TIMMINS, Ont. – The Timmins Rock saw Kaeden McArthur and Jack Anderson both tally twice as part of a 7-2 victory over the French River Rapids Sunday afternoon in Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League play at McIntyre Arena.
Starting the scoring, after winning a face off deep in his own zone, McArthur joined a rush up ice, then took a Thomas Beard feed and went hard to the net and made a move around a Rapids’ defender prior to lifting a backhand past goaltender Elijah Grant.
Coming back to tie it, French River’s Nolan Masson came in along the side boards and fired a shot from a sharp angle that leaked though Dryden Riley in the Timmins net at 14:37.
Going back in front early in the second period, the Rock’s Hayden Rynard forced a turnover on the left side and fired a shot, that was stopped, but Anderson swooped right in to bury the rebound.
McArthur then notched another five minutes into the frame as he collected the puck from Brant Romaniuk and went in where he snapped one over the blocker of Grant.
That resulted in a goaltending change, with Michael O’Sullivan entering the contest for French River.
Upping their edge to three midway through the proceedings, Liam Wells kept a play in the French River end, which later allowed Elijah Pool to blast a shot from the left point that was redirected in by Mason Svarich.
Getting that back 23 seconds later, the Rapids’ Jesse Lefebvre buried a loose puck after Pijus Zemaitis put a shot towards the target.
Another for Anderson put Timmins up 5-2 after 40 minutes as he banked one in off of O’Sullivan from behind the goal line.
In the third, the home side put the game out of reach at 11:11, on the power play, when Lucas Lowe spun in the right circle and ripped one over the shoulder of Grant, who had re-entered the French River net to begin the stanza.
Timmins then capped off the scoring with a late man advantage when Svarich pumped a shot from the left side that clipped off Wells and found its way in.
With the outcome, Riley wins his eighth straight start, improving to 9-2-1-0, while the Rock raised their overall record to 18-9-2-0.
In defeat, the Rapids drop to 8-22-1-0.
Game Photos:
Thomas Perry – The Daily Press/Postmedia Network