Timmins Rock forward Evan Grigor sneaks a shot between the arm and body of Hearst Lumberjacks goalie Ethan Dinsdale for the first of his two goals on the night and fifth of the season during Tuesday’s NOJHL contest at the McIntyre Arena. The Rock went on to defeat the Lumberjacks 5-2 to reclaim top spot in the East Division standings and extend their point streak to 16 games. THOMAS PERRY/THE DAILY PRESS
A 5-2 victory over the Hearst Lumberjacks at the McIntyre Arena Tuesday night helped the Timmins Rock regain top spot in the NOJHL’s East Division standings heading into the Christmas break.
Thomas Perry
The Daily Press/Postmedia Network
TIMMINS – A 5-2 victory over the Hearst Lumberjacks at the McIntyre Arena Tuesday night helped the Timmins Rock regain top spot in the NOJHL’s East Division standings heading into the Christmas break.
It also extended the Rock’s point streak to 16 games — 14 wins, an overtime loss and a shootout loss.
Following Tuesday’s victory, the Rock (25-5-3-2) are also a point up on the West Division-leading Cubs (26-5-2-0), but Greater Sudbury has a pair of games against the Powassan Voodoos before the break gets underway.
The only blemishes on the Rock’s record during their 16-game point streak have been a pair of setbacks against the Lumberjacks in Hearst — 5-4 in a shootout on Nov. 17 and 3-2 in overtime on Dec. 10.
So, the Rock were determined to regain their mojo against their East Division rivals Tuesday night.
And Lucas Piekarczyk got them off on the right foot, as he scored the first of his two goals on the night and 15th of the season 4:33 into the opening period.
“Brady Harroun came in and made a nice move shot it far pad and there was a big, juicy rebound there for me,” he said, describing the goal.
“All I had to do was just put it in (the net).”
The lead lasted just over two minutes, however, as blue-liner Adam Shillinglaw netted a power-play marker, his second goal of the season, to tie things up at 1-1.
But Evan Grigor’s first of two tallies on the night and fifth of the season restored the Rock’s one-goal advantage heading in the first intermission.
Nicholas Frederick’s 15th goal of the season, just shy of the nine-minute mark in the middle frame, extended the Rock lead to 3-1.
And Grigor added his second tally of the night and sixth of the season 10 minutes later to put the Rock in front by three goals heading into the second intermission.
Piekarczyk’s power-play marker, his second goal of the night and 16th of the season, extended the Rock advantage to 5-1 at the 13:53 mark of the third period.
“(Nicolas) Pigeon just did what Pigeon does,” he said, describing his second goal
“He made a great pass and I just put it in, did my job.”
Less than two minutes later, Brandan Tronchin’s unassisted marker, his eighth tally of the season, pulled the Lumberjacks back within three goals, but that would be as close as they would come to getting back on even terms.
They pulled goalie Ethan Dinsdale in favour of an extra attacker late, but they were unable to close the gap further.
The line Rock’s No. 1 line of Pigeon, Harroun and Piekarczyk has been effective all season long.
“It’s our last year of Junior ‘A’ hockey,” Piekarczyk said.
“We are all 20 year olds and we want to go on a deep run. We fight for each other and we protect each other. It has been great.
“Those two guys are family, just like all the boys. We are all family in there (dressing room).”
Given the rivalry between the Rock and Lumberjacks, Piekarczyk knew how important it was for his squad to emerge victorious Tuesday night.
“I think when we play our best hockey there is not one team in this league that can stick with us,” he said.
“Hearst is a great team, but when we play our best I don’t think they can stop us.
“We have had a couple of hick-ups the past couple of games against them, with broken plays but we just have to keep it going.”
Rock coach and general manager Brandon Perry was pleased with what he saw from Piekarczyk Tuesday night.
“He was awesome tonight and we have talked about him a lot, how much he means to our group,” he said.
“He is just a model of consistency. He shows up every day, does his job and puts in the work.
“He is sneaky skilled and kind of gets overlooked because of Pige (Pigeon) and Babs (Harroun) but he has a fantastic shot, quick hands and great instincts.
“He was really good tonight.”
The coach was happy to see Grigor add a couple of goals Tuesday night, as well, although that is not his primary role on the squad.
“He is getting rewarded because of how hard he works,” Perry said.
