TIMMINS, Ont. – The Timmins Rock trio of Kaeden McArthur; Maxfeld Shin and Maxx Hamelin all contributed multi-point performances Sunday as part of a 6-2 victory over the Greater Sudbury Cubs in an afternoon Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League affair at McIntyre Arena in front of 770 spectators.
The loss marks the first defeat in regulation time for Greater Sudbury since back on November 8, which saw them go 24-0-1-2 in their previous 27 outings.
It was the Cubs who began the scoring with an early Spencer Horgan power play marker as he whipped one through a crowd and past a screened Rock netminder Ayden Mullen.
Answering back, Timmins banged in a trio of tallies to take a 3-1 lead into the first intermission.
Hamelin at 5:15 evened things up as he took a draw won back to him from Shin and picked the short side corner on Greater Sudbury goalkeeper Iain Wintle.
The home side then took the lead eight minutes later courtesy of Lucas Lowe, who potted his 10th of the campaign with a rising attempt while darting down the right wing.
With that, the Cubs opted to make a goaltending change as Matthew Vahramian entered in extended relief.
Timmins however got to Vahramian during a man advantage as Evan Katic pumped in a rebound off a McArthur in close chance.
A chippy second stanza saw the Rock notch the lone goal of the session at 12:38 as Shin spun in the slot and wired one in after a soft feed off the stick of McArthur.
On a man advantage to begin the third, Horgan got the guests closer in the opening minute when he sidestepped around a couple of defenders before wiring in his 18th of the season, which ties him for the league-lead among NOJHL defencemen.
Countering while up a skater themselves, former Greater Sudbury defenceman Brady Bouchard picked his first as member of the Rock as he took a cross-ice pass at the point from Matteo Paradiso and cranked a blast past Vahramian.
That gives Paradiso points in seven straight games.
McArthur then iced it for Timmins with an empty netter late while being hauled down to wrap-up the well-earned victory.
With the result, the Rock improve to 33-12-0-3, and while seeing their extended winning run come to a close the Cubs drop to 37-7-2-2 overall.
Game Photos:
Thomas Perry – The Daily Press/Postmedia Network
