Rock rough up Thunderbirds

NEWS RELEASE
NORTHERN ONTARIO JUNIOR HOCKEY LEAGUE
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Led by a Kaeden McArthur hat trick, the Timmins Rock went on to roll past the Soo Thunderbirds 9-2 in Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League play Friday at McIntyre Arena.

The Rock struck first in the matchup when Ben Climenhaga collected in initial NOJHL tally just over two minutes in as he moved in from the point and whipped a shot upstairs from the top of the left circle that eluded Thunderbirds’ netminder Ryan Hicks.

Answering with an equalizer at 6:18, Owen Murphy put Sault Ste. Marie on the board as he deflected a Vincent Bondy attempt that got past Timmins’ starter Frédéric Cousineau.

With the assist, Bondy picked up a point in his NOJHL debut.

Coming back to retake the lead, McArthur ran a point streak to seven by striking shorthanded at 12:32 as he finished off Brant Romaniuk chance that he picked off on the Soo zone.

With the helper, Romaniuk in now on an eight-game heater.

The Timmins duo added another before the first intermission as McArthur buried a Romaniuk feed on an odd man chance.

Adding to their lead four minutes in the middle frame, Ryan Power knocked in his initial league tally by depositing a rebound off a Braedyn Cyr shot.

Running their lead to 6-1 after 40 minutes, Kimani Eccleston tallied twice deep in the session to put the Rock in control.

His first came after his team snagged an errant clearing attempt that led to him knuckling in a chance from between the circles.

Eccleston then collected a puck put off his skate by a Power shot then stuff it in the open side at 19:46.

In the third, McArthur registered his first career three-goal game in the NOJHL by ripping in a rising shot during a man advantage at 8:14.

Adding to the onslaught, Maxfeld Shin worked his way free in front of the T-Birds net and took his chance left where he slid it in.

In the late going, William Lobanov picked up his preliminary tally for Timmins by chopping one in from the slot before the Soo’s Gavin Killoran wrapped up the scoring as he slammed in a feed from down-low by Bondy. 

In the triumph, the Rock improved to 12-5-0-1 and with the loss, the Thunderbirds fell to 13-6-1-1.

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