Timmins Rock forward Nolan Masson drills a shot past French River Rapids goalie Ethan Madden for his fourth goal of the season during the first period of Sunday afternoon’s NOJHL contest at the McIntyre Arena. Masson’s goal gave the Rock a 1-0 lead in a contest they would go on to win 13-1. Photo by THOMAS PERRY /The Daily Press
It was the second-straight victory and 23rd in the past 24 games for the Rock (29-6-0-1) who pulled to within five points of the NOJHL-leading Greater Sudbury Cubs (29-6-2-2) atop the standings
Thomas Perry
The Daily Press/Postmedia Network
The Timmins Rock exploded for seven unanswered second-period goals en route to a 13-1 win over the French River Rapids at the McIntyre Arena, Sunday afternoon.
It was the second-straight victory and 23rd in the past 24 games for the Rock (29-6-0-1) who pulled to within five points of the NOJHL-leading Greater Sudbury Cubs (29-6-2-2) atop the standings, with three games in hand. After having their 21-game winning streak snapped the Powassan Vooodos, on Tuesday, the Rock took down the Soo Thunderbirds 6-5 in overtime at the McIntyre Arena, Friday night.
And the Rock became the second NOJHL squad to clinch a playoff spot this season.
“It was a good game, everybody chipped in and everybody played well,” said Rock coach and general manager Brandon Perry, summing up Sunday afternoon’s effort.
“Obviously, we are not always aiming for a 13-1 result, but the pucks were going in, so that was good.”
Even though the Rock outshot the Rapids 17-3 in the opening period, Sunday afternoon, they only led the contest 1-0 after 20 minutes of action.
Nolan Masson’s fourth goal of the season staked the Rock to that advantage, early in the frame.
But the Rock scored early and often in the second period, as they broke the contest wide open.
Lucas Lowe’s seventh goal of the season got the puck rolling in the right direction for the home side 43 seconds into the middle frame.
Kaeden McArthur then added his 29th tally of the campaign, kicking off a stretch of four goals in a span of one minute and 52 seconds.
Maxx Hamelin followed with a power-play marker, the first of his three goals in the game and fifth of the season.
Maxfeld Shin then added his eighth and ninth goals of the campaign, 17 seconds apart.
The Rock weren’t done there, however, as Ryan Power added his fourth goal of the season and Matteo Paradiso netted his 13th of the campaign to put the Rock in front 8-0 heading into the second intermission.
Hamelin’s added his second goal of the game, and sixth of the season, when the puck dropped to get the third period underway and Ashton Beriana’s added third marker of the campaign.
Ryan Armitage’s eighth goal of the season then made it an 11-0 hockey game.
At that point, the only item left to be decided was whether or not Rock goalie Virgil Sausset Plateaux would post a shutout in his first start for the team.
But Ryder Tracy’s first goal of the season ended that hope and got the Rapids on the scoreboard.
“(Virgil) played great though,” Perry said. “He was solid when we needed him to be. Even in the first period, when we outshot them 17-3, all three shots were high-danger chances and he made the stops.
“We weren’t surprised, we had played against him earlier in the year and he took us to overtime. He made a lot of big saves in that game and, as I mentioned earlier, he beat the Lumberjacks in Hearst this year.
“With how much time we dedicate to developing our goalies, every Tuesday and Thursday morning, I think he just going to keep getting better and better.”
Blue-liner Matthew Kim got that one back for the Rock when he scored his 11th goal of the season.
Hamelin then closed out the scoring when he completed his hat-trick by netting his seventh goal of the campaign.
While Perry was happy to see Hamelin get a hat-trick and Shin a pair of markers, he really like how balanced the Rock attack was Sunday afternoon, with all four lines hitting the scoresheet and the blue-liners combining for eight points.
“We just rolled four lines today and it was a nice, stress-free game,” he said. “We got to play everybody and everybody chipped in offensively, which is good.”
With 23 wins in their past 24 games, the Rock are playing with a great deal of confidence right now, with the playoffs just around the corner.
“Our mentality here is just on to the next game,” Perry said. “We are not looking at what our record is, or what we did last game. We have Monday ahead of us and Monday we are going to get a little bit better, hopefully, and then Tuesday we are going to play a game.
“We have been playing good hockey for a long time now and we have a really deep team.”
Sausset Plateaux stopped 18 of the 19 shots he faced to earn his third NOJHL win of the season and first in his first start as a member of the Rock.
Rapids starting goalie Ethan Madden, who turned aside 32 of the 41 shots the Rock directed his way in his 48:28 of work, was tagged with the loss. Matis Bureau Morel blocked eight of the 12 shots he faced in his 11:32 of relief work.
NOJHL NOTES — The Daily Press three stars of Sunday afternoon’s game were Hamelin (three goals, one assist), Shin (two goals, two assists) and Evan Katic (three assists) … The Rock went 1-2 on the power play Sunday, while the Rapids were 0-1 with the man advantage … Official attendance at the McIntyre Arena, on Sunday, as 720, while 774 fans watched Friday night’s contest … Sunday’s other action saw the Soo Thunderbirds blank the Gold Miners 3-0 in Kirkland Lake, the Lumberjacks topple the Iroquois Falls Storm 7-1 in Hearst and the Soo Eagles outscore the Beavers 8-6 in Blind River … The Rock will return to action when they host the Hearst Lumberjacks at the McIntyre Arena, on Tuesday, at 8 p.m.
