Crunch win 9th in a row with decision over Eskis

NORTHERN ONTARIO JUNIOR HOCKEY LEAGUE

NOJHL NETWORK MEDIA UPDATE

Release Date: Friday, Feb. 3, 2017

Crunch win 9th in a row with decision over Eskis

COCHRANE, Ont. – The Cochrane Crunch got three goals, including the game-winner, and an assist from Braeden Cross to help his side win their ninth Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League contest  in succession Friday as they defeated the Iroquois Falls Eskis 7-4 at Tim Horton Event Centre.

Cochrane collected the lone marker of the opening period when Braden King notched his first NOJHL goal five and a half minutes into the opening period.

The Crunch then struck three times in the second, in just over a four-minute span, to go up 4-0 on efforts supplied by Bailey Shaver, Justin Hess and Cross.

Iroquois Falls did get one back at 12:08 of the session on Shadow Reuben’s 22nd of the season.

However Cross, the league’s leading point producer, added another for the home side in the latter stages to put Cochrane up 5-1 through two.

The Eskis battled back in the third with a trio of tallies before the session was five minutes old to pull within one thanks to markers from Reuben, Jack Speer and David Stickney.

The Crunch did manage to regroup and get some insurance at 14:41 on Kyle Herbster’s 14th before Cross iced it by finishing off his hat trick and netting his 34th overall at 16:55, via the power play, to round out the night’s scoring.

Austin Whelan chipped in with two assists for Cochrane.

Taylor Unruh made 21 saves to record the win for the Crunch to extend their winning streak to nine.

Artem Bortovskiy allowed four against on 32 shots for the Eskis while Trevor Hawkes suffered the loss giving up three on 20 attempts in over 30 minutes of relief.