COCHRANE, Ont. – Getting a goal and three quality assists from James Ingram helped lead the Blind River Beavers to an 8-3 win over Cochrane Crunch Monday night in Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League play at Tim Horton Event Centre.
It took the two teams little time to convert offensively as it was 1-1 before the game was a minute and a half old.
Cochrane’s Cale Anderson began the early outburst 31 seconds in as he snapped a shot into the corner of the net off a multi-player break on Blind River starter Jeremi Delaquis.
Countering quickly, the Beavers tied it a 1-1 at 1:11 when Hayden Webster collected his 10th tally of the season as he was left with tap-in on Crunch netminder Michael Nickolau following a nice back hand feed from Ingram.
Building on that, the visitors would tack on three more markers before the opening period was complete as they took a 4-1 lead into the break.
Ingram collected his second assist as he once again put a back pass in front that was chipped in by Kyler Folz-Schellekins for his first NOJHL goal, which came at 6:31.
Ingram then scored later in the session as he banged in a bouncing puck from the right side of Nickolau.
The Beavers’ Ryan Doucette followed that by whipping one in, blocker side, from between the hash marks as the guests went up by three after one.
In the second session, Blind River made it 5-1 courtesy of Meguire Naughton as he knocked in a rebound off a Doucette chance from the slot.
Going to the power play a few minutes later, Cochrane got one back when Joshua Mizue slammed in a loose puck off a Mark Hill shot that found its way to him to the left of Delaquis.
However, the Beavers’ Caleb Minns reached the 20-goal plateau before the midway mark of the contest as he was there to stuff in the leftovers following an Ethan Pegg point blast that Nickolau could not quite corral.
Both clubs tightened up defensively into the back half of the third period before special teams played a part in the final three tallies of the evening.
Jake Alton of the Crunch had the first one at 11:24 of the final stanza as he finished off a crisp three-way passing play by snapping one upstairs while parked to the right of a sprawling Delaquis.
Blind River then converted with an extra-man effort as Jesse Dupuis scored with just over three and a half minutes to go as he moved in from the blueline and picked the corner with a low snap shot.
Capping off the road victory before time expired was Ingram, as he picked up his fourth point of the night by battling behind the net off a face off win, which allowed Sam McCue to jam one in from close range to wrap things up during a final power play.
The result moves Blind River into a tie for third place in the NOJHL’s West Division standings with the Greater Sudbury Cubs at 56 points apiece as each team has one game remaining in their respective regular seasons.
Those will be Friday as the Beavers host the Hearst Lumberjacks while the Cubs visit the Soo Eagles.