COLLINGWOOD, Ont. – The Timmins Rock of the Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League came up on the short end of both match-ups they played Thursday in Day 2 action at the Cottage Cup Jr. A Showcase at Eddie Bush Arena in Collingwood.
They began by dropping a 4-3 decision to the North York Rangers (OJHL) in their initial contest of the day, before being bounced 6-2 by the Milton Menace (OJHL).
With a two-period, 20-minute format for both sessions, it was tightly played deep into the first frame, before the teams scored twice apiece in the late going to reach the intermission knotted at 2-2.
A shorthanded marker from the Rock’s Nicholas Frederick opened the scoring at 17:27, only to see Alexander Dimitriadis answer for the Rangers a half-minute later.
Regrouping, Nicolas Pigeon put Timmins back into the lead, with help from Brady Haroun, at 18:25.
Countering, North York drew level on a John Mitchell effort before the first came to a close.
The OJHL club came out quickly in the final stanza to take their first lead, off the stick of Riley Patterson.
Capitalizing on a man advantage, the Rock levelled the proceedings off a Felix Cadieux-Fredette power play goal at 3:57.
However, Patterson tacked on another a couple shifts later for the Rangers, as his second of the day held up as the game-winner.
Jacob Brown faced 26 shots in defeat for the Rock while North York’s Hardy Westman made 14 saves to collect the win.
Moving to Game 2, it was a great start for Timmins as they skated out to a 2-0 cushion after one period, thanks to a couple of power play tallies from Harroun.
Things went off rails for the Rock in the last session though as North York responded with six unanswered goals, to win going away.
The Rangers also held the edge in shots, by a 21-16 count, with Patrick Boivin suffering the loss while Will Goumas picked up the victory.
Timmins will conclude competition at the six-team event Friday, meeting the host Collingwood Blues (OJHL) at 10:40 a.m. and the Navan Grads (CCHL) at 2 p.m.
