HEARST, Ont. – Derek Seguin’s second goal of the game, coming with 15:29 remaining in regulation proved to be the game-winner as the Timmins Rock went on to defeat the Hearst Lumberjacks 4-2 Sunday evening in front of a near-capacity crowd as Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League preseason play came to a close at Claude Larose Arena.
Maxin Lacroix staked Hearst to an early lead as he scored 1:11 into the contest with the lone tally of the opening frame.
Seguin’s first of the night, 36 seconds into the middle stanza, tied it for Timmins and Wayne Mathieu put the Rock on top after that with a man advantage effort three and a half minutes later.
It stayed 2-1 for the visitors until Seguin’s eventual difference maker in the final session.
The home side did move back to within one with 9:16 remaining in regulation thanks to Case Moioffer, but Jared Hester iced it for the visitors with an empty net marker in the final minute to round out the night’s scoring.
Eric Jackson in goal for Timmins and stopped 11 of 12 attempts in 29 minutes of work while teammate Brendan Bishop picked up the win in relief as he handled 27 of the 28 shots fired his way.
Artem Bortovskiy got the nod to begin for Hearst turning aside 11 of 13 while Nicholas Dube suffered the setback in relief with 28 saves in his time between the pipes.
The NOJHL’s 2017-18 regular season gets underway Thursday as the Rayside-Balfour Canadians host the Elliot Lake Wildcats in a 7 p.m. start at Chelmsford Arena.
