Photos: Allyson Demers
KIRKLAND LAKE, Ont. – A Lucas Dubois marker in the fifth round of the shootout proved to be the difference as the Kirkland Lake Gold Miners prevailed 3-2 over the Timmins Rock Thursday evening in a Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League goaltenders duel at Joe Mavrinac Community Complex.
An early chance for the Gold Miners saw Owen O’Grady put a shot past Timmins starter Logan Coates in the first minute, but his attempt rang off the crossbar and sailed into the corner.
A point-blank cross-crease stop by Kirkland Lake netminder Asher Ammann later in the session kept it scoreless.
The home side eventually broke the deadlock at 14:12 of the contest when Ben Lyons blocked a pass by a Rock defender with his skate in close then proceeded to lift a backhand by Coates for an unassisted effort.
With the tally, Lyons now has points in each of the Gold Miners’ four games so far this season.
More from Lyons deep in the period saw him stop a point shot in his own zone, then dart up ice before putting the puck to the target from the left side where Koen Tremblay, going to the net, chipped in his initial NOJHL goal, in making his league debut.
Moving to the second stanza, Timmins cut into the deficit four and a half minutes in thanks to Tannen Iserhoff, who buried one from the slot as he finished off a down-low feed from Ashton Beriana.
The visitors then drew level at 5:32 when Rock Oosterveld potted his first as a member of the Rock as he jammed in a chance in the crease generated by teammate Philippe Lafontaine.
Remaining tied in the third, a stellar stop by Ammann late in regulation kept it that way to help force overtime.
In OT, there was end-to-end action, but as they did all night, the goaltenders stood tall to send it to extra attempts.
There they exchanged two goals apiece through four rounds before Dubois won it as he came down slowly on the left wing before cutting to the middle and making a quick move, then ripping the decider into the right corner to end it.
With the victory, Kirkland Lake improves to 3-0-1-0 on the season while Timmins suffered their first setback, but gained a point, in dropping to 2-0-0-1.
