NORTHERN ONTARIO JUNIOR HOCKEY LEAGUE
NOJHL NETWORK MEDIA UPDATE
Release Date: Thursday, Sept. 29, 2016
Cochrane wins league-leading 7th game with triumph over Kirkland Lake
COCHRANE, Ont. – The Cochrane Crunch got three goals from Brandon McReynolds along with a pair of markers and an assist from Braeden Cross to help lead them to a 6-3 victory over the Kirkland Lake Gold Miners Thursday evening in a Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League East Division encounter at the Tim Horton Event Centre.
Cochrane opened the scoring with the lone tally midway through the first period when McReynolds notched his seventh of the season to give the home side the lead.
Action in the second stanza saw Kirkland Lake use the power play to knot the affair at 1-1 compliments of a Stavros Soilis effort 93 seconds into the frame.
However the Crunch countered just over a minute later to retake the lead when Cross notched his league-leading ninth of the season.
Cochrane then made it 3-1 at 3:39 of the session as Austin Whelan scored at even strength to put the hosts up by a pair.
After Stavros picked up his second of the night for the Gold Miners six and a half minutes into the session, McReynolds of the Crunch replied again at 9:04 to make it a 4-2 contest with half a game to play.
The visitors got back into it on the second shift of the third thanks to Austin Ramirez who picked up his third of year at 1:38 just after a Cochrane penalty had expired
However Cross extended his NOJHL-best tally total to 10 at 6:50 as he finished off the work of Braden King and Rory Milne to restore their two-goal cushion.
McReynolds then iced it with an empty netter in the late going to finish off his hat trick and round out the night’s scoring.
Joseph Thielen and Milne had two assists each on the night for the Crunch.
Shots on goal favoured Cochrane by a 30-28 margin with Leighton Williams picking up the win and Victor-Olivier Courchesne the loss.
With the decision, Cochrane improves to 7-0-1-1 on the season while Kirkland Lake falls to 4-3-0-1.
