BLIND RIVER – Cody Gratton, the Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League’s leading point producer, was in epic form Saturday evening as he scored six times and doled out three assists to pace the visiting Cochrane Crunch to a 9-2 victory over the Blind River Beavers.
Gratton started off his impressive nine-point night by helping set-up Alex Daija who opened the scoring 5:53 into the contest.
He then picked up his first of the evening with just five seconds remaining in the first.
Gratton then scored twice more early in the second to extand the Cochrane lead to four.
Henry Berger added one at even strength at 8:48 and then struck shorthanded four minutes later with help from Gratton.
The fourth marker of the contest for Gratton came with the Crunch down a man at 15:12 of the second.
Blind River dashed Brett Young’s shutout bid with 9:26 to go as Nathan Johnson scored for the ninth time this season.
The Gratton show continued three minutes later as he fired home his fifth of the night before Robin Yew added one for the Beavers at 15:29.
One final goal saw the Cochrane sniper reach six on the night and reach a NOJHL-best 82 points on the season in just 40 games played.
He did miss a chance for 10 points, but was one of two Crunch skaters thwarted on penalty shot attempts.
Aviv Milner also had a big night for Cochrane by doling out five assists while Berger had a pair of helpers to go along with his two markers.
Young finished with 47 stops to pick-up the win for the Crunch.
Zach Mills and Braddock both saw time in the Blind River net in defeat facing a combined 55 shots overall.
