Timmins Rock forward Nolan Ring pulls prepares to pull the puck around Soo Eagles goalie Logan Raffaele before depositing it in the back of the net for one of his two goals during Friday night’s NOJHL game at the McIntyre Arena. Ring hit the 20-goal plateau for the first time in his NOJHL career as the Rock went on to defeat the Eagles 6-3. They will host the French River Rapids at the McIntyre Arena on Sunday, at 3 p.m. THOMAS PERRY/THE DAILY PRESS
Nolan Ring scored a pair of goals, including the game-winner, to lead the Timmins Rock to a 6-3 win over the Soo Eagles at the McIntyre Arena Friday night.
Thomas Perry
The Daily Press/Postmedia Network
TIMMINS – Nolan Ring scored a pair of goals, including the game-winner, to lead the Timmins Rock to a 6-3 win over the Soo Eagles at the McIntyre Arena Friday night.
It was the third-straight win and 14th in the past 15 games for the Rock, who sit atop both the NOJHL’s East Division and overall standings.
Things didn’t start off too well for the home side, however, as the Eagles got on the scoreboard first when Jack Mortson netted a power-play marker, his 27th goal of the season, two seconds shy of the midway point in the opening period.
But it took the Rock just 31 seconds to get back on even terms, with Yan Bessette notching his 19th goal of the campaign.
And before the second period was a minute old they were up 3-1.
Ring netted the first of his two goals on the night and 19th of the season 23 seconds into the frame.
Brady Harroun followed with a power-play marker, his NOJHL-leading 43rd goal of the campaign, 24 seconds later.
Chase Tallaire’s first of two goals on the night and 16th of the season a minute and a half later cut the Eagles deficit.
Ring netted his second goal of the night and 20th of the season at the 12:06 mark to make it a 4-2 hockey game.
Captain Nicolas Pigeon then added his 22nd goal of the campaign with 1:40 remaining in the frame.
Again, the Eagles refused to quit, however, and Tallaire responded with his second goal of the game and 17th of the season with 46 seconds showing on the clock.
The Eagles were unable to close the gap any further in the third period and Kaeden McArthur scored his 11th goal of the season for the Rock at the 11:01 mark to make the final score 6-3 in favour of the home side.
It was the third multi-goal game of the season for Ring, who had a number of chances to pick up his second hat-trick of the campaign after notching his second tally.
“I was a little bit unlucky on some of those chances, but (Christophe) Petit gave me a great pass and the goalie made a nice save, especially on (Pigeon) Pige’s shot after, too,” he said.
“The boys were just looking for me and the chemistry was there tonight.”
Ring was filling in for Lucas Piekarczyk on the Rock’s top line Friday night, with Pigeon and Harroun.
“They are so much fun to play with,” he said.
“They read off each other so well, so sometimes it is hard to come in as the third guy but you just have to find your spot, do the little things right and the pucks will find you.
“Pigeon gave me a great pass on one goal and then Babs (Harroun) gave me a great pass on my other goal.
“Both plays were three-on-twos. The first one, Pige gave me a nice pass and Babs drove the net hard and I was able to deke out the goalie.
“It was the same on the second one, Pige was in the seam but Babs gave it right back to me and I was able to tuck it in driving the net hard.”
With Harroun now sitting tallies away from the 50-goal mark, Ring noted his teammates were also trying to set him up, as well.
“He is a huge goal scorer for our team,” Ring said.
“When he is hot, he is hot and he has basically been hot the whole season.
“We keep finding him and he keeps burying them.”
While Ring hit the 20-goal plateau for the first time in his NOJHL career Friday night, he takes as much — if not more — pride in his defensive game, especially on the penalty kill.
“When me and Juice (Justin Charette) go out together all the time it is just get pucks down (the ice), get pucks deep,” he said.
“Sometimes we get lucky and score on them (penalty kills), but we didn’t today.
“It was just blocking shots, blocking shots. Juice is phenomenal on the PK, too. It is great to have a partner out there like him.”
Ring noted the Eagles played a lot tougher than the final score might indicate and he was quick to give credit to Rock goalie Patrick Boivin.
“We missed some reads and they scored some goals, but he was huge for us,” he said.
“He made some big saves.”
Rock goalie Patrick Boivin stopped 23 of the 26 shots he faced to earn his NOJHL-leading 25th win of the season.
Logan Raffaele, who turned aside 33 of the 39 shots the Rock directed his way, was tagged with the loss for the Eagles.
NOJHL NOTES — The Daily Press three stars of the game were Ring, Pigeon and Tallaire … The Rock went 2-3 on the power play, while the Eagles were 1-5 with the man advantage … Official attendance at the McIntyre Arena was 790 … Friday’s other action saw the French River Rapids dump the Crunch 4-1 in Cochrane, the Greater Sudbury Cubs blank the Gold Miners 4-0 in Kirkland Lake, the Beavers get past the Soo Thunderbirds 2-0 in Blind River and the Elliot Lake Red Wings stop the Paper Kings 7-3 in Espanola … The Rock will host the French River Rapids at the McIntyre Arena on Sunday, at 3 p.m.
