Rapids forward Spencer Borg, centre, leads teammates, from left, Owen Ethier, Anthony Pileggi, Josh Russell and Chase Lefebvre to the French River bench in celebration of his fifth goal of the season during the first period of Friday night’s NOJHL game at the McIntyre Arena. The Rapids hung on to upset the Timmins Rock 4-3. THOMAS PERRY/THE DAILY PRESS
The Timmins Rock’s attempted rally fell one goal short at the McIntyre Arena Friday night, allowing the French River Rapids to escape with a 4-3 victory.
Thomas Perry – The Daily Press/Postmedia Network
The Daily Press – GALLERY: Rock flounder in Rapids
Despite outshooting the visitors 16-7 during the first period, the Rock found themselves trailing 2-0 after 20 minutes of play.
Leo Chambers got the puck rolling for the Rapids when he scored his ninth goal of the season at the 6:11 mark.
Spencer Borg then added his fifth goal of the season just over six minutes later.
The Rapids added two more second-period goals to stretch their lead to 4-0.
Ryan Goral picked up his second goal of the season at the 8:31 mark and Spencer Hughes followed with his eighth goal of the season four-and-a-half minutes later.
The Rock were finally able to get on the scoreboard with 40 seconds remaining in the frame, as Christopher Engelbert scored a power-play goal, his ninth tally of the season.
Henry Brock’s power-play marker, his fifth goal of the season, 1:32 into the third period then closed the gap to two.
And with goalie Gavin McCarthy on the bench in favour of an extra attacker, blue-liner Cameron Dutkiewicz ripped a shot home for his sixth goal of the season with 59 seconds remaining on the clock.
The Rock pulled McCarthy once again a few seconds later in hope that lightning would strike twice, but they were unable to secure the equalizer.
Rapids goalie Cole Sheffield, who turned aside 42 of the 45 shots the Rock directed his way, picked up his eighth win of the season.
McCarthy, who stopped 26 of the 30 shots he faced, was tagged with the loss.
NOJHL NOTES — The Daily Press three stars of the game were Sheffield, Brock and Hughes … The Rock went 2-3 on the power play, while the Rapids were 0-4 with the man advantage … Official attendance at the McIntyre Arena was 498 … Friday’s other action saw the Powassan Voodoos blank the Crunch 6-0 in Cochrane, the Soo Thunderbirds dump the Express 3-0 in Espanola and the Red Wings double up the Blind River Beavers 6-3 in Elliot Lake … The Rock will travel to Kirkland Lake for a game against the Gold Miners at the Joe Mavrinac Community Complex Saturday night. The next home game will be on Sunday when they host the Voodoos at the McIntyre Arena, at 3 p.m.
