TIMMINS, Ont. – Continuing to rack up victories, the surging Timmins Rock registered their 20th consecutive win Friday by disposing the Hearst Lumberjacks 6-2 in a highly anticipated Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League affair in front of nearly 1,000 spectators at McIntyre Arena.
Pressing the pace from the onset, the Rock banged in three goals in the opening 20 minutes to go up by a three-spot after one.
Ryan Power put Timmins in front 9:20 into the proceedings thanks to generating a turnover in his own zone, then joining a rush and saw him set-up by Ashton Beriana while driving down the slot where he wired a shot past Hearst starter Jack Helkie.
Midway through the stanza, Zach Secord put the hosts up by a pair with his first of the season as he lifted one in through traffic from the point.
Going up by three just before the intermission, Matteo Paradiso clicked at 19:13 when he found the range with a snap shot that eluded a screened Helkie.
Extending a personal single-season high in goals to 27, the Rock’s Kaeden McArthur was sent in alone by Paradiso and saw him roof a backhand at 2:14.
Hearst eventually solved Timmins’ netminder Ayden Mullen just over 11 minutes later as Luc Warner swatted in a cross-ice pass from Mathieu Comeau.
The assist for Comeau helped him run a point streak to a current NOJHL-best 19 straight outings.
Moving to the third period, Lucas Lowe put the home side back up by four and he completed a nice play up-ice in transition with help from Maxx Hamelin and Edan Etheridge.
Countering that with 10:56 to go, the Lumberjacks’ Mikaleb Blier notched his first NOJHL goal as he scooped up a loose puck that came out from the end boards off a Sam Taylor shot and put it to the target where it hit off the skate of a defender and slide in past Mullen.
In the end, Paradiso iced it with a empty netter from distance to help secure yet another triumph for the red-hot Rock.
The result sees Timmins improve to 26-5-0-1 overall in extending their winning streak and with the loss, Hearst slipped to 21-7-0-2.
Game Photos:
Thomas Perry – The Daily Press/Postmedia Network
