Greater Sudbury Cubs forward Grant Booth (27) plays the puck while Timmins Rock blue-liner Brady Bouchard defends during Game 2 of their best-of-seven NOJHL final at Gerry McCrory Countryside Sports Complex, on Friday. The Cubs held on to edge the Rock 4-3 and take a 2-0 lead in the series. Game 3 will be played at the McIntyre Arena, on Tuesday, at 7:05 p.m. Photo by BEN LEESON /Postmedia Network
Rock coach and general manager Brandon Perry found little consolation in the fact his squad was able to keep things a lot closer than they had in Game 1’s 9-3 setback, Thursday night
Thomas Perry
The Daily Press/Postmedia Network
GREATER SUDBURY — The Cubs held on to edge the Timmins Rock 4-3 in Game 2 of the NOJHL final at the Gerry McCrory Countryside Sports Complex, Friday night.
As a result, the Cubs will carry a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven series when it switches to the McIntyre Arena for Game 3, on Tuesday, and Game 4, on Wednesday.
Rock coach and general manager Brandon Perry found little consolation in the fact his squad was able to keep things a lot closer than they had in Game 1’s 9-3 setback, Thursday night.
After all, close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades — and maybe atomic bombs.
“We are down 2-0, there are not many positives,” he said. “We need more. We played a good game tonight, but we need more.”
The Rock once again outshot the Cubs, this time 26-23, but came up one goal short on the scoreboard.
Still, to win the series and advance to the Centennial Cup tournament the Rock need only to hold serve at the McIntyre Arena and win one contest in Greater Sudbury.
They have not lost on home ice in this series yet and they will have two more opportunities to secure a victory at the Gerry McCrory Countryside Sports Complex — in either Game 5 or Game 7.
“We are not even thinking about that, we just need to win Game 3,” Perry said. “That’s it, that’s all. We need to find a way back into this series. We just need to win one game and we will find out a lot about ourselves.”
Like Game 1, it was the Rock who found the scoreboard first in Game 2, Friday night, as Ryan Armitage netted a shorthanded marker, his fifth goal of the playoffs, nine minutes into the opening period.
GM1: Cubs maul Timmins Rock to take early lead in NOJHL final
Once again, the Cubs stormed back to tie things up and then take the lead before the first intermission, however.
Briir Long scored his ninth goal of the post season just past the midway point in the frame.
And Mason Walker added his ninth goal of the playoffs with less than three minutes remaining in the period.
The Rock battled back to tie things up 13-and-a-half minutes into the middle frame, as affiliate player Ian Lachance scored a power-play marker, his second goal of the post season.
But the Cubs answered with a pair of goals less than two minutes apart to take a 4-2 lead heading into the second intermission.
Kaedyn Long netted the first of those two markers, his fourth goal of the playoffs.
And Daks Klinkhammer followed with a power-play tally, his ninth goal of the post season. That marker would stand up to be the game-winning goal.
Ashton Beriana’s second goal of the playoffs closed the gap for the Rock 15 minutes into the third period, but they were unable to tie things up.
“We couldn’t even get out of our end (to pull goalie Frédéric Cousineau in favour of an extra attacker),” Perry said.
“They just kept dumping pucks. We finally got him out with 13 seconds left, but that just wasn’t enough time.
“It was a hard one. Our guys played hard, but not enough guys. We had two lines going. We had guys playing hurt, playing through stuff, but they had to keep going back out there because other guys wouldn’t do it.
“We just don’t have enough guys going right now. The guys who are going, they are giving it everything they have. We just need more from some guys.”
Perry counted the line of Armitage, Nolan Masson and Thomas Beard among the Rock players who were solid in the contest.
“They were going and they played so much,” he said. “Ian Lachance played a really good game and Beriana played hard.
“Our penalty kill did a good job. It’s just the same guys and they are tired, beat up.
“We need other guys to step up, give them some minutes to rest, but we just can’t. We have some really good players on this roster who, for whatever reason, just won’t do it.”
The Rock were without the services of forward Kaeden McArthur, the team’s leading goal scorer in the playoffs who netted the first marker of the series, but later left Game 1 with an upper-body injury.
Lucas Lowe (lower-body injury), another member of the Rock’s top line, returned to action but he clearly was not 100 percent.
“Lucas played but he was on one leg,” Perry said. “He could barely skate out there. Lucas is a warrior and he will give us whatever he has to give. It is hard to put him out on the ice and see him out there in pain. He went out there and he threw some big checks.
“I don’t know how some of his teammates can look themselves in the mirror. They sit beside a guy like that in the dressing room. They see him … he will do anything for this team. Other guys just won’t do it.”
Obviously, they have the ability to do it or they wouldn’t be on the team this deep into what until the past two games has been an impressive playoff run.
“They just need to give us more,” Perry said. “We are playing with two lines. The Cubs are a really good hockey team to be playing against with just two lines.”
Returning to the friendly confines of the McIntyre Arena might just be the cure for what is ailing the Rock.
“It is a seven-game series,” Perry said. “We dropped two on the road, now it is time for us to take care of business at home.
“We have always been a good team on home ice and I expect us to come out and play hard, on Tuesday.”
The Rock had a little more support in the crowd for Game 2 of the series at the Gerry McCrory Countryside Sports Complex, as a bus load of fans made the trek to Sudbury to cheer them on.
“It was fantastic,” Perry said. “The support doesn’t go unnoticed. This is a great organization to be a part of when you have people who spend their money and travel to watch you play on the road.
“It is really something special and I think some guys in our locker room take that stuff for granted.”
Cubs goalie Iain Wintle, who turned aside 23 of the 26 shots the Rock directed his way, picked up his eighth win of the playoffs.
Cousineau, who stopped 19 of the 23 shots he faced, was tagged with the loss.
NOJHL NOTES — The three stars of the game were Walker (one goal, one assist), Beriana (one goal) and Cubs blue-liner Spencer Horgan (two assists) … The Rock went 1-5 on the power play, while the Cubs were 1-4 with the man advantage … Official attendance at the Gerry McCrory Countryside Sports Complex was 1,011 … The Rock will host the Cubs at the McIntyre Arena for Game 3 of the series, on Tuesday, at 7:05 p.m.
