{"id":37654,"date":"2026-02-26T16:03:59","date_gmt":"2026-02-26T21:03:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=37654"},"modified":"2026-03-05T12:15:00","modified_gmt":"2026-03-05T17:15:00","slug":"crawfords-hat-trick-triggers-tigers-to-8-2-thrashing-of-north-york-rangers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/crawfords-hat-trick-triggers-tigers-to-8-2-thrashing-of-north-york-rangers\/","title":{"rendered":"Crawford\u2019s hat trick triggers Tigers to 8-2 thrashing of North York Rangers"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Cole Crawford fired three goals and added one assist to lead the resurgent Aurora Tigers to an impressive 8-2 win over the North York Rangers at the ACC on Friday night.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The tenth-place Tigers have won four of their last six games since General Manager and Assistant Coach James Thomson replaced Head Coach Darcy Roy two weeks ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Coach Thomson\u2019s team came out firing on all cylinders against the Rangers\u2014taking a two-goal lead before the game was five minutes old.  Javian Nei\u2019s 15th of the season opened the scoring at 4:03 and Sebastian Catalano made it 2-0 fifty seconds later when the Aurora defender beat North York netminder Reid Thomas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Crawford, who along with Anrijs Bundzenieks earned an assist on Nei\u2019s opening goal, credited his line\u2019s tenacity for setting the tone early in the game.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe followed our coach\u2019s game plan. Javian is such a talented scorer and he put it in the back of the net.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Crawford-Bundzenieks-Nei combo accrued seven points against the Rangers and Crawford attributed the line\u2019s productivity and his hat trick to the trio\u2019s on-ice familiarity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve been developing a lot of chemistry. I couldn\u2019t have done it without them tonight. All three of us were following our coaching staff\u2019s game plan.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Tigers took a 3-0 lead when defenseman Tommy Kut found open space during his foray in from the blue line and fired a wrist shot from between the circles that beat Thomas cleanly at 4:53.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

North York got on the scoreboard with 1:12 left in the first period when Noah Naurbaev one-timed a low shot off William Divitcos\u2019s juicy rebound\u2014one that ricocheted into the left faceoff circle on to Naurbaev\u2019s tape after a slick side-to-side save by Tigers\u2019 goaltender Noah Kraus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Rangers just missed making it 3-2 with one second left in the first frame, but a big short-side stop by Kraus kept the visitors from creeping closer before intermission.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Crawford praised that timely save and his goaltender\u2019s 26-save performance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHaving Krauser in net fills us with so much confidence. We\u2019re lucky to have him. He\u2019s played great for us to help our team play over .500 during the last six games.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Crawford\u2019s two goals between 6:58 and 7:22 in the second period provided the knockout punch that short-circuited the visitors\u2019 comeback attempt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The hard-working winger was grateful for the puck luck that accompanied his first goal which gave the Tigers a 4-1 lead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt came on the forecheck and it was a lucky bounce that went off a player and past the goalie. I\u2019ll take it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Twenty-four seconds later, Crawford banged home a rebound created by Bundzenieks\u2019s powerful incursion off the right wing. The quick strike staked the Tigers to a four-goal lead and ended Thomas\u2019s night between the pipes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Replacement goaltender Joseph D\u2019Angelo kept the Tigers off the scoresheet and recalibrated the shell-shocked Rangers squad.  With 1:12 left in the second period, North York reduced its deficit to 5-2 when Timur Naurzbaev received a pass from Divitcos and roofed one just under the crossbar and over the shoulder of Kraus into the Tigers\u2019 net.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, the home side restored their four-goal lead less than five minutes into the third period when Johnathan Cirone\u2019s quick burst off the right wing created a perfect pass for Jamie Buscarini who buried the biscuit past D\u2019Angelo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After Buscarini finally solved D\u2019Angelo, Charlie Hotles scored the most picturesque goal of the contest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The power forward corralled the puck at his own blue line, created space in the neutral zone, bedazzled a pair of North York defenders, burst in from the left wing, and rifled a low shot through the Rangers\u2019 replacement keeper to make it 7-2 at 16:32.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Crawford completed his hat trick with 25 seconds left in the game when he sniped a shot from the right circle off the post and past D\u2019Angelo blocker side.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was Crawford\u2019s 16th of the season and first hat trick in 2025-26 for the Tigers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The young scoring hero noted that his last three-goal game was \u201clast year in U16 versus Markham.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Junior A Tigers finish their regular season next Saturday by hosting St. Mike\u2019s at 7 PM at the ACC.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tigers give Spirit a scare<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another sign of the Tigers\u2019 improved play under new Bench Boss James Thomson was Aurora\u2019s narrow 2-1 loss to the mighty Spirit in Stouffville on Thursday night. Tigers\u2019 goaltender Kian Hodgins put forth a stellar performance between the pipes\u2014turning aside 40 of the 42 shots he faced.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The second-place Spirit (38-11-1-1) needed a third period goal from former Tigers\u2019 power forward Kyle Baston to edge Aurora in front of 368 fans. Thomas Leone\u2019s goal at 3:48 of the third period pulled the Tigers (18-33-0-2) into a 1-1 tie, but Baston scored the game-winner one minute later to seal the deal for Stouffville.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Around the OJHL<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another former Tiger, defensive stalwart Bode Pearson, had a big offensive showing in Collingwood\u2019s 16-0 romp over Cobourg on Friday night.  The rugged defenseman had a four-point night\u2014one goal and three assists\u2014in the Blues\u2019 annihilation of the Cougars in front of 706 fans at the Eddie Bush Memorial Arena in Collingwood.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was Pearson\u2019s first goal of the season to go along with fifteen assists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Jim Stewart<\/strong><\/p>\n\r\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Cole Crawford fired three goals and added one assist to lead the resurgent Aurora Tigers to an impressive 8-2 win over the North York Rangers at the ACC on Friday night. The tenth-place Tigers have won four of their last six games since General Manager and Assistant Coach James Thomson replaced Head Coach Darcy Roy […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[24,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-37654","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news-sports","category-sports"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-9Nk","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-22 05:27:47","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37654","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37654"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37654\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":37655,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37654\/revisions\/37655"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37654"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37654"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37654"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}