FRENCH RIVER – The Cochrane Crunch erupted for five second period goals to help send then to an eventual 10-2 triumph over the French River Rapids in Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League action Sunday at Noelville Arena.
Both sides clicked offensively in the opening 20 minutes as each club scored twice.
Marcus Blackned put the Crunch in front just 28 seconds after the opening face-off only to see French River counter with markers from Max Carbone and Will Frustaglio later in the frame to go up 2-1.
Cochrane did tie it before the first was complete though on a Clay Ellerbrock effort.
The visitors then blew it open in the middle stanza as the connected for the five unanswered tallies.
Mitchell Booth started the offensive barrage at 2:24, which was followed by a Caleb Dolman effort a dozen seconds later.
It was more Crunch moments later as Nicolas Flanders struck shorthanded at 3:31.
Cochrane kept coming and added another man-down marker midway through the frame as Kyle Herbster picked up his 28th goal of the season.
Ellerbrock’s second of the game capped off the outburst as the visitors carried a 7-2 lead into the third.
There, T.J. Delaney was quick to add to the cushion as he connected on the power play 31 seconds into the final frame.
The romp continued with Herbster tacking on two more to finish off a hat trick and reach the 30-goal plateau on the campaign.
In all, seven different Cochrane skaters finished with multi-point games.
Shayne Battler made 28 stops in a winning cause for the Crunch.
Matty Mayhew and Andrew Rocha both saw time in net in defeat for French River as the duo faced a combined 35 shots against in defeat.
