The Timmins Rock took on the Hearst LumberJacks to kick off their December schedule, and the result wasn’t in the Rock’s favor.

The Rock went into the contest short handed as one of their top forwards David Laroche, was out with a upper Body injury.

The LumberJacks would use that to their advantage, and they came out strong opening the scoring within the first five minutes of the game. When these two teams play each other one thing is obvious… they DON’T like each other! That was on full display early on as the LumberJacks took a few roughing penalties. The First period came to an end with the LumberJacks leading 1-0, but it’s not like the Rock didn’t get any chances. Both the Rock and the LumberJacks had 7 shots on net after 20 minutes and out of those 7 shots the Rock hit the post four times!

The second period didn’t start the way the Rock would have liked either. The LumberJacks came out flying and put another puck past Vance Meyer and made it 2-0. The game then began to shift; the Rock needed an answer and eventually had one. Rock rookie Aidan Milne, was looking to spark his squad and he did. He decided to drop the mitts with David Gobeil, and that fight got his club going. Late in the frame, Josh Anderson riffled one into the LumberJacks net, and the Rock then found themselves with new life, and a chance to tie it up and get back in the game.

In the third period, the Rock didn’t allow an early goal, but did get into penalty trouble midway through the frame and that eventually cost them. The LumberJacks capitalized on a power play opportunity, and they restored their two goal lead.

The Rock are known to have a “never say die” attitude, and you can never really count them out of a game. With about five minutes left in the game, Stewart Parnell brought the Rock back within one. The Rock kept firing at the net but couldn’t complete the comeback and fell short 3-2.

They did however manage to out shoot the LumberJacks 39-19, but the LumberJacks put more pucks in the net and capitalized on opportunity’s when they were there.

The Rock now shift their focus to the League leading Powassan Voodos. The highly anticipated matchup will be a can’t miss contest, and the two points up for grabs can make a big difference in the standings. As the Rock only trail the first place Voodos by four points.

The boys will need to put in a full team effort and have a better start than the one they had against the LumberJacks on Sunday December 1. The Voodos will visit the Rock on Friday December 6 at the Mac, and tickets for that game are available online at TimminsRock.Com. 

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