted by the acquisition of Nolan Gardiner, a former Ottawa 67, from the Caledonia Corvairs.
In the 2018 - 2019 season, the Maroons placed a competitive 3rd out of the 9 teams in the Western Conference. However, they would fall to the 6th seed Komoka Kings in 5 Games in the first round of the playoffs. The 2019 - 2020 season was cut short due to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020. There was no playoff games played in the 2020 Sutherland Cup, and the entire 2020-2021 season was cancelled.
In the 2021 - 2022 season, the Western Conference remained very competitive with there being only a 7 point difference between the first place Leamington Flyers and the third place Maroons. The Maroons began the Western Conference playoffs on a strong note beating 6th seed Komoka Kings in 5 games.[8] In the second round, they faced frequent rivals, London Nationals without home ice advantage in the series. The Nationals had knocked the Maroons out of the playoffs in 4 of the last eight seasons. After losing a whopping 8-2 in Game 1, the Maroons came back to win 4 in a row and win the series 4-1 in 5 Games.[9] For the first time since 2014, the Maroons appeared in the Western Conference Championship Final against first seed rival Leamington Flyers. After losing Game 1 in Leamington 3-1, the Maroons came back to win 6-1 on home ice in Game 2.[10] Leamington would take Game 3 in overtime, but the Chatham Maroons would come back to win Games 4,5 and 6 to win their first Western Conference Championship in 16 years. The Maroons dedicated their championship to their equipment manager and longtime Maroons staff and volunteer, Randy DeWael who died suddenly following their first round win over Komoka.[11] Chatham faced the Cambridge Redhawks, Champions of the Midwestern Conference and the Golden Horseshoe Conference Champion St Catharines Falcons.
The Maroons are always a competitive team within the GOJHL and teams never take the trip down to the Chatham Memorial Arena for a weekly Sunday night battle lightly knowing that they will have played a strong team within the Conference in the Maroons. The Chatham Memorial Arena is one of the most electric and exciting environments in the entire league for hockey. The Maroons have a loyal and passionate fan base.
