COCHRANE, Ont. – The Cochrane Crunch rode the strength of two third period tallies to break open a tie game and help them earn a 3-1 victory over the visiting French River Rapids Saturday evening in a Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League match-up at Tim Horton Events Centre.
The home side got the early jump in this one as Owen Perala’s initial NOJHL tally put the Crunch on the board five and a half minutes into the contest as he finished off a Jacob Stos feed.
French River drew level however before the frame was complete as Rapids’ forward Unieam Rich also collected his initial league marker at 15:39 with an assist going to Cooper Bowman.
It remained tight checking from there right through the period and all of the middle stanza, which was scoreless.
Heading to the third Cochrane collected the eventual game-winner at 5:50 thanks to Justin Bofshever notched his first goal as a member of the Crunch.
The hosts then got themselves some insurance with 7:44 remaining and regulation thanks to an Austin Whelan effort to round out the night’s scoring.
Zach Wickson picked up the win for the Crunch as he made 21 saves in the triumph.
French River’s Kevin Donaghey was the busier of the two netminders on the night seeing 36 shots fired his way in defeat.
