Photos: Hélène Rancourt
BLIND RIVER, Ont. – The surging Timmins Rock racked up their seventh consecutive Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League victory Saturday after defeating the Blind River Beavers 5-1 in a get together at the Blind River Community Centre.
Despite chances, neither side would connect offensively in a scoreless opening 20 minutes with the Beavers’ Samuel Carreiras-Pata and Ayden Mullen of the Rock, keeping it at 0-0.
In the middle session, the visitors opened the scoring at 4:35 when Edan Etheridge swatted in a back pass from behind the net courtesy of Evan Katic.
Timmins then made it 2-0 moments into a man advantage that saw Maxx Hamelin pump in his 15th of the season as he slid in the back door and finished off a down-low feed from Ashton Beriana.
In the final frame, the Rock picked up some insurance at 5:49 thanks to Simon Toupin who with one hand shovelled in a Philippe Lafontaine chance from up high.
Adding to their lead a couple of shifts later, Matteo Paradiso buried the leftovers off a Beriana chance in front.
After Beriana made it 5-0 by blasting in a chance from the top of the crease while up a skater, Blind River dashed the shutout bid of Mullen in the final minute when Ellyot Dundas, lying on the ice, managed to redirect one in on a late power play to close out the scoring.
Staying hot, Timmins improves to 13-4-0-1 and with the loss Blind River slips to 8-9-2-0.
