Timmins Rock goalie Dryden Riley prepares to stop a backhand attempt off the stick of Dylan Hendrick, of the Elliot Lake Vikings, as blue-liner Elijah Pool attempts to chase down the forward during the second period of Sunday afternoon’s NOJHL contest at the McIntyre Arena. While Riley was able to make the save, Hendrick crashed into him knocking him and the net into the boards behind the goalie. Riley’s play in the second and third periods helped the Rock defeat the Vikings 4-1. THOMAS PERRY/THE DAILY PRESS jpg, TD, apsmc
A strong goaltending performance from Dryden Riley allowed the Timmins Rock to hold off the Elliot Lake Vikings in NOJHL action at the McIntyre Arena Sunday afternoon.
Thomas Perry
The Daily Press/Postmedia Network
Riley was especially sharp in the second and third periods of the Rock’s 4-1 victory, as the Vikings — playing their third game and two-and-a-half days — peppered him with 29 shots.
A number of those shots came on breakaways as the normally defensively responsible Rock allowed Vikings forwards to sneak behind their blue-liners on more than one occasion.
That was the case on the lone shot that beat Riley, as Ivan Kedrov stepped out of the penalty box, cleared the Timmins blue-liner to put himself onside, took a clearing pass, raced in and beat the Rock goalie for his ninth goal of the season, a shorthanded marker.
Kedrov had one second remaining in his penalty, carried over from the end of the first period, when teammate Matthew Kallo was sent off for interference 55 seconds into the middle frame.
“It was a tough bounce and then it hit the post, hit my back and went in,” Riley said.
“I thought I played it great. I was happy with how far out I was, where I was in my net. Those ones suck, but the play was already over so there was nothing I could do about it. It was just a matter of moving on and stopping the next one.”
The Rock goalie had had a relatively easy first period, as the Rock outshot the Vikings 13-4.
“Elliot Lake came out strong in the second period and in the third period,” Riley said.
“Props to them for not giving up, it was only a two-goal deficit and that’s not a lot. That’s two shots and you are right back in the game. So, I just focused on not giving up another goal.
“I was just trying to be as calm as I could be, didn’t even look at the score, didn’t even think about the score. I had faith from there.”
The Rock jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first period of the contest, as Reece Liu scored his fourth goal of the season and second in as many games.
Ryan Armitage followed that up with the first of his two goals on the afternoon and fourth of the campaign, a marker that would stand up to be the game-winning tally.
After Kedrov scored to close the gap in the middle frame, the Rock restored their two-goal advantage when Travis Poan scored his fourth goal of the season shortly after the midway point.
The Rock carried that 3-1 advantage into the third period and nursed it until Armitage deposited his second goal of the afternoon and fifth of the campaign into the empty Elliot Lake net with Vikings goalie Brogan Colquhoun on the bench in favour of an extra attacker late in the frame.
Riley was finally able to breathe a sigh of relief after that insurance marker crossed the goal line.
“That was a great feeling,” he said. “I was getting beat up in this game. They were cross checking me, I got slew footed, there were a lot of sticks in my mouth.”
The win was the second-straight for the Rock, who have bounced back after enduring a two-game losing skid.
After Sunday afternoon’s victory, they find themselves in a third-place tie with the Hearst Lumberjacks, with both squads boasting 10-4-0-0 records, one point behind the second-place Blind River Beavers (10-5-1-0) in the 12-team NOJHL.
While the Rock recorded a 4-1 victory Sunday afternoon, coach and general manager Brandon Perry was not impressed with the effort his squad put forth in the contest, although he did have a little extra praise for Riley.
“Dryden is probably the only reason we won this hockey game, the only reason,” he said.
“They (Elliot Lake) just worked so much harder than us all over the ice. We were lazy, we didn’t execute anything, mentally, we weren’t there. It just wasn’t a good effort from us.”
Even Armitage’s two-goal effort was not enough to impress his coach.
“They were big goals, but I don’t think the rest of his game there,” Perry said.
“God, I haven’t seen us play that bad all season. It wasn’t good.”
On Saturday, the Rock pulled off a pair of trades to add to their forward group, but neither Kai Clayton nor Nathan Marincola dressed for Sunday afternoon’s contest.
Clayton, a 2004-birth-year Tsawwassen, B.C., product, was acquired from the Kirkland Lake Gold Miners (8, 0-5-5, 0) in exchange for a player development fee. The 6-0, 161-pound, right shot forward spent part of the 2023-24 campaign with the French River Rapids (35, 11-17-28, 16).
