GALLERY: Burkes’ solid goaltending helps Soo Eagles soar past Rock

Soo goalie Mason Burkes makes a save as Timmins Rock forward Dawson Boily cuts across the Eagles crease while blue-liner James Cullison arrives to ensure he won’t be able to reach the rebound during the second period of Sunday afternoon’s NOJHL contest at the McIntyre Arena. Burkes made 34 saves in the contest to backstop the Eagles to a 4-2 win over the Rock. THOMAS PERRY/THE DAILY PRESS jpg, TD, apsmc

Backed by a strong goaltending effort from Mason Burkes, the Soo Eagles hung on to defeat the Timmins Rock 4-2 at the McIntyre Arena Sunday afternoon.


Thomas Perry
The Daily Press/Postmedia Network


It was the second-straight setback for the Rock (8-4-0-0), who find themselves in a third-place tie with the Hearst Lumberjacks (8-4-0-0) in the NOJHL standings, while the fifth-place Eagles (7-4-0-1) pulled to within a point of those two squads with the win.

Losing doesn’t sit well with Rock coach and general manager Brandon Perry and he certainly wasn’t a happy camper following Sunday afternoon’s loss.

“We just have to bear down and score goals that’s it there is no other way to put it,” he said.

“They played with more urgency than we did, I think, not that our effort wasn’t there, but they blocked more shots, their back pressure was harder and the mistakes we made ended up in the back of our net.

“We have to stop having goalies come into this building and steal games from us.”

While Burkes allowed a pair of goals to the Rock, he was clearly the difference — especially in the third period when he held the Eagles in the game despite experiencing what appeared to be some lower-body discomfort.

He made 10 of his 34 saves in the frame, many coming in the latter stages of the period when the Rock pulled their goalie, Graham Gee, in favour of an extra attacker to create a brief two-man advantage while on a short-lived power play.

Any hopes Rock fans had of witnessing a comeback were squashed, however, when Luke Russell deposited his second goal of the season into the empty Timmins net to ice the victory.

The Eagles had opened the scoring in the contest, with captain Lucas Caulfield beating Gee for his eighth goal of the season.

That tally held up until the 7:43 mark of the middle frame when Benjamin Pouliot scored the first of his two goals on the afternoon and third of the season.

The Rock finally got on the scoreboard 12 seconds later when Jack Kelly beat Burkes for his sixth goal of the season.

Pouliot’s second tally of the afternoon and fourth of the season restored the Eagles’ two-goal lead later in the frame.

Kaeden McArthur’s power-play marker, his sixth tally of the campaign, then pulled the Rock to within a single goal, 3-2, heading into the second intermission.

But despite generating plenty of third-period pressure the Rock failed to get back on even terms, leading to Russell’s game-clinching empty netter.

While they showed flashes of solid effort, the Rock clearly weren’t at their best Sunday afternoon.

“Execution wise, I just don’t think we were as mentally engaged or as mentally dialed in and we just haven’t been the last few games,” Perry said.

“It is what it is. Every team goes through it. I wouldn’t consider this adversity. We played a good hockey game. We could probably play the same game tomorrow and win 5-1, but we are on a two-game (losing) skid here and we need to bear down on those things.”

The coach has no desire to see that two-game skid stretch any farther, a point he will likely drive home in practice this week as the team prepares for its next contest.

“We are a proud group here and we don’t like losing,” Perry said. “We don’t like losing on home ice and we don’t like losing back-to-back games.

“So, yeah, we consider two games a skid, a little bit, and we have got to find a way to get a win.”

While he was held off the scoreboard, the Rock’s newest acquisition, Clark Scaddan, made his NOJHL debut against the Eagles Sunday afternoon.

Scaddan, who stands 6-0 and weighs in at 190 pounds, was acquired from the SIJHL’s Fort Frances Lakers on Tuesday in exchange for a player development fee.

A 2004-birth-year, left-shooting forward, Scaddan was in his third season with the Lakers: 2022-23 (regular season, 44, 11-17-28, 98, playoffs 5, 0-5-5, 0); 2023-24 (regular season, 47, 20-26-46, 52, playoffs, 4, 0-1-1, 14); 2024-25 (3, 0-3-3, 4).

“I thought he looked fine out there,” Perry said. “He has only been here a couple of days and it is hard to know all the nuances of our systems and be sharp on those things, but I thought he played fine.

“He is going to be a big piece for us going forward and the longer he is here the more comfortable he will get. We want him to provide some offensive depth and leadership, just play the game the right way. I think he has the skill to score and we hope he does.”

During Sunday afternoon’s contest, Scaddan played on a line with Lucas Lowe and McArthur.

“Those two guys are pretty good with the puck and they made it easy for me,” he said. “The boys here play fast, which is a little bit different than where I was playing. The boys have treated me really well coming in here. We have a long season left in front of us and we just have to work hard.”

Scaddan isn’t afraid to play in the dirty areas of the ice and his demonstrated an ability give up out and take hits during Sunday afternoon’s contest.

“I like to get in front of the net and bang pucks home,” he said. “I can score, but tonight unfortunately their goalie made some good saves. Those have got to go in. I am looking forward to helping the team win.”

When it comes to offence, Scaddan considers himself a pass-first type of player, as opposed to somebody looking to shoot first and ask question later.

“Everything is fresh here, new systems, everything, it’s a lot to take in in a couple of days,” he said.

Scaddan only had a couple of days of practice before getting to hit the ice with his new Rock teammates.

“After playing this afternoon and watching some video, and talking to my linemates, I feel like I am right there,” he said.

Scaddan enjoyed getting an opportunity to play in front of so many enthusiastic fans Sunday afternoon.

“It is good the community supports the team,” he said. “I am looking forward to playing many more games here.”

The Rock welcomed back another one of their injured players to the lineup Sunday afternoon, with McArthur’s return from an illness.

“He was fantastic this afternoon, too, had a really good game,” Perry said.

“We were super happy to get him back. You saw the kind of chances he got out there. If he hadn’t missed the last two weeks, they would have probably gone in, right. He just had a little bit of rust, but we are super happy to have him back.”

Kelly was one of the other Rock players who caught the eye of his coach Sunday afternoon.

“Kells played really good, as well, and we expect it out of those guys,” Perry said.

“There are more guys in that locker room who need to contribute, but those two guys were good up front.”

Burkes, who turned aside 34 of the 36 shots the Rock directed his way, earned his fourth win of the season.

Gee, who stopped 15 of the 18 shots he faced, was tagged with his first loss of the season.

NOJHL NOTES — The Daily Press three stars of the game were Burkes, Pouliot and Kelly … The Rock went 1-5 on the power play, while the Eagles were 0-1 with the man advantage … Former Rock forward Brant Romaniuk picked up his first point with the QMJHL’s Les Olympiques de Gatineau during the third period of Sunday afternoon’s 6-5 loss to the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies when he assisted on Jan Golicic’s second goal of the season. Romaniuk has now played in five QMJHL contests … Official attendance at the McIntyre Arena was 748 … Sunday’s other action saw the Storm knock off the Hearst Lumberjacks 5-2 in Iroquois Falls and the Gold Miners thump the Soo Thunderbirds 7-1 in Kirkland Lake … The Rock will return to action on Thursday when they host the Gold Miners at the McIntyre Arena, at 7 p.m.