There have been a number of championship winning teams in the glorious 67-year history of Chatham Junior Hockey.
None, however, captured the heart of the city like the 1972-73 Chatham Maroons, who won the Southern Junior 'A' Hockey League's Buckland Cup and came within one win of advancing to the Centennial Cup national finals.
The fans' enamoration with the '72-73 Maroons actually started in the SOJHL semifinals the previous season when the '71-72 team rallied from a 3-0 deficit against the Detroit Jr. Red Wings to force a seventh game at the Olympia. Fans filled 33 charter buses while hundreds more drove to Detroit on their own but came home disappointed after a Maroons' 3-2 loss.
While the fans' excitement carried over to the '72-73 season, the Maroons got off to a 3-9-3 start and were in last place in the seven-team SOJHL, when legendary head coach George Aitken was famously quoted, “just give us until Christmas and we’ll be all right.”
Bolstered by mid-season replacements and full-house crowds, the Maroons went 30-10-5 the rest of the way, including a 19-game unbeaten streak, to finish second with a 33-19-8 record, 12 points behind the Guelph Biltmores.
The Maroons eliminated the Welland Sabres in seven games in the semifinals to set the stage for an epic eight-game final against the Biltmores.
The series was tied 3-3 with a tie, forcing Game 8 in Chatham on Tuesday, March 27, 1973.
However, the Thames Skating Club would not give up its ice time that night, forcing the Maroons to host the Biltmores in an afternoon.
More than 3,000 fans packed Memorial Arena – and for those who could not attend, the voice of Rod Charles calling the game on CFCO could be heard on radios in schools, businesses, vehicles and homes.
The Maroons took all of the suspense out of the game early as they built a 6-0 lead early in the first period as the rest of the game was a party atmosphere as the fans celebrated the Maroons' 9-1 Buckland Cup clinching rout.
The Maroons played the Ontario Provincial Jr. 'A' champion Wexford Raiders in the next round as the visiting team won the first six games before the Maroons, behind three goals by defenceman Ken Houston, won Game 7 by an 8-5 final.
The Maroons met the Central Junior Hockey League Pembroke Lumber Kings in the Centennial Cup Eastern Canadian semifinal for the Dudley-Hewitt Trophy.
The Lumber Kings won the first two games at home before the Maroons won the next three at Memorial Arena, only to see Pembroke win 5-2 in Game 6 and 6-1 in Game 7, the latter marred by brawls on the ice and in the stands, as fans littered the Maroons' with pieces of building material being used for arena renovations.
The Maroons had a wealth of experience behind the bench in head coach George Aitken and assistant Elmer Skov, both members of the 1960 Allan Cup champion Maroons.
Four members of the '72-73 team went on to play in the NHL (Ken Houston, Randy MacGregor, Vern Stenlund and Peter Sturgeon) while two moved on to U.S. college (Dave Easton and Geoff Marvell) and several others who came to Chatham to play hockey settled and raised families (Steve English, Rick Stickney and Easton).
Along the way, this spirited roster of young men, boasting future NHLers and successful civic leaders, amassed a fan following seldom seen in the history of Chatham hockey.