BLIND RIVER, Ont. – A five-goal outburst in the back half of the contest saw the Powassan Voodoos skate to a 7-3 triumph over the Blind River Beavers in a Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League matinee Sunday afternoon at the Blind River Community Centre.
The result was also a milestone achievement for Voodoos’ general manager and president of hockey operations Chris Dawson, as the victory proved to be his 300th as an NOJHL GM.
It took the Beavers just 45 seconds to get things going offensively as Ryan Cooper snapped a shot from the left point that ended up finding its way through a partially screened Powassan starter Owen Wray.
Getting it back at 6:11, the Voodoos drew level as affiliate Todd Violette collected his first NOJHL marker after knocking in a rebound following a couple of spin moves and a shot towards the net by defenceman Caleb Van de Ven.
Regaining the lead late in the first, Kyle Caron put the hosts back on top when he banged one in off a goal-mouth scramble.
However, Powassan answered that in the final moments of the frame compliments of a Brett Richardson stuffing one into the open side at 19:53.
Moving to the middle stanza, Blind River went back in front once more thanks to Meguire Naughton connecting on the power play, midway through the period, as he tipped in an Evan Fraccaro shot from the upper portion of the left circle.
Continuing to go back and forth, the visitors levelled the score once more when Jacob McLellan jammed in a rebound off a Alex Little attempt from the high slot.
Little then gave the Voodoos their first lead of the day as he ripped a shot off the cross bar and in from the right side at 17:12.
Adding some insurance with 7:46 to go, Will Bourre spun in front and neatly picked the short side for his second of the season.
Powassan then put the game away, a minute and a half later, as Jackson Buffam fired a shot on net, that was stopped by Blind Rivers’ Patrick Boivin, but the rebound clipped right off teammate Ben White and in.
Buffam then finished the scoring with a long-range empty netter, while shorthanded, to secure the road victory.
Wray picked up the win for the Voodoos, helping his club improve to 24-7-4-1 while Boivin suffered the loss as the Beavers slipped to 14-12-2-0 overall.
