Hearst Lumberjacks goalie Ethan Dinsdale makes one of his 29 saves, as he gets a pad in front of a deflection off the stick of Timmins Rock forward Liam Wells during the first period of Sunday afternoon’s NOJHL contest at the McIntyre Arena. Dinsdale backstopped the Lumberjacks to a 2-0 victory, earning his first NOJHL shutout in the process and helping end the Rock’s 17-game point streak. THOMAS PERRY/THE DAILY PRESS
The Timmins Rock’s 17-game point streak came to an end at the McIntyre Arena Sunday afternoon, as they dropped a 2-0 decision to the Hearst Lumberjacks.
Thomas Perry
The Daily Press/Postmedia Network
TIMMINS – The Timmins Rock’s 17-game point streak came to an end at the McIntyre Arena Sunday afternoon, as they dropped a 2-0 decision to the Hearst Lumberjacks.
It was the second game after the NOJHL’s Christmas break for the Rock who knocked off the Cochrane Crunch 6-1 at the McIntyre Arena Friday night.
Despite the loss, the Rock (26-6-3-2) maintain a one-point lead on the Lumberjacks (27-8-2-0) atop the NOJHL’s East Division standings heading into Friday night’s rematch at the Claude Larose Arena in Hearst.
That, however, is of little consolation to Rock coach and general manager Brandon Perry.
“We just couldn’t do anything with the puck,” he said.
“It’s little things. We had tons of chances to bury the puck, but we didn’t. We missed the net.
“Our power play was absolutely atrocious.
“It was just execution. We couldn’t make a three-foot kick out, in the guy’s skates. We could hit a seam pass, in the guy’s skates.
“Our D (defence) didn’t want to shoot the puck, always looking for something better.
“It was just that kind of game.”
The Rock had 29 shots on Lumberjacks goalie Ethan Dinsdale, but they were only able to get one puck past him — and that goal was disallowed, adding to the frustration of Perry and the Rock fans.
Zachary Demers gave the Lumberjacks a 1-0 lead when he scored his 14th goal of the season 4:55 into the first period and the Rock never seemed to be able to reverse the momentum that marker provided.
“We lost the matchup on our first line matchup and our depth gave us absolutely nothing, not even a good O (offensive) zone time shift, out depth gave us nothing” Perry said.
“It was just one of those games. We had chances to win it, but we just couldn’t execute.
“I don’t know how many face-offs we won in the offensive zone clean, but we were unable to do anything with it.
“We watched video of D zone face-offs and then on their first goal we had the puck on our stick and we did nothing with it, the puck ended up in the back of our net.
“It was just the little things, mentally we just weren’t there this afternoon.”
Summing it up, Perry praised the Lumberjacks goalie, while lamenting the lack of success of his team’s power play.
Following a scoreless middle frame, Emile Pichette scored his 17th goal of the season 5:46 into the third period to put the Lumberjacks in front 2-0.
Late in the frame, the Rock pulled goalie Patrick Boivin in favour of an extra attacker and turned it into a six-on-four advantage when the Lumberjacks were assessed a bench minor for too many men on the ice.
Like five earlier power plays, the Rock squander that opportunity, as well, leaving the final score 2-0 in favour of the visitors.
Lumberjacks coach Marc-Alain Begin was happy to see his squad secure two valuable points and his goalie turn in a solid performance after struggling in his previous visit to the McIntyre Arena.
“That is what we expect from our goalie, Dinsdale, he plays well and gives us a chance to win every night,” he said.
“He showed tonight he wanted a bounce-back game after the last game we played here (a 5-2 loss to the Rock on Dec. 20).
“It is his first shutout in this league, so I am very happy for him. He puts in the work and it shows.”
The coach agreed the five players in front of him did a solid job of limited the quality chances the Rock were getting Sunday afternoon.
“The type of team Timmins has, they bring a lot of offence, from many guys and our guys were willing to do the little things to help out our goalie, block some shots, get the puck out and grab some sticks in front of the net,” Begin said.
“We knew Timmins was going to get their chances, we just wanted to limit them.”
One of the keys to Sunday afternoon’s victory for the Lumberjacks is they were able to bring the physicality without taking too many trips to the penalty box.
“Especially in this barn, it’s a small rink, there are going to be a lot of one-on-one battles along the boards, so we want to be physical,” Begin said.
“They have a lot of speed, so being physical helps, which is what we brought this afternoon.”
While the Lumberjacks were held to a pair of goals, their coach felt they generated plenty of offensive chances.
“We missed a couple of chances and with only two power plays, converting on one of the two, I think we could have had more goals,” Begin said.
“It was a good goalie battle and I am happy we came out on top.”
Demers scored one of the Hearst goals and earned an assist on their other tally. He was solid on both sides of the puck.
“He is a third-year player and he wants to bring it every night,” Begin said.
“He likes to control the pace and control the offence.”
The coach was also pleased with the play of his blue-line Sunday afternoon.
“Our D corps brought it this afternoon,” Begin said.
“Yes, we made a couple of mistakes, but the Rock didn’t get much off the cycle in our zone. That’s credit to our D playing their guys.
“Up front, we have 12 guys who can score, so we are just happy to get the win.”
The Rock were once again without the services of goalie Patrick Brown for Sunday afternoon’s contest, using Timmins Majors goalie Sam Rudner to back up Boivin for the second-straight contest.
Perry said, “He is day-to-day right now.”
Tuesday is the Canadian Junior Hockey League trade deadline and it remains to be seen if the Rock will make any moves to bolster their lineup.
“We will see,” Perry said.
“If there is somebody out there who would make our team better, we are obviously going to look at it, but we are not going to make any moves just because we lost one game.
“We have a good team, but we just didn’t play well this afternoon.”
Dinsdale’s 29-save performance earned him his NOJHL shutout and his 15th win of the season.
Boivin, who turned aside 21 of the 23 shots the Lumberjacks directed his way, was tagged with the loss.
NOJHL NOTES — The Daily Press three stars of the game were Dinsdale, Demers and Boivin … The Rock went 0-6 on the power play, while the Lumberjacks were 1-2 with the man advantage … Official attendance at the McIntyre Arena was 722 … The Rock will travel to Hearst on Friday for a game against the Lumberjacks at the Claude Larose Arena, at 7 p.m. The next home game will be on Friday, Jan. 20, when the Rock host the Kirkland Lake Gold Miners at the McIntyre Arena, at 7:30 p.m.
