FRENCH RIVER – Dominic Bzdyl notched a natural hat trick in the first period, then helped set-up the game winner late in regulation, to help propel the French River Rapids to a 6-5 victory over the Powassan Voodoos Thursday in Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League preseason play at Noelville Arena.
Bzdyl got the Rapids flowing by striking three times in succession to send the home side to a 3-0 lead into the initial intermission.
Extending their lead to four, Danill Grishachev connected 6:14 into the middle stanza.
The Voodoos answered back with a couple of markers later in the frame to make it 4-2 after 40 minutes, thanks to markers credited to Justin Rousseau and Thomas Sefton.
Striking quickly in the third, Powassan drew level after Cameron Lockhart assisted on goals by Owen Smetham and Caden Dubreuil.
French River regained the lead midway through the stanza compliments of Cameron Jansa, only to see the Voodoos’ Caleb Dawson notch the equalizer with 8:34 remaining in regulation.
In the end though, Bzdyl assisted on the difference maker that was deposited by Grishachev with under three minutes to play, which rounded out the night’s scoring.
Brady Dyer and Ethan Carlone both saw action in net for the Rapids as did Powassan’s Jackson Curran and Tyson Wilcox.
