Photos: voodooshockey.com
POWASSAN, Ont. – Riding the strength of a five-goal second period barrage, the Powassan Voodoos went on to defeat the French River Rapids 9-2 in Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League play Friday at the Powassan Sportsplex.
French River did get off to a positive start by taking the lead a couple of minutes into the contest thanks to a Sergy Suschenko effort when he came out from the end boards and lifted a backhand past Powassan starter Daniel Dirracolo for his fifth goal of the season.
Answering with an equalizer at 8:43, Caden Dubreuil drew the Voodoos level as he muscled his way out of his own end off a face-off then worked a two-on-one to perfection by roofing a feed from Caleb Dawson.
The Rapids came back to retake the lead deep into the first period as Jesse Lefebvre stuffed in a loose puck off a high-slot attempt from Matthew Shulist that leaked through Dirracolo.
Early in the second stanza, Chase Thompson tied it once more for Powassan as he drove hard down the ice then fired a crisp wrist shot past the blocker of French River netminder Elijah Grant.
The Voodoos then went in front, moments later, as Mathieu MacMillan clicked on a power play at 2:55 by collecting a rebound and slipping it into the open corner for his team-leading 16th of the campaign.
Building on that, Powassan went up by a pair on Dubreuil’s second of the night as Dawson found him once again with a sharp pass that was promptly guided in from the left side.
Not done there, the hosts notched their fourth of the frame when Rhys Smetham ripped one past the glove of Grant from between the hash marks at 12:49.
That tally resulted in French River opting for a goaltending change with back-up Michael O’Sullivan entering the game.
The Voodoos kept coming though and added to their offensive barrage in the final minute of the frame when Alexander Case sent a nice pass across to captain Alex Little, who pumped a shot upstairs.
In the third, Powassan’s Cameron Lemcke banked one in from a sharp angle off of O’Sullivan with nine minutes remaining.
They then finished off the romp with late tallies courtesy of Jackson Smith, making his NOJHL debut, and Case to wrap things up.
The win sees the Voodoos improve to 20-12-0-2 overall, while in defeat, the Rapids fall to 8-27-1-0.
