The Timmins Rock have traded forward Kimani Eccleston, shown here in action against the Soo Thunderbirds at the McIntyre Arena on Nov. 14, to the CCHL’s Brockville Braves in exchange for a player development fee. The Rock had acquired Eccleston, whose OHL rights are owned by the Sudbury Wolves, from the Braves back on July 17. According to Rock coach and general manager Brandon Perry, Eccleston expressed a desire to play close to his Brampton home. Photo by FILE /The Daily Press
Fans can expect to see Rock continue efforts to fine tune roster in the coming days — despite the current 17-game winning streak — but any future moves will likely be focused around the squad’s blue-line
Thomas Perry
The Daily Press/Postmedia Network
The Timmins Rock roster that exited the NOJHL’s Christmas break is significantly different from the one that entered the holiday pause.
In addition to saying goodbye to forward Brant Romaniuk (24, 22-27-49, 8), the team’s leading scorer — both goals and points — who left for the outlaw BCHL’s Sherwood Park Crusaders, the Rock swung a pair of deals prior to opening the second half of their 2025-26 schedule in Kirkland Lake on Sunday.
The first saw forward Kimani Eccleston (18, 6-9-15, 26) traded back to the CCHL’s Brockville Braves in exchange for a player development fee.
Eccleston, a 6-4 and 202-pound Brampton product, also spent time with the OHL’s Sudbury Wolves (7, 0-0-0, 0).
The Rock has acquired the 2007-birth-year forward from the Braves in exchange for a player development fee back on July 17.
“He just wanted to play a little closer to home,” said Rock coach and general manager Brandon Perry.
The Rock’s second transaction exiting the break saw them acquire 2007-birth-year forward Maxx Hamelin from the MJHL’s Winnipeg Monarchs in exchange for a player development fee.
Hamelin (30, 6-12-18, 18), a 5-10 and 170-pound right-shot Winnipeg product, made his Rock debut during Sunday afternoon’s 3-1 win over the Gold Miners in Kirkland Lake.
“He is a skilled player who will hopefully add some depth scoring to our lineup,” Perry said.
“He did fine today. He is new and the more comfortable he gets with our system and the structure we want to play, the better he is going to get.”
Perry confirmed the Rock did not receive anything in exchange for Romaniuk, as the outlaw BCHL is not part of Hockey Canada, or the Canadian Junior Hockey League.
“The BCHL has always been the premier league in Canada and they commit a lot of guys to (NCAA) Division I,” Perry said.
While the Rock roster still boasts plenty of offence — even after the departure of Romaniuk and Eccleston — Hamelin is one of only three right-shot forwards up front.
“That (shooting right) is just a bonus,” Perry said. “We were just looking for players who can play and Maxx has a good pedigree and he was leading his team in scoring in the MJHL. He was looking for a change and we were lucky to grab him.”
Fans can expect to see Perry continue his efforts to fine tune the Rock’s roster in the coming days — despite the current 17-game winning streak — but any future moves will likely be focused around the squad’s blue-line.
“We currently only have six D, so that’s the biggest thing we have to adjust coming into the (CJHL’s Jan. 10 trade) deadline, but if there is a player out there who is going to make us better, we are going to make the deal,” he said.
“It’s not personal, but we just want to ice the best possible team we can.”
