Photo: Allyson Demers
KIRKLAND LAKE, Ont. – Surging out to an early lead, the Timmins Rock got a big night from Liam Wells and won their third Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League contest in succession Wednesday as they defeated the Kirkland Lake Gold Miners 8-0 at Joe Mavrinac Community Complex.
Timmins needed just over two minutes to open the night scoring as they controlled a faceoff in the Kirkland Lake zone and had a couple of attempts on net before Kaedyn McArthur backhanded one into the open side to the right of goalkeeper John Lloyd.
Adding another, while on the power play, the Rock moved the puck around nicely and saw Wells stuff one under Lloyd as the guests took early control.
Not done there, a third Timmins tally before the midway mark of the first period saw Lucas Piekarczyk chip a play up to an open Brady Harroun, who calmly lifted one over the outstretched pad of the Gold Miners’ netminder for his NOJHL-leading 16th goal of the season.
Up a skater late in the middle session, the visitors went up by four right off the draw as Ethan Pool fired a rising shot from up top that hit Wells high and bounced off him into the net.
Harroun then added his league-best 17th in the final minute of the frame as he made a nice move around a Gold Miners’ defenceman then proceeded to put a shot over Lloyd’s blocker to put the Rock up by five after two.
In the final frame, Timmins put the game out of reach 66 seconds in when Felix Cadieux-Fredette snapped a shot through a maze from the left point that sailed into the top right-hand corner for his fourth of the year.
Scoring again, Justin Charette was left to jam one in from in close off following a Nolan Ring opportunity.
Adding another long-range effort, Cadieux-Fredette bagged his second of the period, this time while his side had a man advantage, to finish off the romp.
Posting the shutout was Jacob Brown for his second of the season and NOJHL-high fifth overall, as a team, for the Rock.
The victory helped Timmins win their 14th game of the season and with the two points put them back in top spot in the NOJHL East, one point clear of idle Powassan, who do have a game in hand.
Gallery Photos:
Thomas Perry – The Daily Press/Postmedia Network