Gold Miners clip Voodoos
Gustave gets OT winner
A Cayleb Gustave breakaway goal 5:10 into overtime was the decider as the Kirkland Lake Gold Miners clipped the Powassan Voodoos 3-2 in an entertaining Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League affair Friday at the Powassan Sportsplex.
Striking quickly, Nathan Harper gave the Gold Miners the early lead as he beat Voodoos’ starter Cole Vreugdenhil 77 seconds into the contest as he snagged a turnover between the circles and snapped it into the left corner for his fourth tally of the season.
A surging Ryan Saginaw drew Powassan level just past the 12-minute mark of the first frame as he wheeled out from the side boards and roofed a sizzler high over the glove Kirkland Lake netminder Glen McInnes to run a consecutive game point streak to seven in succession.
Powassan then took a 2-1 lead into the intermission thanks to Dylan Rousselle at 17:43 when he led an odd man rush into the Gold Miners’ zone where he elected to shoot and promptly picked the right side of the net with a sharp wrister.
In the second stanza, an evenly played frame saw the scoreless session keep the Voodoos in front 2-1 through 40 minutes.
Moving to the third period, the visitors knotted the score at 2-2 courtesy of Jake Williams, who neatly steered in a crisp pass through the crease from Ryland Harvey.
A wild flurry of activity late in regulation saw Kirkland Lake pull off a potential go-ahead Powassan marker off the goal line to keep it tied and send it to OT.
There some quality chances at both ends skating three aside gave each team opportunities to win it before Gustave did just that as a chip pass from Isaiah Allen sent him in alone on Vreugdenhil where he whipped in the game-winner over the blocker of the Voodoos’ goalkeeper to end it.
