Timmins Rock goalie Dryden Riley makes a save as teammate Alexis Tremblay gets his stick down to keep the rebound from bouncing away to the awaiting stick of Hearst Lumberjacks blue-liner Julien Trudel during the second period of Friday night’s NOJHL contest at the McIntyre Arena. The Lumberjacks battled back from a two-goal deficit to edge the Rock 3-2. THOMAS PERRY/THE DAILY PRESS jpg, TD, apsmc
The Hearst Lumberjacks rallied from a two-goal deficit to hand the Timmins Rock a 3-2 setback at the McIntyre Arena Friday night.
Thomas Perry
The Daily Press/Postmedia Network
It was the fourth-straight loss and the fifth in six games for the Rock (20-12-0-0) who enter the NOJHL’s Christmas break in fifth place in the standings. Things are much rosier for the Lumberjacks (23-6-0-1), who have won seven-straight contests and enter the break in second place, nine points behind the Greater Sudbury Cubs and with a game in hand.
Even the return of No. 1 goalie Dryden Riley and coach and general manager Brandon Perry from the 2024 World Junior ‘A’ Challenge and forward Brant Romaniuk from les Olympiques de Gatineau, of the QMJHL, couldn’t help the Rock rediscover their winning ways.
Despite the loss, Perry liked a lot of what his saw from his squad Friday night.
“It was a good hockey game,” he said. “We made some mistakes and they cost us, obviously. We had some chances on a five-on-three in the first period to give ourselves a little bit of run support, but we didn’t capitalize.
“We played hard for most of the game, made a couple of mistakes in the third period and the puck ended up in our net. That’s the way it goes. That’s playoff hockey right there. They are a really good team. We are a really good team. Whoever makes the fewest mistakes usually wins the hockey game, right.
“There were a lot of rebounds left on the table for us, but that’s just the way it goes some nights.”
Asked what the Rock did right to build up their 2-0 lead, Perry said, “Power play. We didn’t generate too many chances five-on-five. Our power play got both goals. There wasn’t a lot of time or space out there.
“You can’t let guys get behind you and I think we gave up a couple of breakaways there and Dryds (Riley) had to come up big for us. We just have to pay attention to details for a full 60 minutes. We get mentally lazy and we just fall asleep. On that last goal, the D slid back door on us and our week side winger was sleeping.
“We just have to be ready for these switch-offs and be mentally dialed in and ready to play D. Our D Zone wasn’t great tonight, a little bit of confusion it looked like, but we have a lot of hockey left this season.”
Early on, it looks like the losing skid might be snapped, as Hayden Rynard netted a power-play marker, his third goal of the season, late in the opening period.
It was Rynard’s first home game since he was carried off the ice on a stretcher after suffering a lower body injury at the McIntyre Arena during the Rock’s 9-1 win over the Iroquois Falls Storm, on Sept. 29.
Rynard played in all three games during the Rock’s road trip last weekend.
Thomas Beard added another power-play marker, his 10th goal of the season, five minutes into the middle frame.
But the Lumberjacks began to eat into the Rock advantage three minutes later when Aiden Kalin scored the first of his two goals on the night and 18th of the season, with his team enjoying a man advantage.
Kalin’s second goal of the night and 19th of the season seven minutes into the third period tied things up, at 2-2.
Any hope Rock fans had that their squad might be able to earn at least a single point were dashed with just over five minutes remaining in regulation when Lumberjacks blue-liner Adam Shillinglaw snuck in from the point to beat Riley with his 14th goal of the campaign.
The Rock pulled Riley in the game’s final few minutes in favour of an extra attacker, but he was forced to return to the net when Romaniuk took a cross-checking penalty in the offensive zone with 1:04 remaining on the clock.
Riley, who hates to lose at the best of times, was visibly upset following the contest, but his coach praised his goalie’s play in the contest.
“He was fantastic tonight,” Perry said. “He is a great goalie and we need more guys like him in our room.”
