Alexander Case makes his case
An Alexander Case goal midway through the third period was the difference as the Powassan Voodoos held on for a 4-3 road win over the Espanola Paper Kings Friday night in Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League play.
The Voodoos got on the board first when a pair of North Bay Battalion OHL prospects connected as Reyth Smith fed Caleb Dawson driving the net and Dawson shovelled a puck by Paper Kings Andrew Gaulton to make it 1-0 Voodoos at 10:21.
The Paper Kings replied on the power play as Graydon Guthrie re-directed a shot from the point by Lucas Signoretti to make it 1-1 at 13:56.
It didn't take long for the Voodoos to get the lead back as Caden Dubreuil came out to the corner on a feed from Will Rivet and ripped a perfect shot over the shoulder of Gaulton for the 2-1 Voodoos lead at 15:59.
The Voodoos added an insurance marker early in the second when Ryan Patrick made a nifty feed from behind the net to Mathieu MacMillan and his quick shot got through Gaulton for a 3-1 Voodoos lead.
The Paper Kings got within one on a nice individual effort by Spencer Horgan as he beat Voodoos starter Daniel Dirracolo to make it 3-2 on a coast-to-coast effort.
With an assist on Horgan's goal, Owen Fergusson joined his linemate Lucas Signoretti with 100 points on the season.
Early in the third, the Paper Kings power play capitalized again as Lucas Signoretti took a shot through traffic that beat Dirracolo to make it 3-3.
The Voodoos got the lead back when Alexander Case was allowed to walk down from the right point and snuck a quick shot by Gaulton which made it 4-3 at 11:31.
From there the Paper Kings dominated in the Voodoos offensive zone with a pair of close calls which were turned away by Daniel Dirracolo who was solid between the pipes for the visitors as he was named the game's third star.
With the loss the Paper Kings, in that tight battle for 4th in the NOJHL West, fall to 32-20-1 while the Voodoos improve to 31-18-1-2 on the season.
