Ron Valentine is profiling the teams participating in the 2023 Centennial Cup in Portage la Prairie May 11-21. Today: the Northern Ontario champion Timmins Rock.

By Ron Valentine

The Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League's TIMMINS ROCK, ranked ninth in the nation, will be one of the 10 teams competing for this year's edition of the Centennial Cup. 

The Rock finished atop the East division garnering 95 points from their regular season 58-game schedule. In the playoffs it took five games for them to beat out the French River Rapids and to progress to the East division final where they swept the Powassan VooDoos, who were coached by former OJHL coach Peter Goulet. The club won the NOJHL final series four games to two over the Soo Thunderbirds to claim the Copeland-McNamara trophy.

Club captain Nicolas Pigeon, and Brady Harroun, from St. Albert, ALTA. finished 1-2 in club and league scoring. Pigeon had 107 points, the most recorded this season in the CJHL. He was one of only four players to reach the century mark, the others  being the OJHL's Jr. Candiens' Tyler captain Tyler Fukakusa, who had 105, and the Saskatchewan league’s Battlefords pair of Kian Bell at 102 and Holden Doell with 100. Harroun reached the 50-goal mark and 96 points.

In the postseason, Pigeon again led the way with 17 points, he scored the winning goal in game six against the T-Birds to clinch the Cup, Harroun had 15, Nolan Ring and defenceman Felix Cadieu-Fredette tallied 14 points each. 

Goalkeeper Jacob Brown logged a 1.49 goals against average in 23 regular season appearances and Patrick Boivin ended at 1.98 in 36 contests. They were first and second in the NOJHL in that category. In the postseason they again went 1-2 in the league with Boivin on 2.10 and Brown 2.20.

The Rock play out of the storied McIntyre Community Centre that was constructed in 1938. It has 1,300 seats plus lots of standing room. In the  NOJHL championship series against the T'Birds the club attracted crowds of 1,382, 1,510 and for the final home game, 1,640. 

Timmins became members of the NOJHL in 1991. They were then known as the Golden Bears but relocated to Iroquois Falls eight years later. The franchise relocated to Timmins in 2015 and assumed the Rock moniker. 

Brandon Perry, 34, is the team's head coach/GM. He was appointed before the 2021-22 season and was named NOJHL coach of the year. Born in Timmins, he played for the OJHL's Kingston Voyageurs where he was club captain in the 2007-08 season. He then went on to Queen's University for four years before playing one season with the Huntsville Havoc in the SPHL.

Coach Perry: "We have eight last-year players here in Timmins, including five who played for the Red Lake Miners and one for the Soo Thunderbirds in the 2022 Centennial Cup, so we have a strong veteran presence. We are a fast, puck-possession team with lots of energy. In the playoffs semifinal we had a tough series with the Powassan VooDoos and although we beat them in four, all the games were very competitive. It was a four-game series that felt like seven!"

“In the final we knew we would be in tough against the Thunderbirds. For as long as I can remember they have set the standard in our league and they were coming off a season where they started slowly but were on fire at the end. They got past a very tough Sudbury Cubs team in the West final. Although we shut them out in the first, I wasn't really happy with our next two games. So I put our 16-year-old goalie Brown in for Game 4 to shake things up. He was drafted by the Flint Firebirds in 2022. We won 7-4 and for the last two games I went back to our veteran, Boivin."

"We have had terrific fan support here in this iconic rink. I believe we have  consistently been one of the top teams in attendance across the country. It really makes a difference for the players. The noise level is amazing. I have also got tremendous support from the ownership and the board and my assistant coaches which has certainly made my job a lot easier."

"One of the many success stories of the season for us has been the play of our captain, Nicolas Pigeon. He is tenacious, smart, crafty and has such a high skill level. He has commitment offers on the table and is now just weighing his options."

"The message we have given to our players is to stay grounded, what we have done so far has been a real feather in our caps but our biggest challenge lies ahead."

For more on the Centennial Cup, go to the tournament website: https://www.hockeycanada.ca/en-ca/national-championships/men/national-junior-a/2023