Braedyn Cyr, right, is all smiles as he celebrates his first-period goal with blue-line partner Elijah Pool during Thursday night’s NOJHL contest at the McIntyre Arena. Cyr was just attempting to dump the puck into the corner when it took a number of strange bounces before it handcuffed Soo Thunderbirds goalie Noah Metivier. The Rock went on to blank the Thunderbirds 4-0. THOMAS PERRY/THE DAILY PRESS jpg, TD, apsmc
Dryden Riley stopped all 26 shots he faced to backstop the Timmins Rock to a 4-0 win over the Soo Thunderbirds at the McIntyre Arena Thursday night.
Thomas Perry
The Daily Press/Postmedia Network
It was the third shutout of the season for Riley, tying him with Greater Sudbury Cubs goalie Noah Beaulne for the most whitewashes in the NOJHL this season.
Riley got all of the offensive support he would need when blue-liner Braedyn Cyr’s shoot-in from just over the red line took a number of strange bounces and handcuffed Thunderbirds goalie Noah Metivier 13:57 into the opening period.
“I don’t think so,” Cyr said, when asked if had scored a stranger goal in his career. “My intension was just to dump the puck in the far corner. It was just the luck of the bounce.”
The 2005-birth-year Oakville product denied spending the entire day working out angles and scientifically studying the bounce ratio of hockey pucks.
“I can’t give out all of my trade secrets,” Cyr said, when grilled after the contest.
The levity exuded by the Rock blue-liner following the contest stood in stark contrast to the struggles the squad had endured in its previous eight contests, only two of which had produced victories and just one of which came on the ice.
“This is huge, we really needed something to bring us together as a group,” Cyr said. “We worked hard and we really came together as a group. It should help us as we move through the rest of the season.”
As happy as Cyr was to net the game-winning goal, his fifth tally of the campaign, he was even more pleased to be able to help Riley record the shutout.
“Shutouts don’t come along too often, so whenever one of our goalies gets a shutout, it’s big for the team. Not only does it show how good our goalie is, but also how good we can play in the defensive zone, keeping shots to the outside.”
Cyr noted the coaching staff had a simple message for the Rock during the week of practice leading up to Thursday night’s contest: Work harder.
“We definitely focused on rush defense and trying to keep players to the outside and I think we did that well tonight,” he said.
The Rock added to their lead late in the middle frame when Lucas Lowe jammed home a rebound from in close for his 15th goal of the season.
Kaeden McArthur then struck for a pair of power-play markers, his 14th and 15th goals of the season, in the third period to add the icing on the cake.
With Rock coach and general manager Brandon Perry serving the first game of the two-game suspension he picked up during his team’s 5-2 loss to the Paper Kings in Espanola on Jan. 18, assistant coach Marc Bisson got to field questions following the contest.
“It was a great team effort, everybody, all four lines, all six D and great goaltending,” he said. “Top to bottom, it was just a great team effort. It was fun to watch and see our team play the way it should play.”
The assistant coach admitted he hadn’t seen too many goals stranger than the one Cyr scored to get the Rock off and rolling Thursday night.
“Actually, I just missed it, I kind of didn’t really see it,” Bisson said, with a chuckle. “I don’t know why their goalie committed so much to going the one way, but when you are a struggling hockey team, looking for wins, you will take those bounces every day of the week.”
Having played the position himself, the assistant coach likely had more sympathy for Metivier than most of the fans in attendance at the McIntyre Arena.
“There were a few (backdoor) saves that I am not sure how he got across his crease,” Bisson said. “He was very good. He is a 20 year old and he has been in the league for four years now and we kind of expect that (strong play) out of Noah.
“(The second goal), I don’t even know how that puck squirted through. I don’t know if he (Lowe) could see it, or if he just pushed on the goalie’s pads, but we needed that one.”
The assistant coach liked what he saw from McArthur Thursday night and not just in the offensive zone.
“In the third period, we were preaching to have a high F3 (forward) and several times he was our high guy, back there with the D,” Bisson said. “We really emphasized that before the third period, that we were going to make them go through five guys before they got to Dryden and that’s what we did. K-Mac was great and he got a couple of power-play goals, not too bad.”
The Rock’s special teams were indeed special during Thursday night’s contest, with the power play going 2-7 and the penalty kill registering three kills in three shorthanded situations.
“We were short on the penalty kill without (Ryan) Armitage (serving the first game of his eight-game suspension),” Bisson said.
“Thomas Beard kills penalties, but he took a few penalties. K-Mac took a penalty and he kills penalties. It had to be done by committee. Hank (Henry McLellan) killed some penalties and Kells (Jack Kelly) was great.”
In addition to missing Armitage, the Rock were also without another one of their key penalty killers, Alexis Tremblay, who missed the contest due to an illness.
Another player who caught the assistant coach’s eye during Thursday’s contest was forward Aaron Shaw, who had not suited up for a game since Nov. 17.
“He joined us for practice this week and with a couple of suspensions and other guys out sick, he stepped right back in the lineup,” Bisson said. “He is such a good kid, great in the dressing room and the guys look up to him. He plays a gritty game and we do not have a lot of gritty guys, who get in guys’ faces. He is a real positive influence for the Timmins Rock.”
Another player who stood out during Thursday night’s victory was blue-liner Matthew Kim.
“He had a lot of puck possession and made a lot of smart plays with it,” Bisson said. “He is not a big guy, but he plays physical.”
Travis Poan, of the Rock, and Gage Evans, of the Thunderbirds, were ejected from the contest with five-and-a-half minutes remaining in the third period after they were each assessed five-minute majors for fighting and game misconducts. Poan also received a minor penalty for instigating, while Evans was handed a double minor penalty for head-butting and face-masking.
In addition to earning his third shutout of the season, Riley’s 24-save performance netted him his 15th victory of the season.
Metivier, who turned aside 34 of the 38 shots the Rock directed his way, was tagged with the loss.
NOJHL NOTES — The Daily Press three stars of the game were Riley, McArthur and Cyr … The Rock went 2-7 on the power play, while the Thunderbirds were 0-3 with the man advantage … Official attendance at the McIntyre Arena was 789 … Thursday’s only other action, or non-action, was the Cubs credited with a 1-0 victory over the Elliot Lake Vikings in Greater Sudbury … The Rock will return to action on Sunday when they host the French River Rapids at the McIntyre Arena, at 1 p.m.
