HEARST, Ont. – A trio of early tallies helped send the Timmins Rock on their way Sunday to a 6-2 road decision over the Hearst Lumberjacks in Game 2 of their Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League East Division semifinal in front of 973 spectators at Claude Larose Arena.
With the result, this best-of-seven series is now tied 1-1 heading to Game 3 in Timmins Wednesday at 7 p.m. at McIntyre Arena.
Timmins came out strong and went up by three goals before the contest was just over 10 minutes old on markers from Josh Anderson, on the power play, along with even strength efforts courtesy of Keegan McMullen and team captain Derek Seguin.
Max Griffioen got one back for Hearst at 15:26 as the Lumberjacks captain notched his second goal of the series.
Each side added man advantage markers in the second stanza with Max Johnson bringing the home side to within one at 14:21, only to see Mahinghan Decontie get that back for the Rock a couple of minutes later.
Timmins put the game away in the final frame however on Rhys Chiddenton’s first NOJHL playoff goal and an empty netter from McMullen to level the series at a game apiece.
Hearst did hold the edge in shots on net by a 26-23 count with Tyler Masternak picking up the win while Nicholas Tallarico was saddled with the loss.
East Division semifinal
No. 1 Hearst Lumberjacks vs. No. 4 Timmins Rock
Best-of-seven series tied 1-1
Game 1: Hearst 6 Timmins 3
Game 2: Timmins 6 Hearst 2
Game 3: Wednesday, March 20 @ Timmins 7 p.m. (McIntyre Arena)
Game 4: Friday, March 22 @ Timmins 7 p.m. (McIntyre Arena)
Game 5: Sunday, March 24 @ Hearst 7 p.m. (Claude Larose Arena)
Game 6*: Monday, March 25 @ Timmins 7 p.m. (McIntyre Arena)
Game 7*: Wednesday, March 27 @ Hearst 7 p.m. (Claude Larose Arena)
*-if necessary