IROQUOIS FALLS, Ont. – The Timmins Rock were pushed to the limit Sunday in Game 2 of their Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League East Division quarter-final vs. the Iroquois Falls Eskis before eventually pulling out a 3-1 victory at Jus Jordan Arena.
With the decision, Timmins takes the best-of-three series 2-0 and will now advance to meet the Cochrane Crunch in semifinal action starting later in the week.
Special teams allowed the Rock to notch the lone tally of the opening 20 minutes as Joe Olson connected on the power play at 15:29.
Zachary Kercz put the visitors up 2-0 near the six-minute mark of the second stanza as he notched his third goal of the series, also during the power play.
Iroquois Falls battled to get one back midway through the contest as David Osborne converted during a man advantage opportunity for the Eskis to bring the home side closer heading into the final frame.
In the third, Iroquois Falls pressed for the equalizer in an effort to force overtime.
Awarded a late power play, the Eskis pulled starter Joe Sheppard in favour of an extra attacker as well to go six skaters on four.
Iroquois Falls pressured to tie, but a couple of big defensive blocks kept the Eskis shooters at bay long enough for Wayne Mathieu to ice it for Timmins with an empty netter with two seconds to go.
Andrew Castagna assisted on the first two Timmins tallies.
Logan Ferrington made 38 saves to record the win for the Rock while Sheppard stopped 46 of 48 in defeat for Iroquois Falls.
NOJHL quarter-final playoff schedule
East Division
No. 4 Timmins Rock vs. No. 5 Iroquois Falls Eskis
Rock wins best-of-three series 2-0
Game 1: Timmins 8 Iroquois Falls 1
Game 2: Timmins 3 Iroquois Falls 1
