SAULT STE. MARIE, Ont. – The Timmins Rock saw Jack Kelly tally twice, that featured the eventual game-winner, as part of a 5-2 victory over the Soo Thunderbirds in a Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League match-up Friday at John Rhodes Community Centre.
Wasting little time in opening the scoring, the visiting Rock connected 51 seconds into the proceedings when Kaeden McArthur snagged a feed from teammate Brant Romaniuk then went in and buried a shot over the blocker of Thunderbirds’ netminder Noah Metivier.
The assist from Romaniuk saw him extend a consecutive game point streak to 15 in succession.
Adding another just over eight minutes later, Kelly took a Matthew Kim drop pass before putting an attempt on the target from up high that Metivier could not quite control, which allowed him to skate in and knock in a backhand for his team-leading 24th tally of the season.
Still 2-0 for the guests into the middle stanza, the Rock extended their edge midway through as they broke out of the own zone with pace, which led to Kelly chopping in a chance from between the circles, for his second of the evening, in reaching the 25-goal plateau.
A fourth on the night saw Ryan Armitage race in on a shorthanded breakaway and convert at 13:18.
Dashing the shutout bid of Timmins goaltender Dryden Riley, 11:11 into third period, the Soo’s Callum McAuley steered in a nice set-up from James Legler.
Striking once more, the T-Birds’ Bryan Fenlon pumped a shot through traffic from the right circle, during a man advantage opportunity, with four and a half minutes to go.
Pulling Metivier for an extra attacker in an attempt to pull closer, it was the Rock who capitalized when Romaniuk sent a long-range effort from inside his own blueline down the length of the ice into the empty net to help secure the road triumph.
Timmins continues a weekend road trip Saturday at the Soo Eagles while the Thunderbirds are back it Sunday as they host the Hearst Lumberjacks.
