TIMMINS, Ont. – The Timmins Rock built up an early lead then needed a couple of third period markers off the stick of defenceman Matthew Kim to help them down the Iroquois Falls Storm 5-2 in a Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League Sunday matinee at McIntyre Arena.
Timmins took a two-goal lead into the first intermission after connecting twice in a nine-second span late in the opening period.
After Thomas Beard put the Rock on the board at 17:22 by lifting one over Storm starter Alex Hall, Ryan Armitage took a Maxfeld Shin feed right off the draw and snapped a low short-side wrister into the net.
Extending their edge 77 seconds into the middle frame, Kaeden McArthur made it 3-0 when he split the Iroquois Falls defence and neatly tucked one through the legs of Hall.
Pressing the pace from there, the visitors got one back at 3:18 as Lucas Willoughby took a Mathieu Ouellette dish then went in alone and snapped a shot over the blocker of Timmins netminder Ayden Mullen to give him points in 10 consecutive contests.
Adding another a few minutes later, Alex Bedic brought the Storm to within one as he pumped in rebound off a Lucas Peever blast from the right side.
Going back up by a pair 4:39 into the third, Kim moved in from the point and hammered one past Hall to give the home side a little cushion.
Kim then sealed the win for Timmins by scoring into an empty net from centre ice in the late going to wrap-up the victory.
The outcome sees the Rock improve to 6-4-0-0 overall while the Storm slipped to 6-5-0-0.
Game Photos:
Thomas Perry – The Daily Press/Postmedia Network
