Timmins Rock complete sweep of home-and-home series

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The Timmins Rock earned a 4-1 win at the Joe Mavrinac Community Complex on Saturday night to cap a win in their home-and-home streak with the Gold Miners.

Rock goalie Jacob Brown made 22 saves to stop the Timmins Rock in a 4-1 win over the Kirkland Lake Gold Miners at the Joe Mavrinac Community Complex on Saturday night. Brown, who defeated the Gold Miners 5-0 on Friday night at McIntyre Arena, celebrated his 11th win of the season on Saturday night. FILE PHOTO/DAYLY PRESS Content of the article

KIRKLAND LAKE — The Timmins Rock earned a 4-1 win at the Joe Mavrinac Community Complex on Saturday night to complete a sweep of their home-and-home streak with the Gold Miners.

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Saturday night’s decision came after The Rock’s 5-0 win over the Gold Miners in the first half of Friday night’s series at McIntyre Arena.

The sweep allowed the Rock (29-6-3-2) to extend their lead over the Lumberjacks (28-9-2-0) at the top of the NOJHL’s East Division standings to five points, even though Hearst was a game in the hand has.

Still, rock coach and general manager Brandon Perry wasn’t thrilled with what he saw of his roster on Saturday night.

“I’m happy that we got the two points, but I wasn’t very happy with our game,” he said.

“The biggest thing is our power play. It just doesn’t produce. We don’t look good, we don’t get good chances.

“It’s a mess right now and we really need to look at this. Maybe we need different staff out there.

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“I don’t know what it is, but we’re certainly not working as hard as we need to work.

“We’re not open to trying different looks. We’re just forcing the same problem over and over and it’s obviously not working.

“Teams watch videos about us and know exactly what we’re going to be doing out there.”

Special teams weren’t the only source of frustration for the coach on Saturday night.

“We were a little bit mentally weak when it came to catching on stuff after the whistle, the chirp, the shove, the stuff that doesn’t matter,” Perry said.

“At one point we were down to eight forwards because everyone had 10-minute misconduct.

“The referees gave us a warning about the game, but our boys went for it anyway. They all got 10s. I think we need to be a little tougher.

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“And then we just played a little too carefree and easy for most of that game.”

Despite the coach’s frustration, The Rock clearly had no bus legs on Saturday night as they flew out and passed the Gold Miners 21-3 in the opening stages.

However, despite the territorial advantage, they could only get two pucks past Gold Miners goalie Ethan Barron in the frame.

Justin Charette opened the scoring when he scored his eighth goal of the season at 14:28 and captain Nicolas Pigeon followed just over two minutes later with his 13th goal of the season in what would prove to be the decisive goal.

The Gold Miners halved the Rock lead thanks to Benjamin Armatage’s eighth goal of the season, staying 2:40 in midfield.

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Yan Bessette, whom The Rock recaptured from the Espanola Paper Kings at the CJHL close on Jan. 10, restored the Rocks’ two-goal lead with 8:33 in the third period when he scored his 12th goal of the season .

And Nolan Ring finished the goal when he hit a power-play marker just over two minutes later, his 12th goal of the season.

Although the Rock outplayed the Gold Miners 9-1 in the two games, the coach noticed a much greater intensity among their East Division rivals.

“They have a new coach (Richard Schoeneich) and more structure,” Perry said.

“They play hard, better hockey. It wasn’t as easy as it was at the beginning of the year, but we haven’t played very good hockey the last two nights.”

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Still, the coach was happier with what he saw of his side in Friday night’s home win.

“Yeah, a bit, our guys played a solid game at home, played well defensively and got out of our own end quickly,” Perry said.

“All six of our D’s back there had really good nights. It was a good, solid home win.”

Despite the coach’s frustration with Saturday’s competition, there were a number of rock players that caught his eye.

“I thought Yan Bessette had a great game and[rock goalie]Jacob Brown was great again,” Perry said.

For the second game in a row, the line from Bessette, Liam Wells and Ethan Pool looked effective.

“It’s going to be a really good line,” Perry said.

