TIMMINS, Ont. – The Timmins Rock saw Evan Katic tally twice and then withstand a late push by the Iroquois Falls Storm before eventually prevailing 4-3 Friday night in a Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League encounter at McIntyre Arena.
The Rock opened the scoring nearly six minutes into the contest when Katic worked his way out of the corner into the right circle and wired a shot upstairs into the far side over the blocker of Storm starter Keenan Connely.
With the goal, Katic extended a consecutive game point streak to six consecutive contests.
Adding another before the first intermission, Matteo Paradiso joined Katic on a six-game heater as he was left with plenty of room to bury a pass put his way by Maxx Hamelin.
Heading to the second stanza, the Rock went up by three with a man advantage effort off the stick of Katic as he batted in a loose puck out of the air from the left of the crease.
Iroquois Falls eventually solved Timmins’ goalkeeper Declan McNamara midway through the matchup when Arthur Seamus McCown finished off a give-and-go passing play with Matys Lefebvre.
A shorthanded effort from Ashton Beriana late in the session put the home side up by three entering the third as he was sent in alone via a headman feed from Ben Climenhaga and made no mistake with a sharp snap shot.
Pulling back to within two early in the final frame, Seamus McCown potted his second of the evening when he pumped in a one-timer courtesy of another assist from Lefebvre.
The Storm then got Connely out for an extra attacker in the last couple of minutes in an effort to pull closer, and did just that, while also on a power play, when Simon Lemieux lofted one in from distance through a maze of bodies with 1:16 to go.
Still on the man advantage and getting their goalkeeper out once more, Iroquois Falls pushed for an equalizer to try and force overtime, but Timmins held the fort defensively to continue their winning ways.
With the triumph, the Rock improved to 12-4-0-1 and in the slim setback, the Storm dropped to 5-12-1-0.
Game Photos:
Thomas Perry – The Daily Press/Postmedia Network
