VIDEO & GALLERY: Mathieu’s OT winner vs. Crunch sends Rock to East Division Final

NORTHERN ONTARIO JUNIOR HOCKEY LEAGUE

NOJHL NETWORK MEDIA UPDATE

Release Date: Tuesday, March 28, 2017

Mathieu’s OT winner  vs. Crunch sends Rock to East Division Final

TIMMINS, Ont. – Wayne Mathieu’s second goal of the game, coming 12:22 into overtime, lifted the Timmins Rock to a dramatic 3-2, come from behind victory over the Cochrane Crunch Tuesday night in Game 6 of their Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League East Division semifinal at McIntyre Arena

With the result, Timmins takes the closely contested best-of-seven series 4-2 and will now move on to meet the No. 1 seeded Powassan Voodoos in the NOJHL’s East Division Final.

The Rock held the edge in shots in the first period, outshooting the Crunch 11-7, but the session ended up scoreless.

A Cochrane power play allowed them to open the  scoring at 14:24 of the second stanza when Braeden Cross partially fanned on an attempt on net, but the puck slid right to the stick of a waiting Kyle Herbster at the top crease, who calmly deflected in his first of the playoffs putting the visitors on the board.

The Crunch then went up by two later in the frame when Bailey Shaver went high on Timmins’ netminder Al Rogers from a sharp angle from the right side with 71 seconds left in the frame.

Action in the third saw the Rock get on the board during a man advantage as Mathieu reached across with one hand while down on the ice and knocked in a loose puck that lay just behind a sprawled Leighton Williams in the Cochrane crease.

Timmins then came right back and notched the equalizer as a cross-ice pass found an wide-open Stewart Parnell who whipped in the tying tally from close range just 18 seconds later as he notched his fifth of the series.

Heading into the extra session, the Rock prevailed as Jordan Rendle knocked down a clearing attempt in the Crunch zone and skated a few strides before firing a crisp pass that found Mathieu driving to the Cochrane net where he one-timed the game-winner past Williams to end the series.

Shots on goal in the contest favoured Timmins by a 37-36 count with Rogers picking up the win and Williams the defeat in a season-ending setback for the Crunch.

The schedule for the East Division Final between Powassan and Timmins will be announced once it is finalized.

All NOJHL playoff games are streamed live online at HockeyTV.com.

East Division semifinal (Series D)
No. 2 Cochrane Crunch vs. No. 3 Timmins Rock
Timmins wins best-of-seven series 4-2
Game 1: Cochrane 5 Timmins 3
Game 2: Timmins 4 Cochrane 2
Game 3: Timmins 4 Cochrane 3 (OT)
Game 4: Timmins 4 Cochrane 3
Game 5: Cochrane 5 Timmins 4
Game 6: Timmins 3 Cochrane 2 (OT)