“Yan is an interesting player. He’s big, physical and he’s very caring and he works hard. He was rewarded with a goal tonight. He’s really good in front of the net, strong, with fast hands.

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“I also thought Nolan Ring had a great game and Nicholas Frederick had a solid game.

“We had a D playing up front with Tenzin Nyman playing up front and he did a really good job. Chase Longhurst played forward at times and had a good night. Christophe Petit had a good night.

“There was a handful of core guys who worked hard and bought in and then tonight there were just a lot of passengers.”

The only downside for The Rock during the weekend’s two wins was the loss of Wells to an upper-body injury on Saturday night.

“He’s day-to-day and hopefully he’ll be back on Saturday,” Perry said.

Brown stopped 22 of the 23 shots he faced to earn his 11th win of the season.

Barron, who blocked 57 of the 61 shots the Rock directed his way, was marked with the loss.

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ROCK 5 GOLDMINER 0

The Rock continued their dominance at the Gold Miners by beating their East Division rivals 5-0 on Friday night at McIntyre Arena.

Brown stopped all 11 shots he faced to tie Blind River Beavers netminder Charlie Burns for the NOJHL lead in shutouts at five.

Brady Harroun, trailing only Greater Sudbury Cubs sniper Pierson Sobush for the NOJHL lead in goals, scored twice to speed up offense for The Rock.

His first of the night and 27th of the season, 5:29 in the opening stages, would prove to be the game-winning goal.

Wells added his 16th goal of the season nine minutes later, sending The Rock into the dressing room with a 2-0 lead at the first break.

Harroun scored a power-play marker, his second goal of the night and 28th of the season, 1:14 into the second half.

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Pigeon, who had three assists that night, earned his 50th assist of the game.

Blueliner Brandon Rossetti followed seven and a half minutes later with his fourth goal of the season.

And Pool completed the goal when he scored his fourth goal of the season in midfield with just under seven minutes to go.

“I built up some speed in our own zone and got some crossovers going. Then, when I had the little opening, I took it and pushed the puck past the goalie’s five-hole,” he said.

It was Pool’s first game since December 20 and he also added an assist in the contest.

“It felt unreal just being back with the boys,” he said.

“It’s good to know I’m skating 100 percent now, that I’m healthy and able to help wherever I’m needed in the lineup.”

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Playing in line with Bessette and Wells on Friday night, Pool formed a unit that brought both speed and physicality to the competition.

“It’s easy when you have linemates like them because they play with speed and pace,” he said.

“Wells and Bessette both throw a lot with the body. They are heavy hitters and fast skaters.

“We also have good chemistry off the ice.”

Pool notes that it’s a lot more fun playing with Bessette, who The Rock reacquired from the Espanola Paper Kings at the close of business on January 10, than playing against him.

“He’s a really good guy and like I said we have good chemistry off the ice.”

After a series of injuries in the first half of the regular season, Pool is hoping to stay healthy in the second half of the season and into the playoffs.

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In addition to his fifth shutout of the season, Brown’s 11 save performance earned him his 10th win of the season.

Gold Miners goalie Braydon Garnhart, who turned aside 27 of the 32 shots the Rock directed his way, was marked with the loss.

NOJHL NOTES — The three stars of Saturday night’s game were Bessette (one goal, one assist), Barron (57 saves) and Rock forward Nicholas Frederick (one assist), while Friday night honors included Harroun, Pool and Brown… The Rock went 1-8 on the power play while the Gold Miners were 0-4 with a man advantage. Friday night, the Rock went 5-1 on the power play while the Gold Miners had a 6-0 advantage… Official attendance at the Joe Mavrinac Community Complex was 205, while 612 fans attended Friday night’s game at McIntyre Arena… At the other Action on Saturday night, the Powassan Voodoos defeated the Rapids 5-4 in overtime in French River, the Elliot Lake Red Wings flew past the Beavers 3-1 in Blind River and the Thunderbirds defeated the Soo Eagles in Sault Ste 3: 2. Marie…The Rock gets back in action when they host the Cochrane Crunch at McIntyre Arena on Wednesday at 7:30pm

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