Photos: Cassy Seguin
FRENCH RIVER – Rebounding from an early two-goal deficit, the French River Rapids came back to defeat the Timmins Rock 6-3 in a Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League contest Saturday at Noelville Arena.
Timmins tallied just 61 seconds into the proceedings as Reece Liu slammed in a rebound off a couple of in-close chances.
The Rock then went up 2-0 at 4:03 as Ryan Boon’s feed sent Aaron Shaw in on top off Rapids’ netminder Brock Grein, where he deked to his right and slid his chance into the open corner.
Bouncing back, French River saw Hunter Vilanez bang in two of his own, 35 seconds apart, to knot the affair.
His initial effort saw him fire a shot through the legs of Rock netminder Graham Gee from the left side, before he swiped a loose puck and lifted in a backhand after that.
The Rapids then took a 3-2 lead into the intermission thanks to Cameron Jansa converting on a power play by pumping one upstairs for his seventh of the season.
In the second period, Timmins tied it when a Travis Poan chance rode up on Grein and went in at 3:37.
Nolan Masson then gave French River the lead when his snap shot from the point sailed past a screened Gee, moments into a power play.
Going up by a pair early in the third, Michael Christopoulos benefitted from a turnover in the high slot where he spun and wired home a shot for his team-leading ninth of the campaign.
A late long-range empty-net effort from Alexandre Dubuc helped secure the home-ice triumph for the Rapids, which also concluded the evening’s scoring.
The win moves French River’s record to 5-8-0-2 and with the loss, Timmins slips to 10-6-0-0.
