Photos: voodooshockey.com
POWASSAN, Ont. – A three-goal first period proved to be enough as the Powassan Voodoos picked up their fifth consecutive victory Wednesday in defeating the Kirkland Lake Gold Miners 5-2 in Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League play at the Powassan Sportsplex.
The hometown Voodoos opened the scoring 12:52 in when captain Alex Little jumped into the rush and saw the defenceman snap in a cross-ice feed from Rhys Smetham.
Adding another just over a minute later, Mathieu MacMillan notched his 25th tally of the campaign as he was sent in alone on a breakaway and ripped his chance into the bottom right corner on Gold Miners’ goaltender Graydon Mole.
A third in the session saw Powassan click on the power play with blueliner Alexander Case moving in and firing one in from a sharp angle before Mole could get across his crease to keep it out.
Second period play saw Kirkland Lake get on the board at 7:51 as Jacob Lamoureux had a couple of cracks in close before eventually chipping one over a downed Daniel Dirracolo in the Voodoos net.
Staying 3-1 for the hosts into the final frame, Kirkland Lake pulled to within one at 5:20, by converting on a man advantage, when Martin Brusoe whipped a shot through the legs of Dirracolo from inside the blueline, for his initial NOJHL tally.
A couple of late markers put the game away for Powassan, beginning with a Caleb Dawson effort that saw him steer in a Cameron Lemcke pass before Chase Thompson iced it by jamming in a loose puck moments after Dawson was thwarted on a partial break.
The result improves the Voodoos overall record to 35-18-1-2, one point clear of Hearst, as those two teams vie for home ice advantage in their upcoming NOJHL East playoff match-up.
In defeat, the Gold Miners fell to 10-40-5-2.
