TIMMINS, Ont. – Continuing their winning ways, a Brant Romaniuk marker 3:08 into overtime lifted the Timmins Rock to their 11 consecutive Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League victory Sunday afternoon, as they edged the first place Greater Sudbury Cubs 2-1 in a well-played contest by both sides at McIntyre Arena.
It was a match-up that justified two of the hottest teams in the NOJHL, as they entered the day with a combined record of 19-1-0-0 in their past 20 games while sitting one-two in fewest goals-against allowed in the league to date.
Converting on the initial man advantage opportunity of the affair, the Rock opened the scoring at 11:22 of the first period when Kaeden McArthur took a cross-ice pass from Brant Romaniuk on the left side and snapped in his 15th goal of the season in beating Cubs’ netminder Matthew Vahramian.
Sporting the NOJHL’s best power play percentage, Greater Sudbury drew even moments into one as Nolan Newton lifted in a rebound past Timmins’ Frédéric Cousineau off a Briir Long wrist shot from the top of the left circle.
Newton has now scored seven times in as many periods as he extended a point streak to six straight outings.
A hard-fought, evenly played second session, went without a goal as the club’s headed to their respective dressing rooms for the intermission still knotted at 1-1.
Maintaining a tight defensive battle, the final 20 minutes remained the same at they moved to extra time to try and determine a winner.
Skating three aside in OT, the Rock prevailed when McArthur broke up a play in his own zone, then led a two-on-one up ice with Romaniuk, with the latter being left with a game-winning tap-in off a give-and-go to end it.
Timmins improved to 17-5-0-1 as they extended their victory streak and Greater Sudbury picked up a point in the narrow setback as their record went to 18-6-1-1 overall.
Game Photos:
Thomas Perry – The Daily Press/Postmedia Network
