Maxx Hamelin, engaged in a puck battle with Soo Thunderbirds defender Gianmarco Mastroianni during a 6-5 win at the McIntyre Arena on Jan. 23, is one of the forwards the Timmins Rock will be counting on to supply some offence when the two teams open their best-of-seven series at the McIntyre Arena, on Friday, at 7 p.m. The Rock won three of the four regular-season meetings between the two squads. Photo by THOMAS PERRY /The Daily Press
Timmins Rock’s Jekyll-and-Hyde 2025-26 NOJHL regular season concluded with a 6-3 loss to the Paper Kings, setting up Round 1 matchup against Soo Thunderbirds
Thomas Perry
The Daily Press/Postmedia Network
ESPANOLA — The Timmins Rock’s Jekyll-and-Hyde 2025-26 NOJHL regular season concluded with a 6-3 loss to the Paper Kings at the Regional Recreation Complex, Saturday night.
As a result, the Rock — who had a legitimate shot at second place heading into the final two weeks of the schedule — finished in fourth place and earned a first-round matchup against the Soo Thunderbirds.
While the Rock will enjoy home-ice advantage in the best-of-seven series, that gets underway at the McIntyre Arena, on Friday, at 7 p.m., they will face the NOJHL’s hottest team over the last 10 games of the regular season.
The Thunderbirds (32-15-3-2) went 8-1-1-0 in their final games, to finish just three points behind the Rock (34-14-0-4) who went 4-4-0-2 during that same span.
“I think this is the hardest matchup we could have gotten, out of anybody in the league, in the first round,” said Rock coach and general manager Brandon Perry.
“They are one of the hottest teams in the league right now. They are certainly well-coached, they are disciplined. They have good special teams. They have it all. It is going to be a really tough matchup.”
Travel wise, the only matchup that would have been slightly worse would have seen the Rock play the Eagles, from Sault Ste. Marie, Mich.
“Last year, against the Eagles, we barely got out of that thing alive,” Perry said. “The travel, how physical the series was, it just wasn’t good.
“That’s why it is important to have a good regular season. We had the best-possible version of a schedule the last four games and our guys just didn’t care, didn’t want it (second place).”
Statistically, the Rock outscored the Thunderbirds 245-225 during the regular season and allowed just 149 goals — tied for second best in the NOJHL — while the Soo surrendered 154.
Special teams can be an important factor in a seven-game series and the Rock had the third-best power play in the NOJHL, with a 25.5 percent success rate, while the Thunderbirds were fourth, at 24.9 percent.
On the other hand, the Thunderbirds had the NOJHL’s fourth-best penalty kill, at 82.0 percent, while the Rock were fifth, at 79.9 percent.
With just 453 minutes in the sin bin, the Thunderbirds were the NOJHL’s least penalized team during the regular season, while the Rock who spent 722 minutes in the penalty box were the third-most penalized squad.
Clearly, that trend will have to be reversed if the Rock hope to advance beyond Round 1.
“Just like any series, you have to take care of home ice,” Perry said. “You are never in trouble in a series until you lose on home ice.”
Game 2 of the series will also be played at the McIntyre Arena, on Saturday, at 7 p.m., with Game 3 and Game 4 set for the John Rhodes Community Centre in Sault Ste. Marie, on Tuesday, March 24, at 7 p.m., and Wednesday, March 25, at 7 p.m.
Game 5, if necessary, would be played at the McIntyre Arena, on Friday, March 27, at 7 p.m.
Game 6, if necessary, would be played at the John Rhodes Community Centre in Sault Ste. Marie, on Sunday, March 29, at 7 p.m.
Game 7, if necessary, would be played at the McIntyre Arena, on Tuesday, March 31, at 7 p.m.
Perry normally doesn’t tip his hand in advance in terms of who will get the start in net for the Rock, but he did confirm following Saturday night’s setback Frédéric Cousineau will be manning the crease for Game 1 of the series.
The Rock’s special teams were not so special during Saturday night’s 6-3 loss to the Paper Kings at the Espanola Regional Recreation Complex, Saturday night, as they gave up two power-play markers and a pair of shorthanded tallies.
“We had everything to play for,” Perry said. “We could have moved up in the standings and that team (the Paper Kings) had nothing to play for but they played harder than we played.
“We would have loved to have played Espanola in the first round, we would have loved it, but here we are in another four-five dogfight.”
Perry noted the difference between the Rock’s 8-0 home-ice win over the Kirkland Lake Gold Miners Friday night and their 6-3 loss to the Paper Kings in Espanola, Saturday night, boils down to a lack of effort.
“At the start, for sure, then we got buried in penalties,” he said. “I have never seen anything like it. One of our guys got hit from behind and they put him in the box for boarding. I have never seen anything like it.
“We got buried in penalties the first two periods, buried in a big hole, and we can’t kill penalties. We watch video all the time, but guys don’t listen. They don’t do it hard, they don’t do it right and they (Paper Kings) score on the power play. We dug ourselves a hole and we couldn’t get out of it.”
The coach felt some Rock players gave a solid effort, but he was not about to hand out any extra praise after a 6-3 loss.
“I am not going to start singling guys out right now,” Perry said. “Sure there were some, but it’s not like … I don’t know what to think about this hockey team. It’s just frustrating.
“This group just doesn’t take this game seriously. We just lack details. For a team that does so much video and plays with so much structure … I have never seen it. I called a timeout tonight with three minutes left. We were on a five-on-three, pulled the goalie, literally drew up a play and our guys went out there and did something totally different.
“I just don’t understand it. I can’t help these guys if they don’t want to be helped.”
The Paper Kings jumped out to a 1-0 first-period lead, Saturday night, on Joseph Coates’ power-play marker, his 26th goal of the season.
Blue-liner Ben Hugessen’s second goal of the campaign got the Rock back on even terms 39 seconds into the middle frame.
But it took the Paper Kings just 17 seconds to reclaim the lead, as Owen Smith netted the first of his two consecutive goals and 23rd of the season.
Smith’s second goal, a power-play marker, put the Paper Kings up 3-1.
Carter Drigo’s shorthanded tally, his 32nd goal of the campaign, then increased the Espanloa advantage.
The two sides then exchanged goals in the final minute and a half of the frame, with Lucas Lowe netting his 11th goal of the season for the Rock and Callum Millar countering with a power-play marker, his 13th goal of the campaign, for the Paper Kings.
Lowe’s second goal of the game and 12th of the season, a power-play marker, gave Rock fans a little hope, but it was short lived.
Coates’ second goal of the game and 27th of the season, another shorthanded marker, with Rock goalie Ayden Mullen on the bench in favour of an extra attacker, closed out the scoring, leaving the final 6-3 in favour of the Paper Kings.
Logan Vale, who turned aside 40 of the 43 shots the Rock directed his way, picked up his 17th win of the season for the Paper Kings. To add insult to injury, he also earned an assist on Coates’ second goal.
Mullen, who stopped 17 of the 22 shots he faced, was tagged with the loss for the Rock.
NOJHL NOTES — The three stars of the game were Smith (two goals, one assist), Rock forward Maxfeld Shin (two assists) and Paper Kings forward Graydon Guthrie (one assist) … The Rock went 1-6 on the power play, but surrendered two shorthanded goals, while the Paper Kings were 3-8 with the man advantage … Official attendance at the Espanola Regional Recreation Complex was 150 … Sunday’s action saw the Hearst Lumberjacks triple the Gold Miners 6-2 in Kirkland Lake and the Thunderbirds blank the Blind River Beavers 5-0 in Sault Ste. Marie, Ont.
