Thomas Perry
The Daily Press/Postmedia Network
SUDBURY — The Timmins Rock wrapped up the 2024 NOJHL Showcase with a 3-1 victory over the Blind River Beavers at the Countryside Sports Complex, Wednesday afternoon.
With the victory, the Rock who swept both of their Showcase games, improved to 7-1-0-0 on the season.
Meanwhile, the Beavers — who will kick off a three-game road trip through the North against the Rock at the McIntyre Arena on Friday, at 7 p.m. — dropped both of their Showcase matchups and could only manage a single goal in each contest.
Rock coach and general manager Brandon Perry was happy to see his squad win both of their Showcase games, but he wasn’t totally pleased with what he saw on the ice.
“I am very happy with the results, but it was just a really bad hockey game to be honest with you, nothing really happening on both sides,” he said.
“We were kind of dead, we didn’t have a lot of energy. The puck was bouncing around. I think the shots end up 21-14, something like that. It wasn’t our best effort but we found a way to get another win and we will take it.”
Neither team was able to generate much offence in the opening period of Wednesday’s contest with each squad held to just five shots on goal in the opening 20 minutes of play.
The Rock were able to make one of their shots count, however, as Jack Kelly scored his fifth goal of the season to get them on the scoreboard first.
Aaron Shaw added his second goal of the season, a marker that would stand up to be the game-winner, during the middle frame to make it a 2-0 hockey game.
The Beavers were finally able to get on the scoreboard with 1:24 remaining in regulation, courtesy of Keenan Conn’s fourth goal of the season.
That would be as close as they would come to getting back on even terms, however, as Ryan Armitage deposited his third goal of the season into an empty Blind River net with Beavers goalie Connor Dunham-Fox on the bench in favour of an extra attacker and 13 seconds remaining on the clock.
Even though the Rock coach found his team collectively lacking in some respects, there were still a few individual players who caught his eye in a positive note.
“I thought Brant (Romaniuk), Lowesy (Lucas Lowe) and K-Mac (Kaeden McArthur) played strong games,” Perry said.
“They are a little snake bitten right now and the puck’s not going in for them.
“Our fourth line got us going in the second period and Aaron Shaw scored a beautiful goal. It gave us a little bit of life and we got our feet under us.
“Graham Gee was solid in net.”
Kelly’s first-period marker has him tied with McArthur for the second-most goals, three behind Romaniuk’s team-leading eight.
“Kells has an incredible shot and he snaps the puck really hard,” Perry said.
“He is doing a great job for us. He was a little sick there in the middle of the month (September) and didn’t have much energy but now he is getting his energy back and he’s playing better hockey and scoring goals.
“K-Mac will find his scoring touch, too. He had two goals Tuesday and he will start heating up. Brant had a million chances tonight and any other night three of those would have gone in.”
The Rock were without the services of forward Hayden Rynard (lower-body injury) and blue-liner Tenzin Nyman (upper-body injury) and fans shouldn’t expect to see either back in the lineup anytime soon.
On the bright side, the Rock didn’t incur any new injuries to add to the players already in sick bay.
Graham Gee went the distance in net for the Rock, stopping 13 of the 14 shots he faced to earn his third win of the season.
Dunham-Fox, who turned aside 18 of the 20 shots the Rock directed his way, was tagged with the loss.
NOJHL NOTES — The three stars of the game were Gee, Dunham-Fox and Shaw … Both the Rock and the Beavers went 0-3 on the power play … Wednesday’s other action saw the Iroquois Falls Storm edge the Elliot Lake Vikings 4-3, the Greater Sudbury Cubs top the Powassan Voodoos 4-3 in overtime, the Hearst Lumberjacks dump the Soo Thunderbirds 5-2, the Espanola Paper Kings beat the Kirkland Lake Gold Miners 5-2 and the Soo Eagles soar over the French River Rapids 6-1 … The Rock will return to action on Friday when they host the Blind River Beavers at the McIntyre Arena, at 7 p.m.
