TIMMINS, Ont. – Marking the return of goaltender Frédéric Cousineau, who posted his initial Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League shutout, and a hat trick from Evan Katic, the Timmins Rock went on to crown the Kirkland Lake Gold Miners 8-0 in a Friday evening encounter at McIntyre Arena.
Striking quickly, the Rock connected less than two minutes into the proceedings when Thomas Beard chased down a play put ahead on the wing by Victor Hourtouat, and while driving through the right circle, wired a shot over the blocker of Gold Miners’ starter Antoine Ethier.
Extending their lead on the night’s initial power play, Katic clicked at 5:06 as he stuffed in a loose puck off a Maxfeld Shin shot.
Picking up the second assist on the marker was Matteo Paradiso, who runs a point streak to 10, while with his helper, Shin is now on a five-game heater.
Another from Katic saw him finish off the leftovers with a blast past Ethier from the slot.
Taking a four-goal cushion into the intermission, Nolan Masson connected at 17:49 as he buried a nice pass across from Ashton Beriana.
Completing his first NOJHL hat trick early in the second stanza, Katic weaved through traffic prior to roofing his third of the night.
Capping it off in the third, Jack Quevillon, Ryan Armitage and Kaedyn McArthur all found the back of the net from close range, to finish off the one-sided result.
Cousineau, who was making his return to the Rock line-up from injury, having not played since January 4, continued where he left off, winning his 13th straight start.
The outcome raises the Rock’s record to 34-13-0-4 and with the loss, the Gold Miners fall to 17-27-0-7.
Game Photos:
Thomas Perry – The Daily Press/Postmedia Network
