GALLERY: Voodoos hit 20-win plateau following road triumph over Rapids

Photos: Jeremy Seguin

FRENCH RIVER – Getting goals from six different skaters, the Powassan Voodoos went on to defeat the French River Rapids 6-2 Sunday in Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League play at Noelville Arena.

It took the visiting Voodoos just 85 seconds to open the scoring in the contest as Ryan Patrick broke out of his own zone down the right wing on a two-on-one where he opted to shoot and fired one through Rapids’ starter Matthew Perdue for his third tally in as many games and 10th overall on the campaign.

Staying 1-0 Powassan into the middle session, French River came back to tie it at 8:46 as Matt Hill jumped onto the ice on a line change then quickly drove to the net where he buried a rebound past goalkeeper Kannon Flageolle.

However, the visitors came right back to regain the lead just 40 seconds later with Conor O’Brien converting on a sharp-angle shot that got by Perdue.

Up a skater later in the period, the Voodoos made it 3-1 thanks to Rhys Smetham, who spun and scored from the top of the crease.

Powassan struck again off an odd-man rush while shorthanded when Tucker Shields whipped in a one-timer off a cross-ice feed from Cameron Lemcke.

Still on the power play though, the Rapids got that back prior to the second intermission when Matthew Campanella made a splendid rush from deep in French River territory and eventually drove to the net and put one up over Flageolle’s glove to make it 4-2 after two.

In the final frame, the Voodoos went up by three right off a faceoff win as Thomas Gazich buried a shot from the top of the left circle.

They then capped off the road victory in the final minute of regulation on an end-to-end dash by defenceman Nicholas Liotino who flew up the ice before eventually converting on a late man advantage with a sharp shot from the left side.

The outcome sees Powassan improve to 20-8-1-0 of the season, while in defeat the Rapids dropped to 4-25-0-1 overall.

They will meet again Wednesday to cap off a home-and-home in a 7 p.m. start at the Powassan Sportsplex.