Timmins Rock goalie Patrick Boivin looks behind him as Hearst Lumberjacks forward William Pâquet’s shot from the point eludes him and finds the back of the net during the first period of Tuesday night’s NOJHL contest at the McIntyre Arena. Pâquet’s second goal of the season gave the Lumberjacks a 1-0 lead in a game they would go on to win 3-2. THOMAS PERRY/THE DAILY PRESS
Thomas Perry
The Daily Press/Postmedia Network
The Timmins Rock failed to overcome a slow start in their final NOJHL contest prior to the Christmas break and wound up dropping a 3-2 decision to the Hearst Lumberjacks at the McIntyre Arena Tuesday night.
Despite the setback, the Rock (22-10-2-0) enter the break atop the East Division standings six points up on the Powassan Voodoos (19-12-0-2) and seven points clear of the Lumberjacks (17-11-3-2) — although both rivals have a game in hand.
Four of the Rock’s 10 regulation losses this season have come at the hands of the Lumberjacks.
Asked why his squad has had so much success against the Rock while the NOJHL’s other 10 franchises have not, Lumberjacks coach Marc-Alain Begin kept his cards close to the vest.
“Obviously, when you come to this barn, I think they had only lost two games here, it is always a hard place to play,” he said.
“So, we were happy to get the two points here before Christmas, but I think it just came down to the competitiveness of our players. We knew what was at stake, since Timmins is one of the better teams in our league.
“We always want to play well against them and they bring the best out of us, for sure.”
On the other hand, Rock coach and general manager Brandon Perry clearly didn’t think the Lumberjacks brought the best out of his players Tuesday night.
“A slow start killed us again, not again, we had been finding ways to dig ourselves out of holes after slow starts, but not tonight,” he said.
Begin indicated the Lumberjacks’ game plan focused on trying to limit the time and space Rock players had to operate — in all three zones of the rink.
“If you give time and space to them, especially that first line with (Harry) Clark and (Mason) Svarich, they will make you pay,” he said.
“We wanted to limit their puck possession time and I think our five-man unit against that unit did a good job.”
The Lumberjacks jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first period with a pair of blue-liners igniting the offence.
William Pâquet’s second goal of the season got the visitors on the scoreboard at the 9:54 mark.
Alex McDonald then added a power-play marker, his fourth goal of the campaign, with 1:09 remaining on the clock.
The Rock finally got on the scoreboard with 20.94 seconds remaining in the middle frame, as Harry Clark netted his 19th goal of the season.
The Lumberjacks carried their 2-1 advantage into the third period and they appeared to have a golden opportunity to put the game away following an incident in front of the Timmins net 7:57 into the frame.
An altercation saw Rock forward Liam Wells and Lumberjacks forward Maddoc Newton each receive five-minute fighting majors and game misconducts. In addition, Rock blue-liner Chase Longhurst-McIntyre received a five-minute fighting major, a two-minute minor for being the instigator/aggressor and a game misconduct. And Lumberjacks assistant trainer Rene Lanoix and Rock assistant coach Marc Bisson were both tossed from the game, as well.
The end result was a seven-minute power play for the Lumberjacks.
Instead of putting the game away, however, the Lumberjacks saw their lead evaporate when Rock forward Hayden Rynard scored a shorthanded marker, his fourth goal of the season, to tie things up at 2-2.
It marked the third-straight game in which Rynard had found the back of the net.
The Rock managed to kill off 4:59 of the Lumberjacks’ power play, but Damien Bourdon-Lemoyne’s seventh goal of the season put the visitors back in front.
Perry agreed things might have gone differently if his squad had displayed some of the passion brought on by the third-period incident a little earlier in the contest.
“That’s exactly what I just said to this group,” he said.
“The most fire, the most engaged we were all game was during that seven-minute (penalty) kill in the third period. If we would have started the game that way, it would not have even been close.
“Late in the second period, I thought we started coming on. Then, in the third period, until that kill and even on the kill we had some good chances, but I don’t know what it is with this group. They don’t like to start on time.”
In the game’s final two minutes the Rock pulled goalie Patrick Boivin in favour of an extra attacker, but they were unable to secure the equalizer they would have needed to force overtime.
Begin was pleased with what he saw from his goaltender, Tristan Boileau, in Tuesday night’s contest.
“Tristan has been playing really well for us the last few weeks,” he said.
“That’s what we expect out of him. He is a 20 year old we brought in to solidify our net and he has played a lot of Junior in his career. He likes the big moments, he likes this barn and he gave us a chance to win. That’s all we can ask for from him.”
The Lumberjacks coach admitted he breathed a sigh of relief after his squad scored the power-play goal that won the game after surrendering the shorthanded marker.
“Young Damien Bourdon-Lemoyne came through and scored a big goal for us,” Begin said.
“That has been a big part of our success the last few games, everybody stepping up, that’s when we are playing our best hockey.”
There were a number of other Lumberjacks who caught their coach’s eye, as well.
“I give kudos to our two 20 year olds on D,” Begin said.
“We were missing some key guys in (Adam) Shillinglaw and (Justin) Carriere, and (Adam) Boucher and (Noah) Janicki were great all night. If they didn’t log 35 minutes (of ice time), they were close. We expected a lot out of them, but now they have a few weeks to rest.
“Even our other four guys on the defensive side played well, young (Jean-Pierre) Audras, Pâquet had a big goal, (Julien) Trudell and even (affiliate player) Mikaleb (Blier) had an assist.
“So, we are happy with where we are in the standings and just want to get better.”
Rynard was a force for the Rock, especially on the penalty kill, Tuesday night.
“They (Rynard, Lucas Lowe and Thomas Beard) have been our best line for a month now and it’s too bad for a lot of this game it was just them going,” Perry said.
“I don’t know how their teammates don’t see it and jump on board. They have been the standard the last month here.”
The Rock coach indicated there is no big secret why they have struggled against the Lumberjacks this season.
“One, it is work ethic,” Perry said.
“We start the game and we don’t want to work hard, think it is going to be an easy night and for whatever reason they (Lumberjacks) always take this rivalry seriously. Our guys don’t some nights, some nights they do, some periods they do, some moments they do, but for the most part, they (Lumberjacks) take it a lot more seriously than we do, which is frustrating.”
Despite the loss, Perry thought a lot of his players were “good,” during Tuesday night’s contest.
“I thought all of our killers, Army (Ryan Armitage), Ando (Jack Anderson), Ryno (Rynard), Ringer (Nolan Ring) and obviously Patty (Boivin) in net and our D corps,” he said.
“Up front, other than that Lowe, Beard, Ryno line, we didn’t have much going. We just had a lot of passengers tonight. When things start going bad, some of our guys get really selfish. That’s why our power play couldn’t do anything in the second period. Guys just wanted to skate it, do it themselves.”
Boileau turned aside 33 of the 35 shots the Rock directed his way to earn his 10th win of the season.
Boivin, who stopped 31 of the 34 shots he faced, was tagged with the loss.
NOJHL NOTES — The Daily Press three stars of the game were Boileau, Rynard and Bourdon-Lemoyne … The Rock went 0-3 on the power play, while the Lumberjacks were 1-2 with the man advantage … Official attendance at the McIntyre Arena was 941 … Tuesday’s only other contest saw the Beavers blast the Soo Eagles 8-5 in Blind River … The Rock will return to action on Sunday, Jan. 7, when they travel to Kirkland Lake to take on the Gold Miners, at 2 p.m. The next home game will be on Friday, Jan. 12, when the Rock will host the Iroquois Falls Storm at the McIntyre Arena, at 7:30 p.m.
