The Timmins Rock and the Hearst Lumberjacks, went head to head last night in game one of round two of the NOJHL Playoffs and the Rock, drew first blood. The game was off to a slow start but the Rock, eventually emerged victorious and pulled off a 5-2 win.

“It’s good start in the right direction, we know it’s going to be a long series still so, to get game one here and kind of get our feet going the right way it’s a good game for us.” -said Timmins Rock Head Coach Corey Beer.

The game didn’t see it’s first goal until the final five minutes of the first period. Tyler Schwindt, notched the first goal of the post season for the Rock, and it was a nice redirect from a point shot that Owen Shier took from the point and it completely fooled the Lumberjacks net-minder Liam Oxner.

Moments later, Josh Dickson, who lead the team in points in the regular season, decided to jump in on the fun and wired one on the blocker side of Oxner. That would send the Rock into the first intermission with a two goal lead.

The Rock, came out flying into the second period. Just seconds into the second frame, the puck bounced Dickson’s way and he tallied his second goal of the game six seconds into the period and the Rock, were up 3-0.

“He’s opportunistic for sure, his goal got the life back into the building again. You can’t bank on plays like that, but you surely want to take advantage of it, and it put us up three to nothing, it was definitely a big one. Overall, I liked the whole team concept tonight. Our guys were doing the right thing, and making the right plays. It was good for us.” -Said Beer.

The pace then picked up. With under ten minutes to go in the second period, the Lumberjacks found a bit of life and managed to snipe one bar down on Ty Masternak. The Rock then went into the second intermission with a two goal lead.

Heading into the third, you knew that the Lumberjacks would not go away quietly. The game intensified and the Rock, were on their heels for most of the first half of the final period. Penalties, didn’t really have an impact on the game, the Lumberjacks did have less power play time than the Rock but, they did capitalize on their opportunity early in the third. The score, was now 3-2 and there was still 15 minutes left to play.

The Rock, were looking for an insurance goal and they got it from Zach Smith just before the halfway point of the final frame. The Lumberjacks, did pull Oxner in the final minutes in an attempt to pull off a comeback but the Rock, went on to score an empty net goal and that would do it! Rock win 5-2.

Game one is in the books, and game two now is going to be a completely different animal and the Rock, are going to have to be even more prepared as the Lumberjacks are expected to come back with an answer.

“We just gotta look at the film and see where we can make improvements, stuff we can fix. I don’t know how much tweaking you do because, it’s been one game… let’s see what their answer is too, we’re going to have their best game of the series too. They’ll have a good bounce back and we just gotta be ready for it.” -said Beer.

Game two goes down tomorrow night at the Mac, and the Rock, will look to take a 2-0 series lead. Puck drop will be at 7:00pm, and Tickets for that game are available online at TimminsRock.Com 

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