He is looking forward to continuing his NOJHL career in a Rock uniform.
“It’s a good feeling and I am happy to be here,” he said. “Hoping I can do lots to help the boys win hockey games. I like to play fast, I like to use my skill and my speed, find teammates or shoot.”
Clayton’s statistics this season and last would suggest he looks for the pass option first, before taking a shot.
“I play the game however it comes to me,” he said.
While the Gold Miners were in Timmins Thursday night, Clayton was not in the lineup for that contest.
“I haven’t played in a while (Oct. 6, against Marincola’s Paper Kings), but I played against Timmins when they were in Kirkland Lake.”
Clayton is looking forward to getting a chance to play in front of the large crowds of Rock fans when he gets the opportunity.
“Big crowds can fuel the boys to play a little harder, so it is going to be exciting,” he said.
Growing up in the Vancouver area, Clayton was a fan of the Canucks.
“Seeing guys like Elias Pettersson, I tried to learn from him,” he said. “He sees the ice really well, so either him or a guy like Auston Matthews.”
Pettersson is, of course, off to a bit of slow start this season with the Canucks, but Clayton doesn’t think he is qualified to offer advice on how the Swedish superstar might break out of his slump.
“He knows what he is doing, obviously, so he just has to play his game and keep working hard,” he said.
Marincola, a 2006-birth-year Stouffville, Ont., product, was acquired from the Espanola Paper Kings (10, 3-3-6, 0) also in exchange for a player development fee. The 5-7, 150-pound, left-shot forward spent the 2023-24 campaign with the Elliot Lake Vikings (57, 12-19-31, 20).
Like Clayton, he is happy to get the chance to continue his Junior ‘A’ career in Timmins.
“It always feels great to come to a winning organization,” he said. “I am really excited to get a chance to play in front of some of the big crowds they have here in Timmins.”
Marincola played against the Rock in Timmins last season, when he was a member of the Vikings.
“It was just a great atmosphere,” he said.
Marincola describes himself as a skilled forward, who can provide offence.
“I can play on the defensive side of the puck, as well,” he said.
In terms of offence, Marincola considers himself to be a pass-first kind of forward, interested in feeding his linemates the puck as opposed to taking the shot.
In terms of players he tried to pattern his game after when he was a youngster, Marincola noted Matthews is his favourite player.
Clayton and Marincola had an opportunity to get in one abbreviated practice with their new teammates after their trades became official on Saturday.
“It will be nice to get them in a full week of practice and see what our lineup looks like Friday night,” Perry said.
“The guys who were in our lineup tonight didn’t help their causes. We have got five lines up front now and if you don’t want to work hard, you are not going to play.”
What can fans expect to see from the two newest members of the Rock once they make their way into the lineup?
“Kai is a veteran guy who has scored everywhere he has been,” Perry said.
“Hopefully, he will add some scoring depth for us. He has a knack in front of the net. Even last night in practice, with the limited time we had, you could tell. He has a great shot.
“Nathan is a young kid, he is quick and hopefully he will bring a lot of energy. He has got underrated offensive upside and I think he and Kai will help us up and down our lineup, make all four of our lines dangerous, in terms of scoring.
“They are going to be good additions.”
After trading Jaden Lyons to the Iroquois Falls Storm earlier this month and acquiring Clark Scaddan (3, 1-2-3, 0) and Dawson Boily (5, 1-2-3, 0) and now Clayton and Marincola, the Rock roster is now full, as two goalies and 23 skaters.
“If we continue to play like we did this afternoon, there are going to be more changes made,” Perry said.
Riley’s 32-save effort helped him win his seventh win of the season, while lowering his goals against average to 2.01 and improving his save percentage to .928.
Colquhoun, who turned aside 38 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 Riley, Armitage and Kedrov … Both the Rock and the Vikings went 0-3 on the power play … Official attendance at the McIntyre Arena was 743 … Sunday’s other action saw the Lumberjacks top the Iroquois Falls Storm 5-3 in Hearst and the Paper Kings dump the Soo Thunderbirds 5-3 in Espanola … The Rock will return to action on Friday when they take on the Voodoos in Powassan, before traveling to French River for a game against the Rapids Saturday night. The next home game will see the Rock entertain the Greater Sudbury Cubs at the Archie Dillon Sportsplex on Friday, Nov. 8, at 7 p.m.