Timmins Rock forward Jack Kelly tries to jam the puck past Kirkland Lake Gold Miners goalie Mason Janicki on this play during the first period of Sunday afternoon’s NOJHL contest at the McIntyre Arena, bu the puck bounced up and just over the crossbar. It wouldn’t matter, however, as the Rock went on to defeat the Gold Miners 5-1 in the final regular season contest for both squads. THOMAS PERRY/THE DAILY PRESS jpg, TD, apsmc
NOJHL club closes out 2024-25 campaign with 5-1 victory over visiting Kirkland Lake Gold Miners
Thomas Perry
The Daily Press/Postmedia Network
Brant Romaniuk scored a pair of goals to help lead the Timmins Rock to a 5-1 victory over the Kirkland Lake Gold Miners in the final game of the NOJHL regular season for both squads at the McIntyre Arena Sunday afternoon.
In the process, Romaniuk — who turned 17 on Oct. 4 — became the youngest Rock player to hit the 100-point plateau.
In his second full season with the Rock, Romaniuk finished 2024-25 with 18 goals and 22 assists in 28 games, after spending part of the campaign with the QMJHL’s Gatineau Olympiques (13, 1-2-3, 0).
“That second shot was vintage Brant Romaniuk,” said Rock coach and general manager Brandon Perry. “He should be incredibly proud that (of reaching the 100-point plateau in just 90 games). He played a good game this afternoon.”
Other than Romaniuk hitting the 100-point plateau, Sunday afternoon’s contest was pretty much a meaningless affair for both teams.
Despite dropping a 5-2 decision against the Lumberjacks in Hearst Friday night, the Rock (33-16-2-1) had already sewn up a fourth place finish in the NOJHL standings and home-ice advantage against their Round 1 playoff opponents, the Soo Eagles (32-17-0-3).
Meanwhile, the Gold Miners (9-39-1-3) were locked into 11th place in the 12-team NOJHL (technically, 11 teams with the Elliot Lake Vikings on a leave of absence).
Still, they made it clear early on they were not about to go quietly into the good night.
Trent Nobes gave the Gold Miners a 1-0 lead when he scored his 18th goal of the season 8:27 into the opening period.
That would be all the offence the Gold Miners could must on the final afternoon of the regular season, however.
Romaniuk got the Rock back on even terms just 25 seconds after Nobes had opened the scoring, with the first of his two goals in the game and 17th of the campaign.
He then doubled down just past the midway point in the second period when he scored what would prove to be the game-winning goal, his second of the afternoon and 18th of the season.
Henry McLellan then added his 10th marker of the season on a nice drop pass from affiliate player Lex Lamontagne, of the GNU18L’s Kapuskasing Flyers.
The Rock carried a 3-1 lead into the third period and expanded their advantage by tacking on two more goals.
Blue-liner Matthew Kim pounced on his own rebound before blasting a shot past Kirkland Lake goalie Mason Janicki for his second tally of the season. Lamontagne, playing his third-straight game in a Rock uniform, earned an assist on that goal, as well, as did Travis Poan.
Ryan Armitage then closed out the scoring in the contest when he netted his 16th marker of the season with just over a minute remaining on the clock.
“Obviously, it was a tough game because we were thinking about the Soo Eagles,” Perry said, agreeing neither team had a lot at stake Sunday afternoon.
“I don’t think a lot of our guys wanted to be out there in the first period. I didn’t like our effort, I didn’t like the way we played and I didn’t like our attention to detail at the start. We got a little bit better as the game went on.”
Even though there was nothing on the line from a team perspective, the coach felt there were things at stake from an individual standpoint.
“You always have something to play for,” Perry said. “We have 20 year olds who want to go to school next year and play hockey. We have got young guys who want to play Major Junior. We have got drafted guys in our room who want to make the jump to Major Junior. If these teams and these schools just have time, one day, to watch you play and this is the day they happen to watch you play, what kind of impression do you want to leave? That’s the message I told our guys, you have to play hard all the time because you never know who is watching.
“It’s a grind, you don’t want to get hurt, you don’t want to get suspended, so you might be tempted not to play with as much intensity as you normally would, but you have got to find a way to bring it and be good.”
The Rock coach was once again impressed with what he saw from Lamontagne Sunday afternoon.
“He was great for us today and he has played the last three or four games,” Perry said. “He was great in the game against the Soo Thunderbirds and really good this afternoon. Just like every other young guy, he just has to find a way to be good every single day, raise that compete level.
“It was a great selfless play on that breakaway to leave the puck for Hank (McLellan). It is nice to see out of a young kid, that the team means more.”
A number of other Rock players caught their coach’s eye with strong efforts Sunday afternoon, as well.
“I thought Graham Gee was solid in the cage and we only had five D back there, but they all battled,” Perry said.
The Rock have had more than their fair share of injuries late in the season, but they escaped Sunday afternoon’s contest without any significant additions to that list.
“Just bumps and bruises, but we obviously have a lot of guys on the shelf and I am not sure if they will be ready for Game 1 of the playoffs, but we are hoping,” Perry said.
Up front, the Rock are missing Thomas Beard and Lucas Lowe, while Sam Gallagher and captain Tenzin Nyman are still out on the blue-line.
Gee stopped 29 of the 30 shots he faced to earn his 10th win of the season.
Janicki, who turned aside 40 of the 45 shots the Rock directed his way, was tagged with the loss.
NOJHL NOTES — The Daily Press three stars of Sunday’s game were Romaniuk, Lamontagne and Rock forward Kaeden McArthur (two assists) … Sunday, the Rock did not have any power play opportunities, while the Gold Miners were 0-2 with the man advantage … Official attendance at the McIntyre Arena on Sunday was 689 … The Rock will open their best-of-seven playoff series against the Soo Eagles at the McIntyre Arena, on Saturday, at 8 p.m.
