Timmins Rock forward Lucas Lowe tries to slide the puck under the pads of Iroquois Falls goalie Justin Sullivan as Storm defender Justin Doak looks on during the first period of Saturday night’s NOJHL contest at the Jus Jordan Arena. While Lowe was foiled on this play, he did score a pair of goals to help lead the Rock to a 5-2 win over the storm and reach the 100-point plateau for his NOJHL career. THOMAS PERRY/THE DAILY PRESS jpg, TD, apsmc
Thomas Perry
The Daily Press/Postmedia Network
IROQUOIS FALLS — Lucas Lowe scored a pair of goals to reach the 100-point plateau for his NOJHL career as the Timmins Rock knocked off the Storm 5-2 at the Jus Jordan Arena Saturday night.
It was the ninth-straight win for the Rock who defeated the Espanola Paper Kings 8-2 at the McIntyre Arena Friday night.
Lowe, who was playing in his 132nd NOJHL game, opened the scoring in the contest when he netted a power-play marker, his eighth goal of the season midway through the first period.
“We were on the power play and we ran out plays right and the puck bounced out front and I got the rebound,” he said.
Blue-line Sam Gallagher doubled the Rock advantage five minutes into the middle frame when he scored his second goal of the season.
Reece Liu’s power-play marker, his eighth goal of the campaign, made it a 3-0 hockey game 3:49 into the third period.
Lowe then added his second goal of the night and ninth of the season just over two minutes later.
“We came up with a game plan depending on what teams do on their breakouts and we ran our forecheck perfectly,” he said.
“We got the puck out front and I just put it away.”
Before Storm goalie Justin Sullivan knew the puck was on Lowe’s stick it was in the back of the net on the bang-bang play.
“I have played with Beardo (Thomas Beard) for most of my career here in Timmins and I just know when he is going to give me the puck,” Lowe said.
“I was ready for it and I just shot it as fast as I could.”
With two goals under his belt, Lowe was determined to complete the hat-trick and while he had a number of chances a third goal eluded him.
“It was my first-year billet’s birthday and I promised him a hat-trick, so I was sad I couldn’t get it for him,” he said.
The Storm got on the scoreboard just past the midway mark in the frame when Isaiah Felix scored his second goal of the season, a marker that came just as an Iroquois Falls penalty expired.
Now down just three goals, the Storm pulled goalie Justin Sullivan in favour of an extra attacker and they were rewarded when former Rock forward Jaden Lyons scored his sixth goal of the season.
The Rock got that one back less than a minute later, however, as Thomas Beard scored his eighth goal of the season.
Once again trailing by three goals, the Storm opted not to pull Sullivan again in the game’s final few minutes despite their earlier success.
As a result, the Rock went on to wrap up their ninth-straight victory.
With nine-straight wins under their belt, Lowe feels the Rock are starting to hit their stride.
“It’s a pretty good feeling and obviously we have a great group of guys,” he said.
“We have been bearing down the past couple of weeks.”
Rock coach and general manager Brandon Perry was happy to see his squad pick up four points on the weekend and, for the most part, play some solid hockey.
“I thought we played fantastic Friday night and I didn’t mind our game tonight,” he said. “Guys are tired, guys are a little banged up, playing at such a high level here the last three or four weeks.
“It’s hard, it’s really hard to show up every day and meet that standard, meet that work ethic. We were trying tonight, we obviously weren’t as clean as we normally are, but credit to them, they gave us fits.”
The coach once again liked what he saw out of Lowe’s game, in all three zones.
“Listen, he has been great all year,” Perry said. “We are hard on him because we expect a lot from him. He is a leader on our team. He has been here three years, so he doesn’t get to take nights off.
“It was just another great effort from him tonight.”
The coach also like what he saw from his goaltender in Saturday night’s contests.
“I thought Graham (Gee) was outstanding,” Perry said. “He made two big saves and if those had gone in it would have been a different game. They would have gotten the home crowd into it early and we would have been trailing and chasing the game.
“He gave us a chance to get out there and capitalize on the power play. He was really solid tonight.
“Other than that, it was just an okay game from everybody. I thought (Zach) Secord and (Ayden) Trottier gave us good minutes and it was nice to have Gallagher back from sickness. With (Elijah) Pool out, he had to step in and he scored a beautiful goal.”
Pool received a minimum five-game suspension (under review by the NOJHL) after receiving a gross misconduct for discrimination during Friday night’s win over the Paper Kings.
“Up front, Jack Kelly has been playing some of his best hockey here.”
Gee stopped 33 of the 35 shots he faced to earn his sixth win of the season.
Sullivan, who turned aside 48 of the 53 shots the Rock directed his way, was tagged with the loss.
NOJHL NOTES — The three stars of Saturday night’s contest were Lowe, Felix and Rock blue-liner Zach Secord … The Rock went 2-6 on the power play Saturday night, while the Storm went 0-3 with the man advantage … Official attendance at the Jus Jordan Arena Saturday night was 719 … Saturday’s other action saw the Lumberjacks triple up the Kirkland Lake Gold Miners 6-2 in Hearst, the Greater Sudbury Cubs blank the Paper Kings 9-0 in Espanola, the Eagles get past the Elliot Lake Vikings 7-4 in Sault Ste. Marie, Mich., and the Beavers blast the French River Rapids 8-2 in Blind River … The Rock will return to action when they travel to Hearst for a game against the Lumberjacks on Friday. The next home game will be on Sunday, Dec. 8, when the Rock host the Kirkland Lake Gold Miners at the McIntyre Arena, at 1 p.m.
Gallery Photos: Turnbull’s Northern Photography
