FRENCH RIVER – Cochrane Crunch goaltender Zach Wickson was there when called upon, stopping all 37 shots he faced Sunday to post his first Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League shutout, a 2-0 triumph over the French River Rapids at Noelville Arena.
It was a battle of the netminders throughout the first half of the contest as both Wickson of Cochrane and French River’s Marshall Frappier kept opposing shooters at bay.
Cochrane would eventually break the deadlock just past the 15-minute mark of the middle stanza when Nicolas Flanders fired home his 12th of the season to also extend a consecutive game point streak to six in the process.
The visiting Crunch then added one more before the second period was complete on Justin Bofshever’s eighth at 18:56.
Action in the final frame saw Wickson continuing to shut the door as his efforts kept the Rapids off the score sheet despite facing 20 attempts against throughout the session to record his club’s initials shutout of the campaign and first for Cochrane in regular season play since just over a year ago, back on Nov. 24, in a decision over Kirkland Lake.
Frappier was even busier in the match-up and equally as solid as he finished with 56 stops in defeat for French River.
Photos courtesy of Dal Photography