Timmins Rock forward Brant Romaniuk reaches in to try and secure the puck while linemate Lucas Lowe ties up his man off a face-off in the Paper Kings’ end during an NOJHL contest at the Espanola Regional Recreation Complex, Saturday night. The Paper Kings went on to defeat the Rock 4-3 in overtime and sweep their home-and-home series. Photo by NOJHL NETWORK
Espanola’s Vale once again shines in stellar 59-save effort against frustrated Timmins Rock
Thomas Perry
The Daily Press/Postmedia Network
ESPANOLA — For the second-straight game, the Timmins Rock ran into a red-hot goaltender at the Regional Recreation Complex, Saturday night.
This time, however, they were able to get enough pucks past Paper Kings goalie Logan Vale to force overtime and salvage a single point from a 4-3 setback.
The Paper Kings defeated the Rock 3-1 in the first half of their NOJHL home-and-home series at the McIntyre Arena, Friday night, with Vale making 42 saves.
“Well, we lost again and that’s never good,” said Rock coach and general manager Brandon Perry, summing up his frustrations.
“That guy (Vale) was unbelievable, probably the story of the game. I think he beat us both nights by himself, but we have got to stop saying this stuff. ‘Well, we played good, but we lost.’ We have got to start translating it into wins here.
“I like the way our team played, I did, it’s just how many times are we going to say this? Sooner or later, you just lose. It is a little frustrating but our guys played hard.
“I think special teams was a big story the last two nights, too. We were 1-7 on the power play Friday night and 2-7 tonight, and that team has the worst power play in the NOJHL and they went 50 percent on us tonight.”
Vale’s 59-save effort in Saturday night’s contest was key to the Paper Kings securing a sweep of the home-and-home series — although the person picking the three stars thought it only worthy of third-star recognition.
It was actually the Rock who found the scoreboard first, with Kaeden McArthur’s unassisted effort giving the visitors a 1-0 lead with 2:16 remaining in the opening period.
McArthur’s shorthanded tally was his fifth goal of the season.
But the Paper Kings battled back to tie things up on the same power play, with Colton Loiselle netting his first of two tallies on the evening and third marker of the campaign.
The Rock regained the lead 3:06 into the middle frame, with Brant Romaniuk netting his team-leading eighth goal of the season, also a power-play marker.
But Callum Millar’s power-play tally for the Paper Kings, his second goal of the campaign, tied things up at 2-2 heading into the second intermission.
Loiselle’s second goal of the game and fourth of the season, the Paper Kings’ third power-play marker of the game, gave Espanola its first lead of the contest, 5:03 into the third period.
The Rock were able to tie things up at 3-3 twelve-and-a-half minutes later when Diego Da Silva, who had the Rock’s lone goal Friday night, netted a power-play marker, his seven tally of the campaign.
That set the stage for overtime, with Cameron Menard netting his 12th goal of the season, 1:53 into the extra frame, to give the Paper Kings their 4-3 victory.
“The second one (goal) has got to be stopped, it was a wrist-shot from the blue-line on a rush, and then our details on the other two (regulation goals) were just … on the first one, a guy takes a one-timer that was going five feet wide of the net and hit one of his own players and bounces in,” Perry said, with a chuckle, summing up what went wrong for the Rock Saturday night. “It’s just bounces that aren’t going our way.
“We are all over the (Paper Kings) net, there are pucks laying on the goal line and they just won’t cross for us.
“Our guys played great. They really did. They were hungry, but I thought we took too many penalties. Details on special teams tonight were just the difference in the game.”
After picking up just one point in two weekend games, the Rock (6-5-0-1) find themselves in a tie with the Iroquois Falls Storm (6-7-0-1) for sixth place in the NOJHL standings, although they have two games in hand on their rivals.
“With the talent we have on this team, that’s not good enough,” Perry said.
Despite the most recent setback, the Rock coach found some positives out of Saturday night’s loss.
“I thought our fourth line (Ryan Power, Jake Torres and Tanner Hickey) gave us some real quality minutes,” Perry said. (I thought Victor Hourtouat was great. K-Mac (McArthur) scored a beautiful goal. Our D played hard, everybody played hard, but that’s the problem. We just have to tighten up for 60 minutes. We can’t take a second off.”
Forward Nolan Masson, who was acquired from the MJHL’s Winnipeg Blues (7, 0-0-0, 2) in exchange for a player development fee on Wednesday, saw his first action in a Rock uniform during the home-and-home series.
