Soo Eagles blue-liner Nicholas Castillo celebrates his first-period goal during Friday night’s NOJHL contest at the McIntyre Arena. Castillo’s 11th tally of the season gave the Eagles a 1-0 lead in a game they would go on to win 3-2. The Rock will host the Hearst Lumberjacks at the McIntyre Arena on Sunday, at 3 p.m. THOMAS PERRY/THE DAILY PRESS
The Soo Eagles hung on for a 3-2 victory over the Timmins Rock in NOJHL action at the McIntyre Arena Friday night.
Thomas Perry – The Daily Press/Postmedia Network
The Daily Press – GALLERY: Rock struggles continue
It was the second-straight regulation defeat and third loss in the past three games for the Rock, who will look to regain their winning ways when they host the Hearst Lumberjacks at the McIntyre Arena on Sunday, at 3 p.m.
Meanwhile, the Eagles rebounded from an 8-4 setback against the Lumberjacks in Hearst Thursday night.
Nicholas Castillo’s 11th goal of the season, late in the first period, gave the Eagles a 1-0 advantage Friday night.
Then, Jacob Swiatek added his seventh goal of the season at the 1:02 mark of the second period to increase the Eagles’ lead to 2-0.
The Rock finally got on the scoreboard 12-and-a-half minutes later, with Nicholas Frederick netting his seventh goal of the season.
It didn’t take the Eagles long to regain their two-goal advantage, however, as Brian Fiddes netted his 12th goal of the season a minute and a half later.
The Eagles took their 3-1 lead into the third period, but the Rock made a late push to try to get back on even terms.
Eagles forward Carson Van Tighem took a double minor penalty for hooking, with 4:09 remaining in regulation.
Nicolas Pigeon netted a power-play marker, his 10th goal of the season, for the Rock, but it came 10 seconds after the first of Van Tighem’s minor penalties had expired.
As a result, the Rock had to pull goalie Gavin McCarthy in favour of an extra attacker in the game’s dying minutes, but while they were able to generate a number of chances, they were unable to come up with the equalizer.
Eagles goalie Gabe Rosek turned aside 27 of the 29 shots the Rock directed his way to earn the victory.
McCarthy, who stopped 31 of the 34 shots he faced, was tagged with the loss.
NOJHL NOTES — The Daily Press three stars of the game were Rosek, Frederick and Fiddes … The Rock went 1-6 on the power play, while the Eagles were 0-5 with the man advantage … Friday’s other action saw the Blind River Beavers edge the Voodoos 4-3 in Powassan, the Soo Thunderbirds fly past the Gold Miners 3-1 in Kirkland Lake, the Red Wings get past the French River Rapids 5-4 in Elliot Lake and the Greater Sudbury Cubs thump the Express 7-1 in Espanola … The Rock will host the Lumberjacks at the McIntyre Arena on Sunday, at 3 p.m.
