FRENCH RIVER – The French River Rapids picked up a pair of goals from Hunter Brazier to improve to 6-2-1 in their past nine outings as they defeated the Cochrane Crunch 6-3 in Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League action Sunday at Noelville Arena.
After a late start due to bad weather and poor travel conditions delayed Cochrane’s arrival, Brazier got the Rapids out to the lead just past the eight-minute mark of the first period before teammate Philippe Daoust added his 13th of the season to put the home side up by two early.
The Crunch did get one back before the frame was complete with Caleb Dolman striking on the power play at 18:57.
Moving on to the middle session, Brazier added his second of day and 15th overall deep into the stanza to make it 3-1 with 75 seconds left in the period.
Recently acquired Liam Anderson brought the Crunch back to within one early in the third with his first NOJHL marker while running a modest point streak to three in the process.
However, Cameron Conover collected his initial league tally at 9:31 while Dustin Roitelman also notched his opening goal in the NOJHL shortly thereafter to put the Rapids up by three.
A Ryan Smith power play effort added to the French River cushion before Hunter Buzzi picked up one late for Cochrane to round out the scoring.
Jacob Romano dished out two assists for French River in the triumph.
Marshall Frappier in the Rapids net made 28 saves to pick up the win while Crunch goaltender Bradley Dobson was peppered with 48 shots against in defeat.
Photos courtesy of Dal Photography
