Rock – Lumberjacks battle to 3-3 OT draw -

TIMMINS, Ont. – A couple of Hearst Lumberjacks goals deep in regulation, followed by a scoreless overtime, led them and the Timmins Rock to battle to an eventual 3-3 tie Monday in a Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League Family Day matinee, in front of 1,135 fans at McIntyre Arena.

Hearst held the edge in play for the much of the first period and were eventually rewarded with the afternoon’s initial tally, nearly 15 minutes in.

On the marker, the Lumberjacks’ Brayden Hindman jumped in from the point and snagged a loose puck in the slot and fired it past Rock netminder Dryden Riley to give him goals in back-to-back games.

Moving to the middle stanza, Timmins got on track during an early man advantage opportunity that featured Kaeden McArthur muscling his way to the net from the left wing and tucking a backhand under Hearst’s Alexandre Boivin.

The home side then went in front at 6:27 of the session after Clark Scaddan picked off an errant pass at the Lumberjacks’ blueline then darted in and put a play across to Reece Liu, who snapped it in to give him a dozen tallies in his rookie year.

Tacking on another a couple of shifts later, Thomas Beard pumped one by Boivin from the left circle.

Heading to the third, the visitors pulled to within one at 14:10, while the clubs were skating four aside.

On the goal, Hearst’s DonHeaven Veilleux came down the right wing and wired a short-side sizzler by Riley to give him points in straight eight games.

Then on a power play, the Lumberjacks tied it a minute and a half later after Liam Boswell buried an attempt from up high, through a partial screen, to help send it to OT.

In the extra session, both teams had quality chances early, including Boswell ringing a shot off the crossbar and the Rock being denied in close.

From there, neither squad would find the back of the net to end it as they settled for one point apiece in the tie, which was the first one for each team this season.