FRENCH RIVER – A pair of first period goals helped send the Timmins Rock on their way to an eventual 4-1 win over the French River Rapids in a Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League encounter Sunday afternoon at Noelville Arena.
Stewart Parnell put the visitors on the board midway through the opening frame as he collected his 18th marker of the campaign in his 120-game NOJHL career game.
Timmins tacked on another before the session was over when Tyler Gilberds put in his 16th at 12:57.
French River cut into the deficit with the lone tally of the middle stanza thanks to Connor Loft, who connected on the power play, five minutes into the session.
The Rock regained their two-goal cushion moments into the third as Josh Dickson buried his 20th just 34 seconds into period.
They then got an insurance marker from Phil Caron four minutes later to round out the scoring.
Riley Brousseau dished out two assists in aid the Timmins offensive cause.
Vance Meyer made 27 stops to get the win, his 13th in 17 appearances in this his rookie season, while Ben Montgomery faced 45 attempts in defeat for the Rapids.
With the result, 33-7-1-1 Timmins moves back into a first-place tie with the idle Powassan Voodoos, who edged the Rock 1-0 Saturday night, for top spot in both the NOJHL’s East Division standings as well as first place overall in the 12-team league.
Game Photos courtesy of Dal Photography