Timmins Rock forward Diego Da Silva’s shot deflects off the shoulder of French River Rapids goalie Matis Bureau Morel and up and over the crossbar behind him during the second period of Sunday afternoon’s NOJHL contest at the McIntyre Arena. Da Silva had a pair of goals to help lead the Rock to an 8-2 win over the Rapids. It was the Rock’s seventh-straight win. Photo by THOMAS PERRY /The Daily Press
The Timmins Rock now have the second-best winning percentage in the NOJHL
Thomas Perry
The Daily Press/Postmedia Network
And the Rock (13-5-0-1) find themselves just two points behind the fourth-place Paper Kings (14-8-0-1) and they have four games in hand on Espanola.
In fact, the standings don’t reflect the real story since Timmins has played the fewest games in the NOJHL to this point in the campaign.
If you rank the teams by winning percentage, the Rock (.711) trail only the NOJHL-leading Hearst Lumberjacks (.773).
Sunday’s victims, the French River Rapids dropped an 8-2 decision to the Rock — a slightly better result than the 12-0 setback they suffered against the Lumberjacks in Hearst, Saturday night.
Sunday afternoon’s victory meant a lot more than two points in the standings, as the Rock dedicated it to the memory of forward Ryan Armitage’s grandfather, Orland Kelly, who passed away recently.
While Armitage was held off of the scoresheet, he was solid on the penalty kill and the forecheck all game long.
It took a while for the Rock to get rolling Sunday afternoon, as they only led the contest 1-0 after the opening period.
Matteo Paradiso’s third goal of the season, a power-play marker, staked the Rock to that advantage.
Two more power-play markers, Diego Da Silva’s 11th goal of the season, and Lucas Lowe’s third tally of the campaign, allowed the Rock to increase their lead to 3-0.
“Da Silva saw (Brant) Romaniuk with a long stretch pass and one of their D was going to change so I knew I could break up the ice with some speed,” Lowe said, describing how the play developed for what would prove to be the game-winning goal.
“I trusted Romaniuk to make a play to me in the middle and I just buried it.”
The combination of Lowe, Romaniuk and Maxfeld Shin (filling in for Kaeden McArthur) was certainly effective Sunday afternoon.
“We are just hungry,” he said, describing what has led to the unit’s success. “We love playing together.”
It took Lowe 12 games to score his first goal of the season, but he picked up 11 assists in that span — a nearly point a game pace.
“I had an injury at the start of the season,” he said. “I had missed hockey for a month, but I have always been slow to score at the start of seasons. I think last year I had one goal and 20 assists, similar to this year.”
Bryson Villeneuve’s first of two goals on the afternoon and third of the season got the Rapids on the scoreboard four minutes later.
But the Rock tacked two more goals onto their lead before the second intermission.
Diego Da Silva doubled down with his second goal of the game and 12th of the campaign, with the Rock on the power play.
Rapids goalie Matis Bureau Morel was given the hook after that goal, with Keiran Caughran coming on in relief.
Victor Hourtouat then added his second goal of the season.
Bureau Morel returned to the French River net to start the third period, but the Rock continued to roll.
Romaniuk scored his 18th goal of the campaign 59 seconds into the third period and Lowe added his second goal of the game and fourth of the season, another power-play marker, less than two minutes later.
The Rapids got one of those markers back when Villeneuve scored a shorthanded tally, his second goal of the game and fourth of the campaign.
But the Rock had the last laugh, as Romaniuk closed out the scoring with his second goal of the game and his team-leading 19th of the season.
Rock coach and general manager Brandon Perry liked what he saw from his squad Sunday afternoon.
“We were a little more hungry Friday night (9-2 win over the Soo Thunderbirds) but we were solid today, all around,” he said. “Sunday games are hard to play sometimes, especially after a day off on Saturday and the Christmas parade.”
Perry noted it isn’t easy playing against a squad that is coming off a one-sided loss like the Rapids were, either.
“They came out hard and they played hard,” he said. “You have to give them a bunch of credit.”
Blue-liner Braedyn Cyr (three assists), the Rock captain, had another solid game, on both sides of the puck.
“He is just a consistent player back there,” Perry said. “You always know what you are going to get out of him. He shows up and does his job every day. He got rewarded with three assists today, but count on him to defend and he had a great game today.”
The coach was pleased to see Lowe rewarded for all of his hard work, as well.
“It was the same story last season, he went the first I don’t know how many games without a goal,” Perry said. “He is a pass-first guy, especially with a player like Brant Romaniuk on his right side. It is easy. You want to get points, just get the puck to No. 19. Sometimes it hurts him because he over focuses on that, but he has been here four years and we love him. He helped us win a championship and any time he has personal success we are super happy for him.”
Romaniuk’s two goals and four points have him sitting in third place in both of those categories in the NOJHL scoring race.
“He is operating on a different level right now,” Perry said. “He is the motor of our team, the Timmins Rock go as Brant Romaniuk goes. He takes that seriously and it is not just him scoring goals. He kills penalties for us. He hunts pucks harder than most of our forwards on the forecheck. Even on the PK, he has a really good stick and incredible instincts. He is tied for the NOJHL lead in shorthanded goals, with three.”
Speaking of the forecheck, the line of Victor Hourtouat, Ryan Power and Ashton Beriana was relentless against the Rapids, Sunday afternoon.
“They were great today,” Perry said. “Ryan Power had a great weekend and it is really nice to have Ashton back in the lineup. He brings so much grit and so much energy. As the games go on, he is going to get more and more comfortable. He hadn’t played in a long, long time, but his timing and everything is going to come back. Obviously, I am super happy for Hourty. He had sat a few games in a row, so to go in there and get a goal was real nice. He is a real good kid who works hard every day.”
Rock goalie Ayden Mullen only faced 21 shots Sunday afternoon, but Perry liked the poise he saw from his 16-year-old netminder.
“He was solid between the pipes for us this afternoon,” he said. “When it was a 1-0 game, they got a power play and he made a big save.”
While McArthur was not in the Rock lineup after taking a big hit in Friday night’s win over the Thunderbirds, fans can breathe a sigh of relief.
“It was just a maintenance day,” Perry said. “He has been grinding hard for us lately and he was a little banged up. We need him to be ready to go Friday night.”
The Rock did get a bit of a scare in the third period, as both forward Shin and Romaniuk took slashes in the wrist/hand area, but both were able to return to action.
Mullen went the distance in net for the Rock, stopping 19 of the 21 shots he faced to earn his sixth win of the season.
Bureau Morel, who turned aside 29 of the 36 shots the Rock directed his way in his 55:46 of work was tagged with the loss. Caughran blocked one of the two shots he faced in his 4:14 of relief.
NOJHL NOTES — The Daily Press three stars of the game were Lowe, Romaniuk and Cyr … The Rock went 5-6 on the power play, while the Rapids were 0-5 with the man advantage … Official attendance at the McIntyre Arena was 686 … Sunday’s only other action saw the Gold Miners hang on to edge the Soo Thunderbirds 2-1 in Kirkland Lake … The Rock will return to action on Friday when they travel to Powassan for a game against the Voodoos at the Sportsplex, at 7 p.m.
