CHELMSFORD, Ont. – The Rayside-Balfour Canadians picked up a pair of goals from defenceman Zachary Snow that helped them defeat the visiting Cochrane Crunch 4-2 Sunday night in Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League action at Chelmsford Arena.
Rayside-Balfour were quick to strike in this one as Snow opened the scoring 78 seconds in as the Canadians captain collected his 10th goal of the campaign.
Cochrane countered with the equalizer at 11:43 of the first period when Nicholas Grandy hit the 20-goal plateau on the season.
The Crunch then went up by one in the final moments of the frame as Matthew Minichiello finished off a Hunter Buzzi feed for a shorthanded tally late in the stanza.
A four-minute power play deep in the middle frame helped Rayside-Balfour first tie it, then go back in front just after that, after Mathieu Dokis-Dupuis leveled the proceedings with his 20th at 16:31 before Snow buried the eventual game-winner a couple of shifts later.
It remained 3-2 RBC until the final moments of the contest where Oliver Smith sealed the home ice triumph with an empty netter with his club down a skater.
Nicholas DeGrazia assisted on the last two Canadians goals to give him 61 points on the year, which tied him for the NOJHL rookie scoring lead with teammate Mitchell Martin, who had one helper himself in the win.
Cochrane’s Minichiello finished third in rookie numbers with 59 points.
Shots on net saw the Crunch hold a 38-28 edge with Nicholas Heinzle picking up the victory while Zach Wickson suffered the setback.