The coach was also pleased to see the return of Romaniuk, who started the season with the Rock (9, 9-5-14, 6), before getting the chance to join les Olympiques (13, 1-2-3, 0).
“He just wasn’t getting the minutes in Gatineau and it made more sense for him to come home,” Perry said.
“They have him on an affiliate card, so if they need him, he can go up, but it just makes more sense for him to play here and get more minutes. It’s super nice to have him back. Obviously, he is a game changer for us.”
The coach is also eager to see Rynard get up to full speed again, after missing so much time.
“He just does so much for us,” Perry said. “He is a little rusty right now, but he is a tremendous leader in our locker room, with championship experience. He plays good in all three zones and he is smart, he has a good stick and scored a big goal for us today to get the puck rolling.”
Coach Marc-Alain Begin was happy to see his Lumberjacks pull out the victory in a tough building, against a tough team.
“Timmins took it to us the first 25 of 30 minutes, but we came out hard after they scored that second goal and I thought our third period was one of the better third periods we have played all year,” he said.
“We played well and we put some pucks deep, got some huge goals from some of our veterans.”
The coach agreed patience was one of the keys to the Lumberjacks success Friday night.
“When you play Timmins, you don’t want to get into penalty trouble,” Begin said. “We have a high-scoring team and we knew we were going to get our scoring chances. We just had to stick to it (the game plan) and that’s what we did.”
The coach appreciated the effort he saw from Kalin, especially in the offensive zone.
“Aiden played a really good game and he could have had four or five goals,” Begin said. “He is a big contributor for us on the offensive side of the puck.”
Shillinglaw, who has nearly three times as many goals as any other NOJHL blue-liner, also impressed his coach in Friday night’s contest.
“I wouldn’t trade Adam for any other D-man in our league right now,” Begin said.
“He is playing really well right now and he probably played 30 or 35 minutes tonight. He gave Kalin a breakaway just before he scored his game-winner. He is very good on the offensive side, but he is very good on the defensive side, as well.”
The coach also liked what he saw from his goaltender, Alexandre Boivin, who made a number of saves to keep the game close and give the Lumberjacks the opportunity to come back and earn the victory.
“This rink saw a lot of Boivins the last two years,” Begin said, referring to Alexandre playing at the McIntyre Arena with the GNU18L’s Kapuskasing Flyers and older brother Patrick, now an assistant coach with the Rock backstopping Timmins to an NOJHL championship.
“We are really happy to have one on our side right now and Alex has been really playing well for us. He is keeping us in games. We weren’t at our best at the start and it could have been 3-0 or 4-0 without him, so credit to him for keeping us in the game.”
Begin was pleased to see his squad run its winning streak to seven games heading into the NOJHL’s Christmas break.
“You look at the standings and Greater Sudbury is kind of running away with it right now, but we just have to keep winning games,” he said. “I told the guys we played well in our first 30 games, so let’s try to finish off on a good streak.”
Boivin turned aside 35 of the 37 shots the Rock directed his way to earn his 14th win of the season.
Riley, who stopped 35 of the 38 shots he faced, was tagged with the loss.
NOJHL NOTES — The Daily Press three stars of the game were Kalin, Rynard and Shillinglaw … The Rock went 2-4 on the power play, while the Lumberjacks were 1-3 with the man advantage … Official attendance at the McIntyre Arena was 909 … Friday’s other action saw the Iroquois Falls Storm edge the Voodoos 3-2 in Powassan, the Eagles blank the Espanola Paper Kings 6-0 in Sault Ste. Marie, Mich., the Blind River Beavers top the Thunderbirds 3-2 in Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., and the French River Rapids edge the Gold Miners 4-3 in Kirkland Lake … The Rock will return to action when they take on the Gold Miners at the Joe Mavrinac Community Complex in Kirkland Lake on Friday, Jan. 10, at 7:30 p.m. The next home game will be on Sunday, Jan. 12, when the Rock host the Powassan Voodoos at the McIntyre Arena, at 1 p.m.
