Timmins Rock forward Lucas Lowe carries the puck into the Kirkland Lake zone while being chased by a trio of Gold Miners during Saturday night’s NOJHL contest at the Joe Mavrinac Community Complex. Lowe scored the first goal of his Junior ‘A’ career and also assisted on another to help lead the Rock to a 4-0 win over the Gold Miners. THOMAS PERRY/THE DAILY PRESS
Patrick Boivin stopped all 21 shots he faced to backstop the Timmins Rock to a 4-0 victory over the Gold Miners at the Joe Mavrinac Community Complex Saturday night.
Thomas Perry
The Daily Press/Postmedia Network
KIRKLAND LAKE — Patrick Boivin stopped all 21 shots he faced to backstop the Timmins Rock to a 4-0 victory over the Gold Miners at the Joe Mavrinac Community Complex Saturday night.
It was the second victory of the weekend for the Rock who knocked off the French River Rapids 6-1 at the McIntyre Arena Friday night.
Even though the Rock outshot the Gold Miners 18-6 in the opening frame Saturday night they led just 1-0 after 20 minutes of play.
Lucas Piekarczyk’s power-play marker, his sixth goal of the season, staked the visitors to that advantage.
The Rock added two more unanswered tallies in the middle frame, with the line of Lucas Lowe, Nicholas Moore and Evan Grigor accounting for both markers.
For Lowe, a 17-year-old Toronto product, it was the first goal of his Junior ‘A’ career.
“It feels amazing to get that first goal,” he said.
“Our D move it (the puck) up to Mooresy, I saw the lane and I was just calling for it.
“He kind of faked him (Gold Miners defender) out and slid it under his stick and I saw the goaltender coming over slow and I just put it top left, on the far side.
“I have been working hard, so it is really exciting to get the flood gates open and start scoring.”
It took Moore 14 games to finally net that elusive first goal, but he is confident the second one will come much quicker.
“I had a lot of chances before this, but I have finally started to bear down on them,” he said.
“It was a nice feed from Mooresy.”
Lowe knows his role on the hockey club and so far this season has lived up to the description of an energy player.
“We know we have to bring the energy when the boys aren’t feeling it as much,” he said.
“We did a good job of that tonight and we plan to keep doing it.”
Moore, whom the Rock acquired from the Blind River Beavers on Oct. 13, followed with his first goal in a Timmins uniform 57 seconds later to send the visitors to the dressing room for the second intermission up 3-0.
Blue-liner Kenyon Nyman then added his sixth goal of the season in the third period to close out the scoring.
Rock assistant coach Marc Bisson was pleased to see his squad turn in its second solid effort of the weekend.
“We got a quick start and our forecheck was really strong,” he said.
“During the first period, we had a lot of O (offensive) zone time, although we only got one goal in the first.
“We had a lot of pressure and made it difficult on their defence. I think that was the key to our success tonight.”
The assistant coach was pleased to see Lowe finally rewarded for all of his hard work.
“He has been really physical and forechecking hard, so it was great to see.
“His teammates were probably more excited for him than he was for himself.”
The assistant coach was also happy for Moore (5, 1-4-5, 4), who has averaged a point a game since being acquired from the Beavers.
“It may not have been the nicest goal I have ever seen, but they all count,” Bisson said.
“It is nice for him to get that first goal out of the way with our boys.
“It is nice to see a guy who works so hard and plays so well positionally get rewarded with a goal.”
Bisson, a former goalie coach with the Rock, was also happy to see Boivin secure the shutout Saturday night, although he admitted his teammates made things a little tough on him in the third period.
“I did not like our third period,” he said.
“We took too many penalties and made things a little bit more difficult than I would have liked, but it was definitely nice to see him get the shutout.
“Our PK (penalty kill) was exceptional tonight. Our penalty kill has been so good this year (87.7 per cent, second only to the Elliot Lake Red Wings at 88.3 per cent).
“It was a good team effort, with a lot of guys willing to block shots and sacrifice for Patty to get the shutout.”
Gold Miners assistant coach Tom Sinclair, who has decades of experience behind the bench, knows his squad has lots of work ahead of it.
“We have been forechecking pretty well, but Timmins is a different team,” he said.
“They have got some really good players and they transition the puck really well.
“They are organized on the ice and we are … getting started.”
The Gold Miners had been coming off a 4-3 loss to the Voodoos in Powassan Friday night.
One area the Gold Miners have been pleased with this season has been the goaltending of John Lloyd, who made 50 saves Saturday night, and Braydon Garnhart.
“We are really happy with our goaltending,” Sinclair said.
“Our kids have to play a little better in front of them. We have been better in our own end, like last night in Powassan.
“We had a chance to win that game if we hadn’t gotten a bad penalty, with five minutes to go.
“We have been a little hesitant in the defensive zone.
“We have been trying to double up a lot of times and they are not reading it (the play) and getting to it (the puck), but we haven’t really worked on it.
“We have had four practices and two pre-game skates since we took over (from former coach Kyle Smart).
“The power play has got some semblance of organization. The penalty kill, we just did that this week for the first time, with a walk through, before last night’s game.
“It’s tough to catch up especially against good teams that are well organized.
“We have to be better in the neutral zone, forechecking and getting pucks deep.”
In addition to picking up his third shutout of the season and lowering his goals against average to 1.65, Boivin earned his eighth win of the season.
Gold Miners goalie John Lloyd, who turned aside 50 of the 54 shots the Rock directed his way, was tagged with the loss.
NOJHL NOTES — The three stars of the game were Moore, Lowe and Gold Miners blue-liner Samuel De Mauro … The Rock went 1-5 on the power play, while the Gold Miners were 0-6 with the man advantage … Official attendance at the Joe Mavrinac Community Complex was 520 … Saturday’s other action saw the Lumberjacks dump the French River Rapids 4-1 in Hearst, the Elliot Lake Red Wings double up the Crunch 4-2 in Cochrane and the Blind River Beavers edge the Eagles 3-2 in overtime in Sault Ste. Marie, Mich. … The Rock will return to action on Thursday when they take on the Cubs in Greater Sudbury. The next home game will be on Sunday, Oct. 30, when the host the Powassan Voodoos at the McIntyre Arena, at 3 p.m.
