TIMMINS, Ont. – The Timmins Rock scored early and often winning their fourth Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League game in a row Thursday as they thumped the Blind River Beavers 11-3 at McIntyre Arena.
Timmins took control early scoring three times before the contest was four minutes old on markers by Zachary Kercz, Jordan Rendle and Aaron Kerr, which saw Blind River replace starter Matt Blattenberger with Martin Miloslavich.
The Beavers fortunes did not change however as the Rock kept coming and tacked on another trio of tallies thanks to Cole Gilligan and additional efforts supplied by Rendle and Kercz to make it 6-0 after one period of play.
Action in the middle stanza saw the home side extend their lead to eight on tallies by Kerr and Kyle Levis.
Alex Kidd got Blind River on the board as he collected one on the power play with 14 seconds left in the session.
After Ryan Theriault made it 9-1 near the two-minute mark of the third, Kerr finished off a hat trick a couple of shifts later.
Cole Murray and Alex Dajia added a couple for the Beavers to make it 10-3 before Timmins affiliate player Jace Soroko wrapped up the night’s scoring at 14:27 with his first NOJHL goal.
Rendle and Bain Cunningham finished with five points apiece on the night while Kerr and Kercz had four apiece.
Matthew Nixon stopped 19 of 22 attempts he faced to pick up the win for the Rock.
Miloslavich handled 37 of the 45 shots he faced in a lengthy relief stint and suffered the defeat for Blind River.
Blattenberger saw nine shots put his way in his brief stint early on.
