VIDEO & GALLERY: Timmins goes up 3-1 on Cochrane in series

NORTHERN ONTARIO JUNIOR HOCKEY LEAGUE

NOJHL NETWORK MEDIA UPDATE

Release Date: Saturday, March 25, 2017

Timmins goes up 3-1 on Cochrane in series

TIMMINS, Ont. – Alexandre Brisson’s first Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League playoff goal, with nine and a half minutes remaining in regulation, helped the Timmins Rock rally for a 4-3 win over the Cochrane Crunch Saturday in Game 4 of their East Division semifinal at McIntyre Arena.

With the result, the Rock now leads this best-of-seven series 3-1 and will have an opportunity to close it out Sunday at 6 p.m. at the Tim Horton Event Centre in Cochrane where the Crunch will look to keep their season alive.

The Crunch did start on a positive note, notching the night’s opening tally 77 seconds into the contest on Konnar Dechaine’s fourth of the series.

Cochrane then went up 2-0 in the middle stanza during a man advantage as Dechaine fed a pass from behind the goal line to the point where Taylor Armbruster’s shot was deflected by Brandon McReynolds in front of Rock starter Al Rogers at 7:14.

A major turning point in the contest came 12 minutes into the second when Dechaine hit the post on a two on one for the Crunch and in turn Timmins broke right back into Cochrane territory with a two on one of their own where Brisson backhanded a pass over to Jacob Shankar, who quickly snapped a shot past Leighton Williams to put the home side on the board.

The Rock then drew level at 14:52 off a face-off deep in Crunch territory as Stewart Parnell finished off a goal-mouth scramble to pot his fourth of the playoffs.

Timmins took their first lead of the evening 3:28 into the third when Bain Cunningham found the back of the net on a second chance from the side of the crease.

Haiden Carnick evened things up for Cochrane at 9:11 on a sharp angle attempt from the left side that eluded Rogers, but the Rock came back a minute and 25 seconds later with Brisson’s game-winner as his shot from the slot trickled through the pads of Williams and in.

Timmins tightened up from there to keep the Crunch from forcing overtime, including having back-up Jeff Veitch forced to come in and play six and a half minutes of relief in place of Rogers, who had to leave the game, but returned for the final eight seconds.

Rogers ended up with 28 saves in picking up the win while Veitch only faced one attempt during his stint between the pipes.

Williams saw 28 shots fired his way in defeat for Cochrane.

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 leads best-of-seven series 3-1
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: Sunday, March 26 @ Cochrane 6 p.m. (Tim Horton Event Centre)
Game 6*: Tuesday, March 28 @ Timmins 7:30 p.m. (McIntyre Arena)
Game 7*: Wednesday, March 29 @ Cochrane 7:30 p.m. (Tim Horton Event Centre)
*- if necessary