TIMMINS, Ont. – Withstanding the heroics of Cochrane Crunch goaltender Jake Dubinsky, the Timmins Rock eventually pulled out a narrow 2-1 shootout triumph Friday in Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League play at McIntyre Arena.
Timmins carried most of the play throughout, but it was visiting Cochrane that connected first.
There they broke out of their own zone on an odd-man rush where Mathieu Roy skated down the left wing and opted to shoot and saw Rock netminder Patrick Boivin only manage to get a piece of it before it bounced in at 13:14.
Needing just a minute and a half to tie it in the second stanza, Lucas Piekarczyk’s long pass sent Timmins captain in alone on a breakaway, where he made a few crafty moves prior to cutting to left and depositing his 12th tally of the season past the outstretched pad of the Crunch goalkeeper.
The marker also extended an impressive consecutive game point streak for Pigeon to 17 straight outings.
Due much in part to the stellar play of Dubinsky, who was credited with 60-plus saves in 65 minutes of regulation and overtime, the contest remained tied 1-1 the rest of the way, thus sending it to extra attempts to decide matters.
After a Boivin stop to begin the shootout, Timmins’ Kaeden McArthur skated in with pace on Dubinsky and ripped his shot into the left corner.
Following a miss on each side, the Crunch needed to convert to keep it going, but Boivin stood tall on that final attempt to collect the home ice victory.
That saw the Rock raise their record to 24-5-3-2 while Dubinsky’s contributions earned his side a well-earned point in defeat.
Game Photos:
Thomas Perry – The Daily Press/Postmedia Network
