Timmins Rock forward Diego Da Silva, centre, is congratulated by teammates Evan Katic, left, and Lucas Lowe after scoring the second of his two first-period goals during Sunday afternoon’s NOJHL contest at the McIntyre Arena. Da Silva’s 28th and 29th goals of the season helped the Rock secure a 5-1 win over the Storm. Photo by THOMAS PERRY /The Daily Press
Virgil Sausset Plateaux earns victory against former Iroquois Falls teammates, but shutout eludes goalie
Thomas Perry
The Daily Press/Postmedia Network
Maxx Hamelin, one of the hottest snipers in the NOJHL, delivered the game-winning goal as the Timmins Rock rolled over the Iroquois Falls Storm 5-1 at the McIntyre Arena, Sunday afternoon.
It was the Rock’s first victory since the calendar turned to February, improving their record since having their 21-game winning streak snapped on Jan. 20 to 4-8-1-0.
“I thought we were the better team today,” said Rock coach and general manager Brandon Perry.
“I don’t want to take anything away from the win, (because) it has been a little while and our guys deserve it, but we are just not where we need to be and it’s late February. We just weren’t sharp on anything.”
The coach did concede Sunday afternoon’s victory is at least a small step toward getting back to where the team needs to be with just six regular-season games remaining until the start of the playoffs.
“For sure, it was certainly positive, but if we were playing a better team would we have gotten the same result if we had played the same game we played?” he asked.
“I just don’t like where we are at.”
Perry did like what he saw from Hamelin, who has scored 12 goals in his past 12 games.
“Maxx has been a bright spot for us, even when we were on our losing skid,” he said. “He just seems to step up every game and give us one (goal). He was good today.”
Captain Braedyn Cyr, with three assists in the contest, was effective at both ends of the rink, as well.
“It was just a typical game for Braedyn,” Perry said. “I would never have thought he had three assists until you told me. It is always that way. You look at the gamesheet after the game and you see he picked up a couple of points. It was just a solid game from him. He just quietly does his job. He is super dependable back there.”
Diego Da Silva, who is averaging close to a goal a game with the Rock this season, picked up his 28th and 29th tallies of the campaign.
“He was really good,” Perry said, a little more forgiving of his two-minute minor penalty that resulted in the Storm’s lone marker, a power-play tally that spoiled Virgil Sausset Plateaux’s shutout bid, than the reporter selecting the game’s three stars.
“You kind of have to live with some of those with a player (who is talented) like that. He likes to walk the line a little bit an every now and then he crosses it.”
While the shutout eluded Sausset Plateaux, Perry was happy to see his goalie get the win against the team that cast him adrift earlier this season.
“Virgil was awesome, really solid in there,” he said. “There were some two-on-ohs there on the power play and he was really, really good and I am super happy for him, getting a win against his former club. He is a great kid.”
The coach also liked what he saw from a number of the Rock’s other blue-liners, as well.
“Brady Bouchard was really good on the back end, things like sticking up for his teammates,” Perry said. “I am always a fan of guys who do that, especially when things aren’t going well. It is important that guys know we still have each other’s back and he did that this afternoon a couple of times. He was really good and he created a lot, as well.
“Matthew Kim was really good back there, as well. Up front, we were all okay.”
Bouchard and Storm forward Bryson Villeneuve were ejected from the game late in the third period after they were both assess five-minute majors for fighting and game misconducts on a play that saw Storm forward Owen Goodwin a five-minute major for slashing and a game misconduct. Da Silva also received a 10-minute misconduct on the play.
Da Silva opened the scoring 1:16 into the opening period when he netted his 28th goal of the season.
Hamelin followed with his 13th tally of the campaign.
Da Silva then doubled down by netting a power-play marker, his 29th goal of the season, with just 5.7 seconds remaining in the opening period.
Kaeden McArthur lifted a backhand shot over a sprawled Storm goalie Nathan Boudreau for his 32nd goal of the season 1:32 into the middle frame.
The Rock carried that 4-0 lead into the third period and it held up until just past the midway point in the frame when Colin Jennings netting a power-play marker for the Storm, his third goal of the campaign.
The Rock closed out the scoring with just under four minutes remaining on the clock as Ashton Beriana netted a power-play marker, his sixth goal of the season.
Sausset Plateaux was pleased to get a victory against his former team.
“I was a little stressed out before (the game), but I think I handled things well,” he said.
“The first period was a little slow (only five shots) but we played well and did a great job.”
The action picked up in the middle frame, with Sausset Plateaux having to make a couple of key stops.
“Sure (that pumped up my confidence), because I didn’t get too many shots in the first period,” he said. “I got ready for the third period because of those shots.”
Sausset Plateaux would naturally have liked to earn the shutout, but getting the victory for the Rock was more important to him.
“They made some good passes and the puck ended up in front of my net,” he said, describing how the play developed. “I wasn’t square with the puck.”
The Storm have made a lot of roster changes since Sausset Plateaux left the team and Jennings had not joined Iroquois Falls at that point.
“All of the guys I know, when I saw them coming at me I knew what they were going to do, shot or pass,” he said. “Some of them, I know where they like to shoot and that helped me.”
Sausset Plateaux has now gotten into five games with the Rock, posting a record of 3-0-1-0, with a 2.41 goals against average and a .904 save percentage.
He was signed to share the Rock crease with Ayden Mullen while starting goalie Frédéric Cousineau recovers from a lower-body injury.
“He (Mullen) is very talented and even though I am older than him, I can still learn a lot from him,” Sausset Plateaux said.
Sausset Plateaux, stopped 20 of the 21 shots the Storm directed his way to earn his fifth win of the season and third since joining the Rock.
Storm goalie Nathan Boudreau, who stopped 39 of the 44 shots he faced, was tagged with the loss.
NOJHL NOTES — The Daily Press three stars of the game were Hamelin (one goal, one assist), Cyr (three assists) and Da Silva (two goals, one assist) … The Rock went 2-7 on the power play, while the Storm were 1-3 with the man advantage … Official attendance at the McIntyre Arena was 704 … Sunday’s only other action saw the Powassan Voodoos fly past the Beavers 3-1 in Blind River … The Rock will return to action on Friday when they host the Powassan Voodoos at the McIntyre Arena, at 7:30 p.m.