“He does the little things right all the time. The goals are nice, obviously, two good shots, but that play he made right before his second goal, coming up with the ice with the puck, one-on-four, drives them deep, cuts back up, waits for his teammates, gets an exchange down the wall.
“Then he was the first guy on the backcheck at the other end of the ice.
“He is just a hard-working kid and I am super proud of him.”
While Rock goalie Patrick Boivin didn’t have a ton of shots Tuesday night, he made a number of key saves when the game was still on the line.
“He was absolutely solid and that’s why he is here,” Perry said.
“He was fantastic tonight.”
With a goals against average of 1.91 on the season, Boivin trails only teammate Jacob Brown (1.75) atop the NOJHL leaderboard so far this season.
“Those two guys are so good and they complement each other well,” Perry said.
“They are both fantastic kids, high-character individuals and we are super luck to have them.”
And Boivin even earned an assist on Piekarczyk’s first goal Tuesday night, his third on the season.
There was no shortage of other Rock players who caught the attention of their coach, either.
“I thought Kyle Trottier and Brandon Rossetti on the back end were absolute warriors tonight,” Perry said.
“I thought Nolan Ring was so good, as well, so tough. I have coached him for a long time and to say I am proud of him is an understatement.”
One play in particular during Tuesday night’s contest illustrated Ring’s importance to the Rock.
Shortly after they expanded their lead to 4-1, the Lumberjacks had a scoring opportunity but Ring threw his body in front of the shot and after his teammates cleared the puck from the zone he hobbled to the bench in a great deal of pain.
“After he blocked that shot on the penalty kill he could barely skate,” Perry said.
“He was still bumping guys, getting pucks out, killing penalties, winning face-offs. He is just a warrior.
“He is a kid who understands the importance of every play and he plays that way.
“He is just such an asset to our group.”
The coach realizes the importance of being able to secure a victory over the Lumberjacks after suffering an overtime defeat and shootout setback in Hearst.
“We are 4-0-1-1 against them and even in our losses, I thought we carried the play against them,” Perry said.
“That’s a really good team over there, so give them credit where credit is due but we are a pretty good team ourselves.”
The only down side for the Rock Tuesday night is they lost forward Ethan Pool (upper-body injury) during the first period and forward Justin Charette (upper-body injury) later in the contest.
“You don’t like to see it, but now is as good a time as any,” Perry said.
Lumberjacks coach Marc-Alain Begin acknowledged his squad was not at its best Tuesday night.
“Our puck management cost us a couple of goals and then our execution, not having F3s, they got a couple of odd-man rushes and took care of their chances,” he said.
“When we play Timmins, we have got to win our battles. We have got to want it more than we did tonight.
“It showed on the scoreboard.”
Despite the loss, the coach was pleased with the play of a number of Lumberjacks.
“Our two new guys, (Tyler) Bortkiewicz and (Cameron) Shepheard showed the kind of hockey they can bring,” Begin said.
“They were on the puck all night and had a couple of good chances. They are just getting their feet wet with us. We expect a lot from them after Christmas.
“I liked our D corps tonight, as well. Guys like Ethan Kitsch are playing good for us.
“Besides that, it was one of those games where we didn’t have a lot of standouts.”
Begin realizes if the Lumberjacks had a better record head-to-head against the Rock they would be sitting in top spot in the East Division.
“Right now they are winning 4-0-1-1 and they are one point ahead,” he said.
“That’s the difference right now. We are going to have the Christmas break and then be right back at it against them.
“If we want to achieve our goal, to win a championship, we will have to go through a team like Timmins.”
Boivin stopped 25 of the 27 shots he faced to earn his NOJHL-leading 16th win of the season.
Dinsdale, who turned aside 20 of the 25 shots the Rock directed his way, was tagged with the loss.
NOJHL NOTES — The Daily Press three stars of the game were Piekarczyk, Grigor and Boivin … The annual toque and mitten toss sponsored by Discover Fitness, in conjunction with Living Space, proved to be quite successful, with Piekarczyk’s first goal signaling the start of the event … The Rock went 1-5 on the power play, while the Lumberjacks were 1-3 with the man advantage … Official attendance at the McIntyre Arena was 749 … The Rock will return to action on Friday, Jan. 6, when they will host the Cochrane Crunch at the McIntyre Arena, at 7:30 p.m.
“Highlight of the Night” – NOJHL YouTube Channel
