Powassan over Espanola
Voodoos collect home win against Paper Kings
Powassan Voodoos captain Jackson Smith’s first goal of the season, coming on a power play two and a half minutes into the third period, stood up as the game-winner in a 4-2 victory over the Espanola Paper Kings in a rare Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League Sunday evening affair at the Powassan Sportsplex.
The Voodoos began the scoring 12 minutes into the match-up when Caleb Dawson chipped a chance ahead up to Justin Rousseau who went in on Paper Kings netminder Jack Helkie, then faked a shot before taking the play wide and stuffing in his ninth goal of the season.
Notching another a couple of shifts later, Powassan’s Heath Bradley beat out an icing, then moved the puck to the point where Reid de Bokx pumped an attempt to the target that was redirected in by Dawson.
Heading to the middle frame, Espanola pressed the pace in the session, generating the majority of the offensive chances there.
Despite having opportunities throughout, it took the visitors until the 18:37 mark of the second stanza before they finally solved Voodoos’ goaltender Tyson Wilcox.
On the tally, Jack Anderson corralled a bouncing puck at the Powassan blueline, then darted down the right side before wiring a shot into the top left corner to get the guests to within one after 40 minutes.
In the third period, the home side went back up by a pair during an early man advantage.
On the marker, Smith took a cross-ice pass along the blueline, then moved up and proceeded to fire a rising wrister past Helkie.
Striking on a five-on-three, Espanola pulled to within one once more after Kaden Wicklander got enough of a one-timer to get it through Wilcox from the right circle, in finishing off a feed from Liam Rampersad.
In the end though, Nathan Pelletier capped off the result with a late empty netter for Powassan.
With the triumph, the Voodoos improve to 13-10-0-3 on the campaign, and while despite battling hard, the Paper Kings are now winless in eight as they fell to 8-15-2-1 overall.
