Crunch move back into tie for 1st in NOJHL East with win over Eskis

NOJHL NETWORK MEDIA UPDATE

Release Date: Wednesday, March 2, 2016

Crunch move back into tie for 1st in NOJHL East with win over Eskis

COCHRANE, Ont. – The Cochrane Crunch got two goals apiece from John Stevenson and Hunter Atchison in a 7-3 victory over the Iroquois Falls Eskis Wednesday night in a Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League match-up at the Tim Horton Event Centre.

With the win Cochrane moves back into a tie for top spot in the NOJHL East with the Powassan Voodoos at 82 points each.

The Crunch also holds a game in hand on the Voodoos and has the tiebreaker between the two sides. Both teams won twice in head-to-head action, but Cochrane boast the edge by virtue of an extra point earned in an overtime setback in a contest the clubs played earlier in the campaign.

In Wednesday’s game, the home side got off to a 2-0 start after one period of play on markers by Jeran Knorr and Atchison.

Atchison then made it 3-0 Crunch 6:43 into the second stanza as he struck shorthanded for his NOJHL-leading 11th man-down marker and NOJHL-best 49th goal of the season.

After Brenden Van Sweden added to the Cochrane cushion at 14:46, Jacob Erwin collected his 25th of the campaign to get the Eskis on the board.

However Stevenson answered right back 24 seconds later to make it 5-1 after 40 minutes.

The two sides would then trade two tallies apiece in the final frame to round out the scoring with Joey Mavrin and Stevenson connecting for the Crunch while Tanner Bowditch and Shadow Reuben countered for Iroquois Falls.

Jon Marzec, Dustin Cordeiro, Aviv Milner and Seamus Maguire each dished out two assists to bolster the winners cause.

Allan Menary was called up to make 39 saves to record the victory for Cochrane.

Joe Sheppard meanwhile saw 43 pucks fired his way in defeat in the Eskis net.

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