NORTHERN ONTARIO JUNIOR HOCKEY LEAGUE
NOJHL MEDIA UPDATE
Release Date: Friday, March 20, 2015
Locke leads the way as Eskimos stave off elimination
COCHRANE – Brenden Locke scored three times and set-up another while Brady Clouthier doled out four assists to help the Abitibi Eskimos stave off elimination with a 6-2 win in Game 5 of their Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League East Division semifinal Friday at the Tim Horton Event Centre.
With the result, Abitibi now trails the best-of-seven series 3-2 and forces a Game 6, which goes Saturday at 8 p.m. at Jus Jordan Arena in Iroquois Falls.
Cochrane opened the scoring on the power play 4:38 into the contest as Daniel Stagg notched his fourth straight tally in the series after he capped off a Game 4 Crunch 4-1 win with a natural hat trick.
Locke then had a man advantage marker of his own just over three minutes later to knot it at 1-1 after one period of play.
The Eskimos blew it open in the middle session as they struck four times to take control of the contest.
Locke put Abitibi in front for good five and a half minutes in the second before Kyle Levis notched the eventual game-winner midway through the session.
The Eskimos duo of Locke and Levis then added one more each in the latter stages of the period to make it 5-1 through two.
Ryan Fletcher brought Cochrane closer with 3:59 remaining, but Kealey Cummings iced it with a shorthanded effort into an empty net at 18:21 to round out the scoring.
Chet Tooker was solid in the Abitibi net making 38 saves to record the victory.
Brett Young started for the Crunch and allowed four against suffered the loss facing 28 shots while Ben Auger stopped four of five in a five and a half-minute relief stint in the second.
East semifinal 2
No. 2 Cochrane Crunch vs. No. 3 Abitibi Eskimos
Crunch lead best-of-seven series 3-2
Game 1: Cochrane 5 Abitibi 2
Game 2: Cochrane 5 Abitibi 4 (OT)
Game 3: Abitibi 4 Cochrane 2
Game 4: Cochrane 4 Abitibi 1
Game 5: Abitibi 6 Cochrane 2
Game 6: Saturday, March 21 @ Iroquois Falls 8 p.m. (Jus Jordan )
Game 7*: Tuesday, March 24 @ Cochrane 7:30 p.m. (Tim Horton)
*-if necessary
