Photos: Voodooshockey.com
POWASSAN, Ont. – The Powassan Voodoos saw Cameron Lemcke score four times Friday as part of a high-scoring 9-6 Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League victory over the French River Rapids at the Powassan Sportsplex.
Opening the goal-parade at 8:44 of the first period, the hometown Voodoos took advantage of a lengthy errant head-man pass attempt by French River starter Brady Dyer to strike first.
On the play, Powassan’s Alexander Case picked it off in the neutral zone and raced into Rapids’ territory, made a quick move, and whipped one upstairs for his third marker of the season.
Answering with an equalizer a couple of shifts later, Daniil Grishachev took a play to the net from the right side, where he made a crafty play to tuck the puck between the post and netminder Daniel Dirracolo.
French River then took then lead at 13:51 after collecting a turnover, which helped send Jesse Lefebvre darting in and saw him fire a shot into the left-hand corner.
A tally-filled start to the middle stanza saw five provided before the frame was 10 minutes in.
Voodoos’ captain Alex Little began the outburst by snapping one through a maze from the top of left circle during a man advantage.
They came right back and added another 17 seconds later with Lemcke neatly tipping in a shot with a behind the back deflection.
The French River power play then went to work with back-to-back markers to make it 4-3 for the guests.
Tyson Carr’s initial NOJHL goal tied it as he came out from a pile of players on the side boards and whipped one by Dirracolo from the right circle.
Carr came right back to notch his second in the league, with his club up a skater once more, as he blasted a shot from the high slot into the back of the net.
However, Lemcke answered that moments later after a blocked shot as he raced in on Dyer and jammed in his second of the night while powering his way through the crease.
In the third period, Lemcke hit his hat trick during a man advantage as he sent a shot through a maze from up top at 3:46.
Continuing to trade tallies, Matthew Shulist drew the Rapids level on a individual rush as he burst as burst into the Powassan end and zipped one into the right portion of the net at 8:06.
French River then went up 6-5 just over a minute later when Gavin Haslam battled one in from in close.
Countering, the Voodoos notched their sixth of the night at 13:27 thanks to Chase Thompson, who stuffed in a loose puck that a downed Dyer could not make eye contact with.
Adding to the back-and-forth affair in the late going, Shields redirected a Carson Ricci attempt towards the target that bounced its way in to give the Powassan the lead for good.
Lemcke then notched his fourth, into an empty net, before Parker McLelland cranked a shot past Dyer, just before time expired to round out the scoring.
The outcome sees the Voodoos move to 13-7-0-2 in the standings while the Rapids slipped to Rapids 4-18-1-0.
