TIMMINS, Ont. – The Timmins Rock were firing on all cylinders, including getting five second period goals, as they went on to dump the Cochrane Crunch 9-0 in a Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League meeting Wednesday at McIntyre Arena.
On the power play midway through the opening frame, Brandon Rossetti moved in after a Crunch defender went down and fired one upstairs from the left of netminder Marcus Ouellet.
The home side came right back and tacked on another, a minute and a half later, with Brady Harroun notching his team-leading 29th tally as he too went top shelf from high slot that appeared to clip off a defender following a faceoff win by Nicolas Pigeon.
They then saw Justin Charette make it 3-0 after one by banging in a rebound from between the hash marks that was generated off an Ethan Pool rush.
Blowing it open with five markers in the middle session, the Rock put the game out of reach.
Pool began the outburst as he knocked down a clearing attempt and proceeded to rip a shot high blocker side on Ouellet.
Pigeon then went to work as he had time to snap one into the top right hand corner for his initial tally at 6:32.
Timmins then clicked again a minute later Hayden Rynard converting after Lucas Lowe pushed back a draw.
Pigeon then potted another at 11:22 as he picked his spot from close range.
Pool then capped off the offensive onslaught in the stanza as he too reach multi-markers on the night as he saw a loose puck find its way too him at the left of the crease, where he slid it in at 18:56.
The hosts then finished off the one-sided result early into the final frame after Nolan Ring darted out from behind the net and banked an attempt off a Crunch defenceman which got by Jake Dubinsky who had entered the contest in place of Ouellet to cap off the night’s scoring.
Posting the shutout was Patrick Boivin as he picked up his fourth of the season.
That gives the Rock a combined nine on the year, which leads the NOJHL.
With the outcome, Timmins reached the 30-win plateau in 2022-23 as they improved to 30-6-3-2 overall while Cochrane fell to 6-31-1-1.
The result also sees the Powassan Voodoos become the third team in the league to clinch a playoff spot, joining fellow East Division sides, the Rock and Hearst Lumberjacks to secure a postseason bid.
Game Photos:
Thomas Perry – The Daily Press/Postmedia Network