Espanola Paper Kings goalie James Meredith reaches out with his stick to corral a rebound before Timmins Rock forward Alexis Tremblay can pounce on it during the first period of Friday night’s NOJHL contest at the McIntyre Arena. The Rock went on to post their fourth-straight victory, a 5-2 decision over the Paper Kings. THOMAS PERRY/THE DAILY PRESS jpg, TD, apsmc
Jack Kelly scored a pair of goals to help ignite the Timmins offence as the Rock rolled to a 5-2 victory over the Espanola Paper Kings at the McIntyre Arena Friday night.
Thomas Perry
The Daily Press/Postmedia Network
It was the fourth-straight victory for the Rock who will travel to Iroquois Falls for a game against the Storm at the Jus Jordan Arena on Saturday, at 7:30 p.m.
Kelly got the puck rolling for the Rock Friday night, as he scored his 21st goal of the season 2:31 into the contest.
“Honestly, it was all Scads (Clark Scaddan), his hard work, winning the puck battle and I was just open in the slot,” Kelly said. “It was a good shot, but it was all Scads. I think the puck went over the goalie’s shoulder. I couldn’t really see, because I just shot the puck quick, then I heard the crowd go nuts.”
Brant Romaniuk added his 12th marker of his campaign 24 seconds shy of the midway point in the frame to increase the Rock advantage to 2-0.
Former Rock forward Jack Anderson got the Paper Kings on the scoreboard a minute and a half later when he picked up his 16th tally of the season.
Blue-liner Matthew Kim had the lone goal of the second period, as he netted his first career NOJHL marker to increase the Rock lead to 3-1.
The Paper Kings cut into the Rock advantage in the third period, as Jason Galante scored an unassisted goal, his 11th marker of the campaign.
Kelly’s second goal of the game and 22nd of the season increased the Rock lead to 4-2 five minutes later.
“It was just a loose puck and we were all whacking away and I was lucky enough to be free and able to jump in and put it away,” he said.
With Kim off for cross checking and 3:10 remaining in regulation, the Paper Kings pulled goalie James Meredith to create a two-man advantage.
The move failed to add to the Espanola goal total, however, and Kaeden McArthur netting an empty-net marker, his 17th tally of the season, to close out the scoring and make the final 5-2 in favour of the Rock.
Kelly doesn’t think there is any big secret to the success he has enjoyed recently, with four goals in his past two games.
“It has just been a matter of hard work and getting to the dirty areas, then finding a way to bang it in,” he said. “I have been playing with Scads and Ryno (Hayden Rynard) and they have been working hard to find me when I am open and I have been lucky enough to bury my chances.”
Kelly also feels the reason for the Rock’s turnaround after struggling for eight games is simple.
“It is all about believing in each other,” he said. “We have the talent and a group that is capable of going all the way. It’s just a matter of believing we can. We have shown what we can do against Greater Sudbury and Hearst. During this (four-game) stretch we have been playing our hockey, the way we should be playing.”
Rock coach and general manager Brandon Perry was pleased with the effort he saw on the ice Friday night.
“I think our mental discipline in terms of our systems and sticking to it, was kind of lacking at times over the last four games, just simple reads we made, our stick placement, stuff like that, but the effort was there tonight,” he said.
“Our power play, obviously, struggled big time and it is something we are going to have to look at going forward and I didn’t like our attention to detail in some areas. We will watch the video and we will clean it up.”
A number of individuals caught the coach’s eye in a positive light Friday night.
“I thought Jack Kelly was great tonight, he is playing great hockey,” Perry said.
“I thought (Rock goalie) Graham Gee gave us a solid effort between the pipes. Reece Liu was fantastic and tenacious on the forecheck, had a really good stick.
“Our penalty killers, all of them, did a fantastic job and I thought everybody was good. Some guys had some bad moments, but overall it was a good effort by our team.”
Gee stopped 25 of the 27 shots he faced to earn his eighth win of the season in his first start between the pipes since Dec. 14.
Meredith, who turned aside 37 of the 41 shots the Rock directed his way, was tagged with the loss.
NOJHL NOTES — The Daily Press three stars of the game were Kelly, Kim and Secord … The Rock went 0-4 on the power play, while the Paper Kings were 0-5 with the man advantage … Official attendance at the McIntyre Arena was 883 … Friday’s other action saw the Lumberjacks fell the Kirkland Lake Gold Miners 7-3 in Hearst, the Thunderbirds win the air war with the Powassan Voodoos 8-2 in Sault Ste. Marie and the Blind River Beavers credited with a 1-0 victory over the Elliot Lake Vikings by forfeit … The Rock will travel to Iroquois Falls for a game against the Storm at the Jus Jordan Arena on Saturday, at 7:30 p.m.
