Cochrane continues solid month with win over Espanola

ESPANOLA, Ont. – The Cochrane Crunch continued a solid November Friday by defeating the Espanola Express 5-1 Friday in Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League action at the Regional Recreation Complex.

The decision sees the Crunch improve to 5-0-1-0 this month.

It was scoreless through one period of play before Cochrane connected twice in the middle session to get the jump on Espanola with Laramie Kostelansky and Auston Stauffer serving as the marksmen.

Jeb Paulsen got one back for the Express at 12:32 of the frame as he picked up his second goal of the season.

Cochrane would then break open the low-scoring affair in the third as they secured three unanswered tallies to pull out the victory.

Nicolas Flanders’ eighth of the season 39 seconds into the stanza made it 3-1 before Alex Brisson and Kyle Herbster added later markers to round out the scoring.

Flanders also doled out three assists for a four-point night while Herbster and Stauffer had two helpers apiece to go with their goals.

The Crunch outshot Espanola 43-38 on the night with Shayne Battler picking up the win while Adam Scott suffered the loss.