Timmins forward Hayden Rynard, shown here being checked by Blind River Beavers D-man Nicholas MacIsaac during Sunday afternoon’s game at the Blind River Community Centre, returned to the Rock lineup on the weekend for the first time since he suffered a lower-body injury and had to be taken off the ice on a stretcher during a game against the Iroquois Falls Storm on Sept. 29. HELENE RANCOURT/FOR NOJHL NETWORK jpg, TD, apsmc
Photos: Helene Rancourt
Thomas Perry
The Daily Press/Postmedia Network
BLIND RIVER — The Timmins Rock were 38 seconds away from being able to salvage at least a single point from a frustrating three-game weekend road trip when disaster stuck Sunday afternoon.
Owen King scored his second goal of the game and 24th of the season to lift the Beavers to a 4-3 win over the Rock at the Blind River Community Centre.
That setback came in the wake of Saturday night’s 8-2 loss to the Soo Thunderbirds and Friday night’s 5-4 defeat at the hands of the Soo Eagles.
Overall, with starting goalie Dryden Riley and coach and general manager Brandon Perry in Alberta for the 2024 World Junior ‘A’ Challenge, the Rock managed just one victory in five games.
And after going down to their third-straight defeat Sunday afternoon, the Rock (20-11-0-0) now find themselves in a three-way tie for third place in the NOJHL standings with the Eagles (19-6-0-2) and the Beavers (19-9-1-1) — and both of those teams have games in hand on them.
Despite Sunday’s heartbreaking 4-3 loss, Rock assistant coach James Daschuk felt his squad played a solid hockey game under trying circumstances.
“We battled back and tied the game up, but they got another one,” he said. “Sometimes you just lose. There was no one to blame, nothing to be ashamed about, no major mistake that cost us the game.
“It just shows the way our luck has been going lately, but I am proud of the way the guys competed after a less-than-excellent performance Saturday night. (Losing in this fashion) was quite frustrating, but what are you going to do.”
In addition to missing Riley, the Rock lost goalie Graham Gee to injury in the pregame warmup, meaning affiliate goalie Sebastien Brassard, from the GNU18L’s Sault Ste. Marie U18 Greyhounds, had to make his first NOJHL start between the pipes.
“He played well,” Daschuk said.
The Rock jumped out to a 1-0 lead Sunday afternoon, when Jack Kelly scored his 15th goal of the season with 31 seconds remaining in the opening period.
King’s first goal of the game and 23rd of the campaign tied things up for the Beavers 2:28 into the middle frame and Mattis Lafond added his first tally of the season just over a minute later to give Blind River its first lead.
Shea Crewson followed with his third marker of the campaign just past the midway point in the second period.
But the Rock were able to cut their deficit to a single goal before the end of the frame, as Alexis Tremblay collected his eighth tally of the season.
The Beavers had an excellent opportunity to restore their two-goal lead 5:23 into the third period, when Wyatt Gibson was awarded a penalty shot, but Brassard denied his attempt.
It looked like the Rock would be able to salvage at least a single point and force overtime when Kaeden McArthur netted his 14th goal of the season with 1:33 remaining in regulation.
It was not to be, however, as King’s second goal of the game and 24th of the campaign less than a minute later gave the Beavers their victory.
A number of Rock players caught their assistant coach’s attention with positive efforts Sunday afternoon.
“I though Poaner (Travis Poan) had a good game,” Daschuk said. “He sat the first two games of the road trip but we put him back in the lineup today and I thought he was back to his old self, playing physical, with a couple of shots on net and good scoring chances.
“Our fourth line (Tremblay, Ryan Boon and Kai Clayton) got a goal for us today and that was huge to put us back in the game. Our line with Kelly, McArthur and Liu was probably our best line all weekend.
“We got Ryno (Hayden Rynard) back in the lineup this weekend and that was a huge boost for us. He is not 100 per cent right now, but he is one of our leaders, who plays hard, so, it was great to have him back in the lineup.”
The three games on the weekend was the first action for Rynard since he had to be taken off the ice on a stretcher after suffering a lower-body injury during a game against the Iroquois Falls story, on Sept. 29.
The Rock also got their first look at new 2006-birth-year blue-liner Matthew Kim, who had been acquired from the SJHL’s La Ronge Wolves in exchange for a player development fee on Dec. 2, but had also been nursing a lower-body injury.
“He looked really good,” Daschuk said. “He is a real physical, in your face type of player. He is not very big, but he finishes all of his checks.”
Beavers goalie Bronx Bodnar turned aside 42 of the 45 shots the Rock directed his way to earn his fifth win of the season.
Brassard, who was making his first NOJHL start and stopped 27 of the 31 shots he faced, was tagged with the loss.
T-BIRDS 8 ROCK 2
The Rock jumped out to a 2-0 lead less than three minutes into Saturday night’s contest at the John Rhodes Community Centre, but the wheels quickly fell of the bus as they went on to drop an 8-2 decision to the Soo Thunderbirds.
