Photos by: Tanner Wallace (Tan Tan Photography)
POWASSAN, Ont. – The Powassan Voodoos rallied late with a pair of man advantage markers, then notched the lone two tallies in the shootout, to pullout a 5-4 come from behind victory over the Soo Eagles in a Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League meeting Saturday at the Powassan Sportsplex.
The Voodoos needed just 65 seconds to begin the night’s scoring when Aidan Duchesne knocked in a low backhand from a tight angle to put it past Eagles’ starter Jett Loechler.
Remaining 1-0 Powassan into the second period, Powassan netminder Owen Loftus held firm during multiple Sault Ste. Marie man advantage opportunities to keep the scoreline the same after 40 minutes.
The Eagles eventually solved Loftus early in the third, when a diving Matthew Zaharias kept a play onside at the blueline where he lofted one in from distance past a screen forming in front.
Building on that, the Soo notched two more markers to go up by a pair.
Colton Huckson on the power play saw him take a feed from Darren Mayhew and send a shot from up top through a maze at 5:15.
Nathaniel Kohler added to the outburst 75 seconds after that as a Gabriel Clark shot bounced off him and into the net.
Getting back to within one at 11:06, Powassan rookie forward Alexandre Saulnier wheeled out of his own zone with pace, then after driving into Eagles’ territory wired a short-side wrister into the top left hand corner.
After Anthony Mayes whipped in a shot at 16:04 to seemingly put the guests in control, the Voodoos roared back with their two man advantage efforts late to force overtime.
Owen Smith at 17:43 had him convert from the slot on a five-on-three before Max DeCoff notched the equalizer by taking a feed from down low and wiring a wrister upstairs with 46 seconds left in regulation.
In OT, the five-minute session solved nothing to send it to extra shots.
There, Saulnier and Ben Bristol-Murray collected nifty goals in the shootout, while Loftus handled both attempts he faced to complete the comeback.
With the result, the Voodoos raise their record to 7-3-1-1 and with a point in defeat, the Eagles drop to 8-5-1-1.
