Eagles blue-liner Gabriel Clark pulls down Ryan Armitage in front of Soo goalie Mason Burkes but not before a shot from the point had deflected off the Timmins Rock forward for the opening goal of Game 1 of their best-of-seven NOJHL quarter-final series at the McIntyre Arena Saturday night. Armitage’s goal helped the Rock defeat the Eagles 4-1. THOMAS PERRY/THE DAILY PRESS jpg, TD, apsmc
Timmins Rock scored two power-play goals and killed off four of the five penalties they took
Thomas Perry
The Daily Press/Postmedia Network
Playoff battles between two evenly matched teams often come down to special teams.
Such was the case during Game 1 of Saturday night’s best-of-seven NOJHL quarter-final series between the No. 4 seed Timmins Rock and the No. 5 seed Soo Eagles at the McIntyre Arena.
The Rock scored two power-play goals and killed off four of the five penalties they took, on their way to a 4-1 win over the Eagles.
“On that first one (shorthanded situation), obviously we have go to get out and block that shot,” said Rock coach and general manager Brandon Perry, describing the lone blemish on his squad’s penalty kill.
“We can’t get out of the way and screen our goalie, but our kill after that was fantastic. Overall, special teams were really good tonight. I think we left a little on the table on the power play, with some rebounds sitting in the high slot that we should have gotten our sticks on, but on the whole our special teams were really good.
“Win the special teams battle and you start (the series) 1-0.”
Ryan Armitage got the Rock on the scoreboard first Saturday night when he netted a power-play marker at the 16:59 mark of the opening period.
It took Brant Romaniuk just 48 seconds to double that advantage for the Rock, as he added a second power-play marker.
The Rock carried that 2-0 lead into the first intermission, but the Eagles managed to close the gap early in the middle frame, as Tyler Fortson netted a power-play marker of his own.
Up by a single goal heading into the third period, the Rock managed to gain a little breathing room when Jack Kelly scored his first goal of the playoffs 5:06 into the frame.
The Eagles pulled goalie Mason Burkes in favour of an extra attacker with just over two minutes remaining in regulation, but the move backfired.
Reece Liu deposited his first goal of the playoffs into the empty Soo net with 25 seconds remaining on the clock to close out the scoring.
“It was a tight-checking game, just like we thought (it would be),” Perry said.
“It was a good start for us, but we have a long way to go.”
Early on, it was the Eagles who got off to a fast start, outshooting the Rock 8-4 at one point in the opening period, but Timmins goalie Dryden Riley stood tall and allowed his teammates to get their skates under them.
“He was fantastic tonight,” Perry said. “Sometimes we start off hot, but sometimes we need our goalie to weather the storm, to allow us to get our legs going and that’s exactly what happened.”
The Rock coach liked what he saw from a lot of his players in Game 1 of the series.
“(Kelly) has really been great all season and we really emphasized during the two intermissions that we needed to get on these rebounds and he battled to get on one and put the puck in the back of the net,” Perry said.
“(Romaniuk and Liu) were really good, as well. Brant could have had three or four goals. He had some really good shot selections, mixing it up, low-high and high-low. Reece is as tenacious as they come. He had a beautiful goal, even though it was an empty-netter, he made a play in the D Zone, no panic when a lot of guys would have iced the puck, he got to the red line, got to open ice and then put it home for us.”
The Rock coach also liked the effort he saw from his squad’s blue-line in front of Riley.
“It was tough losing (Sam) Gallagher that early and our D were taking some unnecessary penalties, that taxed the other guys out there,” Perry said.
“It was a tight-checking game and they (Eagles) have a big, physical, fast team. So, we obviously have to do a better job of being disciplined but our guys did a great job back there.”
Armitage, a key member of both the Rock power play and penalty kill, was happy to get the game’s first goal and provide some momentum for his teammates.
“I saw the puck go to the flank, to Reece Liu, so I dropped low to my position and the puck went back up to (Braedyn) Cyr and we had talked about it all week, wanting to get pucks on the net from up top and I just tried my best to get there (in front of the net) and the puck took a lucky bounce off me and went in,” he said.
Armitage was just as proud of his work on the penalty kill as he was off netting the Rock’s first goal of the 2025 NOJHL playoffs.
“We take so much pride in our penalty kill, so it is something we really hold ourselves accountable for,” he said.
“So, to be able to make an impact on the penalty kill, as well as score a goal, that was special.”
While it has often been said the toughest games to win in any playoff series is the first and the last, Armitage knows the Rock have plenty of work still ahead of them if they hope to get to the last game of the series.
“We have so much confidence in this room right now and that really helps,” he said. “Our preparation was great all week, so we are just going to get back to the grindstone and go back to work.”
Riley stopped 29 of the 30 shots he faced to earn his first win of the 2025 playoffs.
Burkes, who turned aside 35 of the 38 shots the Rock directed his way was tagged with the loss.
NOJHL NOTES — The Daily Press three stars of the game were Armitage, Kelly and Riley … The Rock went 2-7 on the power play, while the Eagles were 1-5 with the man advantage … Official attendance at the McIntyre Arena was 682 … Saturday’s other action saw the Lumberjacks top the Powassan Voodoos 7-2 in Hearst to take a 2-0 lead in their best-of-seven quarter-final series and the Soo Thunderbirds edge the Beavers 5-4 in Blind River to even up their best-of-seven quarter-final series … The Rock will host the Eagles in Game 2 of their best-of-seven quarter-final series at the McIntyre Arena on Sunday, at 8:30 p.m.