McArthur, with his 13th goal of the season, and Ryan Armitage, with his 10th tally of the campaign, staked the Rock to that early advantage.
But the Thunderbirds battled back to tie things up before the end of the frame, as Cooper Labelle scored his seventh goal of the season and James Elliott followed with his 10th marker of the campaign with 46 seconds remaining on the clock.
Things went from bad to worse when the puck dropped to signal the start of the middle frame.
The Thunderbirds rattled off five-straight goals to take command of the contest.
Jonathan Sonedecker, with his 12th and 13th goals of the season, Jacob Smith, with his 10th and 11th of the campaign, and Camden Cowan, with the first of his two goals on the night and second of the season, provided that offensive outburst.
The Rock opted to pull starting goalie Graham Gee to start the third period, with Brassard coming off the bench in relief.
Cowan greeted his with his second goal of the night and third of the season to close out the scoring and leave the final at 8-2 in favour of the Thunderbirds.
The Rock did have one final opportunity to close the gap slightly when Henry McLellan was awarded a penalty shot, but Soo goalie Noah Metivier denied his attempt.
“They scored two goals within the first three minutes of the second period,” Daschuk said, describing the turning point in Saturday night’s contest.
“After that, we kind of got a little bit discouraged. It all happened pretty quick, one minute we were in a tie game and then we found ourselves down two goals and wondering what the hell’s going on here.
“Our third period was good, as we outshot them 23-5, but that being said, we still lost the period 1-0.”
Metivier turned aside 34 of the 36 shots the Rock directed his way to earn his fifth win of the season.
Gee, who stopped 19 of the 26 shots he faced in his 40:00 of work, was tagged with the loss. Brassard blocked four of the five shots he faced in his 20:00 of relief.
EAGLES 5 ROCK 4
The Timmins Rock blew a three-goal lead and went on to drop a 5-4 decision to the Eagles at Pullar Stadium Friday night.
It was the first game of a three-game road trip that will see them take on the Thunderbirds in Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., Saturday night and the Beavers in Blind River Sunday afternoon.
Early on, things seemed to be going the Rock’s way, even though they fell behind 1-0 as Lucas Caulfield gave the Eagles the early advantage on his 17th goal of the season.
The Rock, who outshot the Eagles 20-15 in the opening period, reeled off four-straight goals to take a 4-1 lead into the first intermission.
Lucas Lowe netted a power-play marker, his first of two goals on the evening and 11th of the season, to tie things up.
Lowe then put the Rock in front two-and-a-half minutes later when he added his second tally of the game and 12th of the campaign.
Reece Liu followed with his ninth goal of the season just over a minute later and Henry McLellan chipped in with his ninth marker of the campaign with 30 seconds remaining in the frame.
Things began to unravel for the Rock in the second period, even though they outshot the Eagles 17-10.
Benjamin Pouliot struck for the first of his two tallies on the night and 13th of the campaign 4:27 into the frame and Gabriel Fisher added his fourth goal of the season, a power-play marker, not long after the midway point in the period.
The Eagles completed their comeback in the third period, as Drew Dellies tied things up with his sixth goal of the campaign 3:33 into the frame.
Pouliot then netted what would prove to be the game-winning goal, his second of the night and 14th of the season, a power-play marker, with 3:46 remaining in regulation.
Friday’s loss was almost as frustrating as Sunday afternoon’s setback, according to the Rock assistant coach.
“It was the same thing all weekend,” he said. “We gave up a bunch of goals in a short period of time. They filled the back of the net and it happened in all three games.”
Jace Knoerle turned aside 45 of the 49 shots the Rock directed his way to earn his 10th win of the season.
Rock goalie Graham Gee, who stopped 28 of the 33 shots he faced, was tagged with the loss.
NOJHL NOTES — The three stars of Sunday’s game were King, Kelly and Bodnar, while Sonedecker, Cowan and Smith were chosen Saturday and Pouliot, Knoerle and Lowe Friday … The Rock went 0-1 on the power play Sunday, while the Beavers did not get a man advantage opportunity. Saturday, the Rock went 0-3 on the power play, while the Thunderbirds were 1-2 with the man advantage. Friday, the Rock went 1-5 on the power play, while the Eagles were 2-4 with the man advantage … Official attendance at the Blind River Community Centre Sunday was 157, while 126 fans attended Saturday’s game at the John Rhodes Community Centre and 613 fans were in attendance at Friday’s game at Pullar Stadium … Sunday’s other action saw the Paper Kings blank the Kirkland Lake Gold Miners 7-0 in Espanola and the Vikings triple up the Soo Thunderbirds 6-2 in Elliot Lake … The Rock will return to action on Friday when they host the Hearst Lumberjacks at the McIntyre Arena, at 7 p.m.