“He is a kid we know well from playing against him in French River for a few years,” Perry said. “He plays extremely hard and we never liked playing against him.
“It’s tough throwing a new guy in without any practice and knowing how we play, but he did fine on the weekend. Once he gets going, I think he is going to be a valuable piece for us down the stretch.”
Masson, who shoots left, stands 5-10 and weighs 165 pounds, is a 20-year-old Callander product who split last season between the Rapids (32, 12-21-33, 46) and the MJHL’s Daughin Kings (15, 1-4-5, 10).
For the second-straight game, Hickey was involved in a fight, this time tangling with Paper Kings blue-liner Samuel Gravel in the first period of Saturday’s contest. Both players received five-minute major penalties and game misconducts.
Vale, who turned aside 59 of the 62 shots the Rock directed his way, earned his sixth win of the season.
Rock goalie Ayden Mullen, who stopped 20 of the 24 shots he faced, was tagged with the loss.
ESPANOLA 3 ROCK 1
Vale made 42 saves to backstop the Paper Kings to a 3-1 win over the Rock at the McIntyre Arena, Friday night.
It was the first half of a home-and-home series that will see the two sides face off against each other at the Espanola Regional Recreation Complex, on Saturday, at 7 p.m.
Vale held the Rock off the scoreboard for more than 56 minutes, although it appeared they had gotten the puck past him in the first period.
But referee Josh Gonzalez, who had a bird’s eye view of the play, waved off what appeared to be Da Silva’s sixth goal of the season, ruling the net had come off its pegs when Romaniuk and Espanola defender Carter Makasoff crashed into the post seconds earlier.
Da Silva and his Rock teammates attempted to sell the goal by doing a celebratory skate past the Timmins bench.
Gonzalez was not about to change his mind, however, and the Paper Kings carried a 1-0 lead into the first intermission, even though they were outshot by the Rock 15-9 in the frame.
Millar’s second goal of the season accounted for that advantage.
Following a scoreless middle frame, Graydon Guthrie’s fourth goal of the season increased the Paper Kings’ lead to 2-0 just shy of the five-minute mark in the third period.
While at the time that marker provided Espanola with a little insurance, it would actually turn out to be the game-winning tally.
With goalie Frédéric Cousineau on the bench in favour of an extra attacker and the Rock on a power play, Da Silva finally got his squad on the scoreboard when he netted his sixth goal of the season, with 3:10 remaining in regulation.
The Rock again pulled Cousineau in an attempt to secure the tying goal, but Carter Drigo deposited his sixth goal in the empty Timmins net to make the final 3-1 in favour of the Paper Kings.
Hickey and Paper Kings blue-liner Owen Logan were ejected from the contest after each received five-minute majors for fighting and game misconducts.
Hickey also received a double minor penalty for attempt to injure or deliberate injury, an action that could result in further discipline.
Perry admitted Friday night’s loss was even more frustrating that Saturday night’s setback.
“Again, on the first goal we did everything right on our breakout down the middle and we have a two-on-one for 150 feet, but the puck hops over (Rock blue-liner Braedyn) Cyr’s stick and it’s in the back of our net,” he said. “We were outshooting them 9-0 at that point. It’s just these bounces that aren’t going our way.”
Vale, who stopped 42 of the 43 shots the Rock directed his way, earned his fifth win of the season.
Cousineau, who stopped 25 of the 27 shots he faced, was tagged with the loss for the Rock.
NOJHL NOTES — The three stars of Saturday’s game were Menard, Millar and Vale, while The Daily Press three stars of the game were Vale, Cousineau and Guthrie … The Rock went 2-6 on the power play and scored a shorthanded marker Saturday, while the Paper Kings were 3-6 with the man advantage. Friday, the Rock went 1-7 on the power play, while the Paper Kings were 0-4 with the man advantage … Official attendance at the Espanola Regional Recreation Complex Saturday was 191, while 648 fans attended Friday night’s contest at the McIntyre Arena … Saturday’s other action saw the Eagles edge the Iroquois Falls Storm 6-5 in overtime in Sault Ste. Marie, Mich., the Thunderbirds and Greater Sudbury Cubs battle to a 1-1 tie in Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., the Hearst Lumberjacks topple the Rapids 10-4 in French River and the Kirkland Lake Gold Miners upset the Voodoos 7-4 in Powassan … The Rock will return to action on Saturday when they take on the Storm at the Jus Jordan Arena in Iroquois Falls, at 7:30 p.m.
