Timmins Rock forward Rock Oosterveld and Paper Kings blue-liner Luka Boggio chase down a loose puck during Friday night’s NOJHL contest at the Espanola Regional Recreation Complex. The Rock scored early and often as they went on to defeat the Paper Kings 7-1, improving to 2-0-0-0 on the young season. Photo by NOJHL Network
For the second-straight game, the Rock surrendered just one goal in Friday’s contest, thanks in part to Ayden Mullen’s steady netminding
Thomas Perry
The Daily Press/Postmedia Network
ESPANOLA — Evan Katic’s six-point game helped propel the Timmins Rock to a 7-1 win over the Paper Kings at the Espanola Regional Recreation Complex Friday night.
In fact, the line of Katic (two goals, four assists), captain Maxx Hamelin (one goal, three assists) and Edan Etheridge (two goals, two assists) combined for 14 points in the Rock’s second win in two starts to begin the 2026-27 NOJHL campaign.
They will look to make it three victories in three games when they take on the Gold Miners at the Joe Mavrinac Community Complex in Kirkland Lake, on Thursday, at 7 p.m.
The Rock jumped out to a 3-0 lead 12 minutes into the opening period Friday night.
Katic netted the first and third of those tallies, his second and third markers of the campaign, sandwiching Ashton Beriana’s first goal of the season, a power-play marker.
Normally, a coach would be pleased to see his squad jump out to a 3-0 first period lead, but Rock bench boss and general manager Sheldon Reasbeck admitted he was a little concerned for a short period of time.
“I would rather it had been a grind in the first period because sometimes when you get up, you get a little loose,” he said. “That can make you job tougher, as a coach, because everybody wants to score points and they get away from the structure, not everybody wants to play defense, but I am really proud of the fact the boys stuck to the game plan and still defended hard, worked their tails off on the defensive side of the puck.”
Indeed, the Rock scored two-straight goals to open the middle frame and push their advantage to 5-0, with Etheridge netting his first and second tallies of the season.
The Paper Kings finally got on the scoreboard 37 seconds later, as Denver Mulligan picked up his first goal of the campaign, spoiling Ayden Mullen’s shutout bid in the Rock net.
But blue-liner Nolan Chabot netted his first career NOJHL tally before the second intermission to put the Rock in front 6-1.
Hamelin notched the game’s only third-period tally, his third goal of the season, to make the final 7-1 in favour of the Rock.
For the second-straight game, the Rock surrendered just one goal in Friday’s contest, thanks in part to Mullen’s steady netminding.
“Ayden Mullen turned in another solid performance tonight,” Reasbeck said. “He was just so calm, so square to the puck on every shot, reading the play.”
The rookie Rock bench boss also had a little extra praise for one of his squad’s blue-liners.
“Chabot is really taking some strides now,” Reasbeck said. “He was a great player, but now he is so solid with his decision making, jumping up in the play, creating offence for us. I was really impressed with his game tonight.
“The way I like to play is getting our D up in the rush and that’s what he did on his goal.”
With two regular-season games and a pair of exhibition contests under his belt, all victories, Reasbeck is pleased with where things stand right now for the Rock.
“The train is starting my friend,” he said. “Like we talked about last weekend, just the dogged mentality of going out there every shift and competing hard is the No. 1 thing I am really liking right now.
“Our execution was a lot better this game than our first game of the regular season (a 4-1 win over the Storm in Iroquois Falls, on Sept. 11), obviously.
“We were still able to play fast, but with more structure. We have some things still to work on, but overall our work ethic and structure tonight was great.”
The Rock coach liked what he saw from his team’s top unit of Katic, Hamelin and Etheridge Friday night.
“Their line was really clicking tonight,” Reasbeck said.
The coach admitted he “had a hunch” the trio of Katic, Hamelin and Etheridge would develop solid chemistry when he decided to put the unit together.
“I also had a feeling (Matteo) Paradiso, Beriana and (Simon) Toupin would play well together and they did great,” Reasbeck said. “That’s another line that was pretty stellar tonight. They had lots of shots on goal, but the puck just wasn’t going in for that line. They probably had as many chances as the Katic line but they were getting frustrated because the puck wasn’t going in for them even though they were doing everything right.”
Katic, who had been on pace to match Darryl Sittler’s NHL-record 10-point game pace threw two periods, was quick to give his linemates most of the credit for his offensive outburst.
“It was a fun night, for sure,” he said. “Every time I touched the puck, something good seemed to happen, but I am playing with some really good players. They found the back of the net, too, and made me look really good.”
As one might expect, Katic is enjoying the opportunity of playing with Hamelin and Etheridge.
“I have played with Edan Etheridge for a very long time now,” he said. “We know each other’s moves inside and out. I work very hard down low and I win puck battles. I get them the puck in the slot and they are both elite scorers. It works perfectly.”
Elite scorer is an apt way of describing Hamelin, the newly named Rock captain, who led the NOJHL in scoring during the 2026 playoffs.
“He is one of a kind in this league,” Katic said.
While some fans might look at having to start the campaign with three-straight road games as a disadvantage, the Rock forward doesn’t see things that way.
“We had a big break between each game, so it has given us time to reset, get a new game plan for every game,” Katic said.
“It has definitely brought us closer together and I think it will help our group in the long run. With the bus trips, we are eating together, we are always together, we are bonding.”
Like his teammates, Katic’s main focus is winning games and playing Rock hockey, but he does have some individual goals, as well.
“Winning games is obviously No. 1, but I want to play the game the right way, play hard and eventually, when the time comes, if I could crack the Canada East roster (for the 2026 World Junior ‘A’ Challenge), that would be incredible.”
Mullen went the distance in net to pick up his second win in two starts for the Rock.
Liam Cheeseman, who allowed five goals in his 29:09 of work, was tagged with the loss for the Paper Kings. Cameron Millar gave up two goals in his 30:51 of relief work.
NOJHL NOTES — The three stars of Friday night’s contest were Katic, Hamelin and Etheridge … The Rock went 1-1 on the power play, while the Paper Kings were 0-5 with the man advantage … Official attendance at the Espanola Regional Recreation Complex was 176 … Friday’s other action saw the Gold Miners top the Blind River Beavers 5-1 in Kirkland Lake, the Lumberjacks triple the Iroquois Falls Storm 9-3 in Hearst and the Thunderbirds thump the Soo Eagles 8-1 in Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., … The Rock will take on the Gold Miners at the Joe Mavrinac Community Complex, on Thursday, at 7 p.m., before returning home to host the Thunderbirds at the McIntyre Arena, on Friday, at 7 p.m.
