TIMMINS, Ont. – The Timmins Rock saw their captain, Derek Sequin, notch his fourth Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League hat trick Tuesday evening to help pace his side to a convincing 9-1 triumph over the Cochrane Crunch at McIntyre Arena.
Timmins got going offensively two and a half minutes into the contest as a falling Graeme McCrory put a pass in front where a waiting Tyler Patterson, at the top of the crease, tucked in his first NOJHL goal that slid under Cochrane starter Liam McCarthy.
The Crunch countered on the next shift though when Sebastien Ouimet put an attempt from the right corner that clipped off the glove of Rock netminder Tyler Masternak, who had lost his stick, and in.
With the tally, Ouimet extended a point streak to five straight outings.
Moving to the middle stanza, the host side notched a pair of markers to take control and carry a 3-1 lead into the second intermission.
The first goal came at 11:10 courtesy of Seguin, who collected a backhand from the point before spinning in the slot and wiring a shot past McCarty’s glove.
This also ran a point streak to six games in a row for the veteran NOJHLer.
It was more Rock before the session was complete when Nicolas Pigeon finished off some nice passing deep in Cochrane territory before accepting a cross-ice feed from Harry Clark then let a low chance go that was stopped, but Pigeon was quick to gather the rebound and notch his club’s third tally of the evening.
Breaking it open in the third, Seguin showed off his skill once more as he darted into the Crunch zone with speed before cutting in on a defender then lifting his second of the night that was deposited into the top left-hand corner, making it 4-1 with 15:29 to play.
They then added to the outburst at 8:17 as on a delayed penalty, Evan Beaudry drove wide then whipped one in from the left circle to extend the cushion.
Another splendid individual effort saw Tyer Schwindt power his way down the left wing before he moved in and went upstairs, blocker side.
The onslaught continued off a face-off win back to Sequin who finished off his three-goal night with a quick wrister at 12:31.
From there, the hosts tacked on two more before the night was complete with Schwindt converting twice more in rapid succession to give him his initial three-goal game.
Rock blueliner Felix Cadieux-Fredette chipped in with three assists in the one-sided result.
Masternak finished with 20 stops to pick up the win, which is his 70th in the NOJHL.
As for McCarthy, he was peppered with 64 shots against in defeat.
Up next for the two teams will be an 8 p.m. meeting Friday at Tim Horton Events Centre with the contest also being streamed on HockeyTV.com.
Game Photos:
Thomas Perry – The Daily Press/Postmedia Network
