COCHRANE, Ont. – Collecting a trio of tallies in each of the first and third periods helped the Soo Eagles skate away with a 6-2 triumph over the Cochrane Crunch Saturday in a Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League match-up at the Tim Horton Event Centre.
The Eagles’ power play helped them open the scoring near the eight-minute mark of the first thanks to Brian Fiddes notching his 13th of the season as he batted one out of mid-air while parked to the left of the crease.
Another man advantage helped Sault Ste, Marie extended their early cushion with Trevor Davis finishing off a give-and-go from the slot with Dylan Bachalo as he slid a low shot under Cochrane goalkeeper Michael Nickolau.
Fiddes then tapped in his second of the session in the final minute as the Soo went to the dressing up by three after one.
Making his NOJHL debut, Tylen Iserhoff paid early dividends for the Crunch as he put the hosts on the board as he was left wide a wide-open net to deposit his initial league goal thanks to a nice set-up by Brady Mayappo.
Continuing to battle, Cochrane tacked on another before the frame came to a close thanks to a Alex Dionne shorthanded strike at 15:10 as Liam Boswell set him up from behind the net and allowed him to lift one past Eagles’ netminder Ryan Gilmore.
However, the Soo made it 4-2, five and a half minutes into the third, when Carson Van Tighem put one in from the left circle for his first NOJHL goal.
Building on that, the Eagles put the game away with markers from Seth Ferguson striking twice with a pair of blasts from up high on the left wing to secure the victory.
Gilmore got the win helping the Soo raise their record to 23-8-2-1 while Nickolau suffered the defeat for the Crunch.
