Kirkland Lake Gold Miners goalie Caleb Whitson gets his left pad down in time to stop this shot off the stick of Timmins Rock forward Alexis Tremblay during the first period of Sunday afternoon’s NOJHL exhibition game at the Joe Mavrinac Community Complex. While Tremblay was foiled on this play he did add a second-period goal as the Rock went on to defeat the Gold Miners 9-2. THOMAS PERRY/THE DAILY PRESS jpg, TD, apsmc
Thomas Perry
The Daily Press/Postmedia Network
KIRKLAND LAKE — The Timmins Rock scored early and often, as they thumped the Gold Miners 9-2 at the Joe Mavrinac Community Complex Sunday afternoon.
Rock coach and general manager Brandon Perry was pleased with what he saw from his squad.
“We are just getting going here, so there are some areas where we could have been a little cleaner, but it wasn’t bad for the first game,” he said.
The Rock appeared to be a little more organized than their hosts, but that was to be expected given the Rock dressed a lot of their veterans, while the Gold Miners’ lineup was mainly made up of new faces.
“We have a lot of returning guys, so they should know our systems already,” Perry said.
The Rock jumped out to a 2-0 lead on goals by Jack Kelly and blue-liner Thomas Sefton and never trailed in the contest.
Tyler Genovese’s power-play marker gave the small crowd something to cheer about two-and-a-half minutes later but it didn’t take long for the Rock to get that one back.
Brant Romaniuk restored their two-goal advantage before the end of the opening period and they carried a 3-1 lead into the first intermission.
Newcomer Alexis Tremblay netted the lone goal of the middle frame, as the Rock expanded their advantage to 4-1.
Things went from bad to worse in the third period for the host Gold Miners, as the Rock rattled off five-straight goals to blow things wide open.
Travis Poan, Kelly, Sefton, Kaeden McArthur and Lucas Lowe each found the back of the net for Timmins.
The Gold Miners did manage to close out the scoring on an Evan Snyder goal with less than five minutes remaining in the contest.
Perry was happy with what he saw from the new additions to the Rock roster, many of whom were getting their first taste of Junior ‘A’ hockey.
“Graham Gee, a 16 year old making his first start in net, did a great job,” he said.
“He wasn’t overly busy, but he made the saves he have to make.
“Braedyn Cyr, a newcomer on the team, with a ton of Junior experience, already is a big, strong kid, who moves well on the back end and has a heavy shot. He defends well and he has great gaps.
“Up front, we had Aaron Shaw playing today. He is a local kid who hasn’t played in two years. Again, he is a big, strong guy who does his best work down low.
“Alexis Tremblay was in the middle with them and he had a hell of a game. I really liked his game. He is young and he has a lot to learn, but he sees the ice well and works extremely hard. He doesn’t give up on plays.
“Travis Poan, obviously we are familiar with (from his time as an affiliate player) and he had a great game. He made a great play to Lucas Lowe on his goal. He is a big power forward, a north-south guy who is not afraid to get physical. I thought he was awesome.
“We also had Reece Liu up front and he is just an incredible player in terms of how he sees the ice. He is a young kid and has to get a little stronger but it is nice to see how he makes plays for his linemates.”
Liu took a big hit near the front of the Kirkland Lake net, as Genovese sent him flying through the air while he was focused on trying to get the puck past the Gold Miners goalie.
“He has got to figure out the pace of Junior ‘A’ hockey and how to avoid that,” Perry said.
“For a small kid, he goes to the net hard and is really good on the wall, which a two of the biggest things for rookies in Junior ‘A’ hockey.”
The Rock will travel to Collingwood for the Cottage Cup Tournament, starting on Tuesday when they will face-off against the Toronto Jr. Canadians, at 6 p.m.
They will then take on the Buffalo Jr. Sabres on Wednesday, at 1:30 p.m., before closing out action when they meet the host Blues, at 7:30 p.m.
“Our goal is to just get better every game, every period,” Perry said.
“It is going to be really good competition and a good opportunity for us to see where we are at as a team. Collingwood is the defending national champion and they are going to be good again.
“It will be a good test for us.”
Gee went the distance between the pipes to earn the victory.
Gold Miners starter Caleb Whitson was tagged with the loss, while Jaycob Stone came on in the second period and finished up between the pipes.
