St. Andrew’s College Saints forward Spencer Greenhalgh impedes the progress of Timmins Rock forward Ashton Beriana during Day 1 of the NOJHL Showcase Tournament at the Gerry McCrory Countryside Sports Complex, Tuesday afternoon. The Saints exploded for four late goals to defeat the Rock 8-5. (ROB FERA / POINTS NORTH MEDIA)
St. Andrew’s College struck for four goals — three of them coming in a span of 1:18 — in the final six minutes of the contest to take command of what had been a back-and-forth contest up until that point
Thomas Perry
The Daily Press/Postmedia Network
SUDBURY — The St. Andrew’s College Saints schooled the Timmins Rock on the need to play a full 60 minutes of hockey at the Gerry McCrory Countryside Sports Complex, Tuesday afternoon.
As a result, a three-goal Saints’ explosion in the span of 1:18 late in the third period turned a one-goal Rock lead into a two-goal deficit that would eventually lead to an 8-5 setback on Day 1 of the NOJHL Showcase Tournament.
It was the first regulation loss of the season for the Rock, who fell to 6-1-0-1 on the season, as the results from the Showcase count in the NOJHL standings.
Coach and general manager Sheldon Reasbeck’s Rock team clearly had some issues with consistency in Tuesday afternoon’s contest.
“As soon as we got a little lead, it happened in the first period and as soon as we went up 5-4, as well, we played differently,” he said. “We play really differently when we get down by a few goals, as well. We got lots of learning tools from this one today.”
Despite being outshot 17-7 in the opening 20 minutes of action, the Rock emerged with a 2-1 lead heading into the first intermission.
Goals by Matteo Paradiso, his third tally of the season, and blue-liner Nolan McVeigh, his first marker of the campaign gave the Rock a 2-0 advantage 2:18 into the frame.
But the Saints got on the scoreboard a minute-and-half later when Andy Huang scored.
“We started off pretty hot and got two goals early,” Reasbeck said. “Then, we changed our game. We are going to have to learn as a team to never count opponents out.
“They (the Saints) were younger, but those kids are very talented. I tried to tell the boys, but it ended up just being a learning experience on how to play with a lead, not under estimate your opponent, even when you are up a couple of goals.
“Little things like that tend to bite you in the butt, more often than not.”
Blue-liner Nolan Chabot second goal of the season, a power-play marker, put the Rock up 3-1 just shy of the seven-minute mark of the middle frame.
Again, the Saints came marching back as Alec Walker netted the first of his two goals on the afternoon.
Goals by Nate Feiner, on the power play, 31 seconds into the third period, and Ryan Murray, shorthanded, two-and-a-half minutes later, then got the Saints back on even terms and gave them a 4-3 lead.
Back-to-back power-play markers saw the Rock tie things up and then take a 5-4 lead in a span of less than two minutes. Ashton Beriana, with his third goal of the season, and blue-liner Ben Climenhaga, with his second tally of the campaign, accounted for that offensive outburst.
But the Saints struck for four goals — three of them coming in a span of 1:18 — in the final six minutes of the contest to take command of what had been a back-and-forth contest up until that point.
Tucker Sinclair, with a power-play marker, Walker, with his second goal of the afternoon, Gianni Livolsi and Feiner, with his second goal of the afternoon, accounted for the St. Andrew’s College.
The last of those four tallies came into an empty Timmins net with Rock goalie Logan Coates on the bench in favour of an extra attacker.
Reasbeck acknowledged his Rock players were rattled by the quickness with which the Saints struck to take command of the contest.
“This is the type of team that takes advantage of your mistakes and lack of D zone coverage, turnovers, things like that,” he said. “Against this type of team, every turnover is an odd-man rush the other way and a great scoring opportunity.
“If we are not sound in our D zone, they find ways to exploit it.”
On the power play side of special teams, the Rock were close to their NOJHL-best 34.5 percent efficiency rating, but their normally reliable PK was nowhere near its 86.8 percent kill rate.
“They found ways to get around our pressure,” Reasbeck said. “They moved the puck well and they moved around well and they were able to find weaknesses in our penalty kill.
“In terms of our power play, it was pretty good, but we had a lot of opportunities and honestly we could have scored a few more goals.”
The bottom line, however, is anytime you score five goals you should win the hockey game, according to the Rock coach, who did like what he saw from at least a few of his players.
“Matteo Paradiso had a hell of a game,” Reasbeck said. “He was controlling the play and playing well under pressure. He quarterbacked our first power play. He was calm and fast with the puck.
“As a line, Philippe Lafontaine, Thomas Ranger and Rock Oosterveld unit was really buzzing this afternoon. They had a lot of good opportunities. They are young and they had a few little D zone coverage things they have to fix, but other than that that line was buzzing.”
Andrew Menlove, who turned aside 24 of the 29 shots the Rock directed his way, picked up the victory for the Saints.
Coates, who stopped 37 of the 44 shots he faced, was tagged with the loss for the Rock.
NOJHL NOTES — The three stars of the game were Walker, Saints blue-liner Evan Pahanich and Saints forward Cole Cartan … The Rock went 3-9 on the power play, while the Saints were 2-6 with the man advantage … Tuesday’s other action saw the Iroquois Falls Storm top the French River Rapids 7-3, the Kirkland Lake Gold Miners double up the Blind River Beavers 4-2, the Soo Thunderbirds dump the Powassan Voodoos 4-1, the Espanola Paper Kings down the Elliot Lake Vikings 5-3 and the Hearst Lumberjacks edged the Soo Eagles 4-3 in overtime … The Rock will take on the Thunderbirds at the Gerry McCrory Countryside Sports Complex in their final game of the Showcase, on Wednesday, at 4:15 p.m.
