NORTHERN ONTARIO JUNIOR HOCKEY LEAGUE
NOJHL NETWORK MEDIA UPDATE
Release Date: Monday, Jan. 30, 2017
Crunch hand league-leading Voodoos rare home loss
POWASSAN, Ont. – The Cochrane Crunch got two points apiece from Bailey Shaver, Nate Viberg and Konnar Dechaine to help them hand the Powassan Voodoos a rare home loss as they skated to a 5-2 victory in Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League action Monday evening at the Powassan Sportsplex.
Nicolas Flanders put Cochrane on the board 13:29 into the contest, but Powassan came right back with the equalizer 32 seconds later on Brett Hahkala’s 13th of the season.
The second stanza allowed the visitors to gain control as they scored three times to go up 4-1 after 40 minutes.
Shaver started the offensive outburst 56 seconds into the session while Viberg supplied the eventual game-winner at 8:08.
The Crunch continued to press the attack and added one more before the period was complete thanks to Brandon McReynolds 20th tally of the campaign at 16:56.
Cochrane extended their cushion five and a half minutes into the third on a Kyle Herbster effort to chase Voodoos starter Nate McDonald in favour of back-up Andrew Suriano.
Powassan rounded out the scoring with 21 seconds to go on Andy Baker’s league-leading 37th of 2016-17.
The setback was Powassan’s first home defeat in over four months when they fell 7-6 in double overtime to the Timmins Rock back on Sept. 25.
Taylor Unruh made 27 saves to record the win for the Crunch, which was their seventh in a row as they improved to 31-11-4-1 on the year.
McDonald suffered the loss for Powassan allowing five against on 22 attempts while Suriano handled all 14 shots he faced in over 14 minutes of relief.
In defeat the first place Voodoos slipped to 36-6-1-1.
