COCHRANE, Ont. – The French River Rapids picked up two goals apiece from Will Bourre and Jordan Bax to propel them to an eventual 6-4 decision over the Cochrane Crunch Sunday afternoon in back-and-forth Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League affair at Tim Horton Events Centre.
Notching the day’s opening tally 14 minutes into the match-up, recently acquired forward Bourre took his time while skating out from behind the net and lifted a shot, from a sharp angle, over the shoulder of Cochrane netminder Jake Dubinsky, for his first with his new club.
Staying 1-0 for the visitors into the second stanza, the home side drew level with Yenry Jibb working the puck free along the end boards before spotting an open Cameron Frost between the hash marks, who used his skate to control the pass before snapping one by French River starter Kaleb Papineau at 4:21.
It was more from Frost and the Crunch before the midway mark of the proceedings as Jibb sent him in alone on a breakaway where he made a move to his right and tucked in another in the period, with a backhand along the ice.
Down a skater in the latter stages of the session, French River’s Jack Ginocchi forced a turnover in his own end then joined the rush on a two-on-one where Josh Russell took it down the left wing before putting a cross-ice feed over him where he redirected the shorthanded equalizer into the open side.
Knotted at 2-2 into the third, a nice individual effort by Xavier Brooks saw him wheel into the Rapids zone before darting right-to-left and shooting one by Brady Dyer, who had entered the game for French River with 8:46 to play in the second, from the right circle, for his initial NOJHL tally.
Answering that less than a minute later, Bax tied it 5:11 from the high slot as he ripped one over the glove of Dubinsky.
Bourre then bagged his second of the afternoon after coming off the side boards and rifling an attempt off the post and in at 10:12.
The Rapids then added to their edge a couple of shifts later with Bax cruising down the left side and picking a corner to make it 5-3.
Going with an extra attacker with two minutes to play, Crunch pulled back to within one with 1:27 remaining thanks to Morgan Porter cranking one in from the left of Dyer.
French River however eventually secured the road triumph after Alexandre Dubuc won a race for the puck and put it into the empty net to cap off the scoring.
Dyer went on to collect the win in nearly 29 minutes of relief while Dubinsky suffered the defeat.