COCHRANE – The Kirkland Lake Gold Miners jumped out to a three-goal lead after one period and never trailed en route to a 5-2 victory over the Cochrane Crunch Friday in Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League play at the Tim Horton Event Centre.
With the game scoreless well into the first period the Gold Miners struck three times in just over a five-minute span late in the frame on markers by Nick Eytcheson, Joel Fortin and Tristan Hazlett, which resulted in Cochrane pulling goaltender Troy Paquette in favour of back-up Matt Young.
The visitors extended their lead to 4-0 after 40 minutes thanks to a Steven Babin effort at 7:38 of the second.
An Ethan Strong power play marker put the Gold Miners in control early in the third before Cochrane got tallies in the latter stages of the contest from Dustin Cordeiro and Aviv Milner to round out the night’s scoring.
Luc Soares also had a big night offensively for Kirkland Lake as he dished out three assists.
Josh Erickson made 35 stops to win in net in his NOJHL debut for the Gold Miners.
Paquette allowed the three against on 12 shots in defeat for the Crunch while Young made 10 stops in relief.
