Timmins Rock forward Kai Clayton drills a shot through the five-hole past Kirkland Lake Gold Miners goalie Mason Janicki as teammate Jakob Drobny raises his stick in celebration during the second period of Sunday afternoon’s NOJHL contest at the McIntyre Arena. Clayton’s second goal of the season tied things up and 3-3 in a game the Rock would go on to win 5-4. THOMAS PERRY/THE DAILY PRESS jpg, TD, apsmc
TIMMINS, Ont. – The Timmins Rock got some timely tallies to help them hold off a persistent Kirkland Lake Gold Miners side 5-4 in a tightly-contested Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League match-up Sunday afternoon at McIntyre Arena.
Taking the lead just over six minutes into the contest, Timmins controlled a draw, which led to Clark Scaddan snapping in a shot through a screen from the top of the left circle, over the shoulder of Kirkland Lake netminder Mason Janicki.
Tying it up on a two-man advantage, midway through the first period, the Gold Miners’ Nicolas Saucier pumped in a one-timer from the left side off a pass from Justin Angeles, in beating the Rock’s Graham Gee.
Up two skaters once again, the visitors went in front at 15:42 as Trent Nobes waited patiently before sending a sizzler up high for his team-leading 11th tally of the season.
Countering quickly, Scaddan notched his second of the day after getting a piece of a Braedyn Cyr attempt.
Heading to the middle frame, Timmins’ Travis Poan went in on a breakaway half way through the stanza, but was denied by Janicki.
A third extra-man marker for Kirkland Lake made it 3-2 as Nobes stuffed in a loose puck after Gee could not quite control the puck after a big save.
Answering with another equalizer at 14:40, the Rock’s Henry McLellan was thwarted on an in-close chance, but teammate Kai Clayton swooped in and chipped the rebound into the net.
Moving to the third, Timmins tacked on a fourth on the day as Ryan Armitage snagged a loose puck off a Jakob Drobny point attempt and muscled it into an open corner.
With the assist, Drobny collected his initial NOJHL point.
The Gold Miners then got Janicki out late for an extra attacker in an effort to draw level, however the Rock’s Jack Kelly added some insurance with an empty netter from the neutral zone, as well as extend a point streak to 10 in succession.
Still battling to the end, the Gold Miners added a late goal as Jordan Fitger wired a shot through traffic in the final seconds to round out the scoring.
The triumph sees the Rock improve to 20-8-0-0 overall and extend the winning streak over the 2-23-0-2 Gold Miners to 46 in a row, which dates back to November of 2018.
Game Photos:
Thomas Perry – The Daily Press/Postmedia Network
