SAULT STE. MARIE, Mich. – Back on track, the defending Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League-champion Timmins Rock skated to their seventh consecutive victory Friday as they topped the Soo Eagles 4-2 at Pullar Stadium.
Timmins scored first in the match-up, as Thomas Beard connected nearly eight minutes in as he buried a loose puck off a Ryan Armitage attempt, following a face off win, that beat Sault Ste. Marie starter Marino Ramirez.
Converting again early in the second stanza, Mason Svarich scored just 23 seconds in as he neatly tipped in a low Elijah Pool effort from the right point.
Trading tallies later in the frame, Timmins took a 3-1 lead into the second intermission.
The Eagles got one via Brady Balagna as he notched his initial NOJHL marker at 12:59 by wiring a shot from the right circle that beat Rock netminder Riley Dryden, who had replaced Patrick Boivin a couple of minutes earlier as the latter had to leave briefly to repair an equipment issue.
Beard got that back for the visitors, when he finished off a goal-mouth scramble with multiple skaters battling in front of a downed Ramirez.
Heading to the final frame, the Soo pulled back to with a goal, while up a skater, as Kenny Belanger Jr., slammed in a rebound past a downed Boivin.
The Eagles then pressed late to try and tie it and send it to overtime, however Timmins’ Nolan Ring sealed the result with a close-ranger empty netter, just before time expired.
With their winning ways continuing, the Rock moved to 10-6-1-0 following the triumph while the Eagles fell to 12-4-0-1 on the campaign.
