The Timmins Rock had an opportunity to move closer to that number one spot in the League on Sunday December 15 and they did by pulling off a 9-4 win.

It’s one of the best games to catch as a hockey fan… the Teddy Bear Toss game! What made it even better was that, it was a Teddy Bear Toss game but it was also against the top team in the league, so one can only imagine how crazy the Mac would get if the Rock scored first.

It got crazy, and you couldn’t have picked a better guy to score the goal that sent a bunch of stuffed animals on to the ice. Timmins own Phil Caron sent the rain of cute and fluffy over the glass with a beautiful snipe on the Hearst LumberJacks goaltender Liam Oxner just under two minutes into the first frame.

The wheels fell off early for the Lumberjacks as that first period only got worst for them. Five minutes later, the building still buzzing from the games first goal, the Rock would get two more goals up on the board thanks to Stewart Parnell and Tyler Schwindt. That would end Oxner’s night and in came Noah Zeppa to try and stop the bleeding. He did stop the bleeding and his team was back within two goals after the first 20 minutes of play.

The 953 fans in attendance, were still pumped after that dominant start to the game from the Rock, and the players fed off of that energy. The Rock began the second period the same way they started the game. Just under five minutes into the period and bam! Josh Anderson riffles one past Zeppa, and the Rock restored their three goal lead.

The LumberJacks however, were not going to go away that easily. A few moments later they get one right back. The Rock, could not afford another goal and have the LumberJacks back within one. Well they didn’t allow it… Caron who had been playing a strong game already, scored one on the power play and they regained that three goal cushion… 5-2 Timmins. Hearst needed to find an answer and it wouldn’t have been good to head into the second intermission down three. Keeping that in mind the LumberJacks would score on Ty Masternak and were down 5-3 after 40 minutes of play.

The third period begins and the Rock came out out flying once again, and the flood gates opened. Caron scored his third of the game three minutes into the frame. Fast forward three more minutes and Parnell would score his second of the game and that would end Zeppa’s night and Oxner went back between the pipes, it’s now 7-3.

The LumberJacks left their goaltenders out to dry, but weren’t going to give up. They scored their fourth and final goal moments after Oxner returned to the crease, but the game was over. The Rock were dominant all game and scored a total of nine goals on 26 shots! Rock Captain, Derek Seguin scored the eighth goal and Schwindt would add a late power play marker and that would be his second of the game as well… Rock win 9-4.

The three stars of the game : (1)Phil Caron 3G 3A, (2)Tyler Schwindt 2G, (3)Stewart Parnell 2G 1A.

The Rock, now find themselves three points back behind the number one spot in the NOJHL, and have seven games in hand on the LumberJacks and one on the Powassan Voodoos. The Rock don’t play until Friday December 20, that game will be on the road, then they’ll be back at home on Saturday December 21 to take on the Kirkland Lake Gold Miners. If the Rock keep up this dominant style of hockey, they will be sitting in that number one seed in no time.

For tickets to the game on December 21 you can grab your tickets online at TimminsRock.Com.

Filed under: Local News