COCHRANE, Ont. – Tomi Gagnon was there every time he was called upon as his 41 saves did the trick as the Hearst Lumberjacks went on to slip past the Cochrane Crunch 1-0 Wednesday in a low-scoring Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League affair at Tim Horton Events Centre.
First period play saw the Crunch pump 18 shots on Hearst starter Gagnon, but he handled them all to keep the contest scoreless.
With the Lumberjacks’ goalkeeper keeping the Cochrane shooters as bay, it helped his side open the scoring 14:34 into the middle stanza when Drew Nesbitt notched his first NOJHL tally with assists going to Daniel Fisher and Cameron Clark.
The tight-checking contest saw both Gagnon and Crunch netminder Zack Wickson play solid throughout the night as neither side would be able to find the back of the net again before time expired.
Wickson made 24 stops on 25 shots in suffering the narrow setback for Cochrane.
With the outcome, Hearst raised their record to 6-3-0-0 while Crunch fell to 3-6-0-0.
