Powassan keeps flying with win over Espanola

POWASSAN, Ont. – The Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League-leading Powassan Voodoos continue to fly as they racked up their NOJHL-best 25th victory of the season Friday evening in a 10-1 triumph over the Espanola Express at the Powassan Sportsplex.

Aaron Dickson put the Voodoos in flight eight and a half minutes into the contest only to see Espanola come right back on the next shift and notch the equalizer as Jarod Hurley collected his first NOJHL goal at 9:05.

However the home side got that back at 13:54 of the first period as Shane Beaulieu’s 13th of the season proved to be the game-winner.

Powassan added to their lead with a trio of tallies in the middle session compliments of Cade Herd, Dickson and Kobe Desmond to put them up by four after 40 minutes.

The Voodoos then blew it open in the third as they erupted for five more in just over a 10-minute span to finish off the one-sided result.

Desmond had two of the tallies as he registered his first NOJHL hat trick while Dylan D’Agostino, Tomas Yachmenev and Brandon MacKinnon supplied singles with the latter picking up his first marker with the team.

A well-balanced offensive attack saw 13 Powassan skaters pick-up at least one point on the night.

One of those was Tyson Gilmour, who dished out a pair of assists for Powassan in the win helping him extend a point streak to 10 consecutive outings and run his league-best helper total to 32 in the process.

Voodoos’ affiliate netminder Ty Sparling made 22 saves to register the win for the Voodoos.

Jacob Hutchings started for the Express and suffered the loss as he and Adam Scott, who entered the contest after the eighth Powassan goal, faced a combined 61 shots in defeat.