Voodoos take bite out of Cubs
A two-goal night from Caleb Dawson, which included the eventual game-winner, helped propel the Powassan Voodoos past the Greater Sudbury Cubs 6-2 Wednesday evening in the finale of the Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League Showcase, presented by the Dairy Farmers of Ontario, at Gerry McCrory Countryside Sports Complex.
Powassan got on the board first, six minutes into the match-up, via the power play when Ryan Saginaw jammed in a loose puck that arrived off a Braeden Begley shot from the point past Greater Sudbury goaltender Matthew Vahramian.
Connecting at even strength, Jax Pereira made it 2-0 Voodoos a couple of shifts later as he darted up ice with pace and while driving hard down the left wing wired one high over the blocker of Vahramian to give him goals in back-to-back games.
Needing just 10 seconds to get one back in the middle stanza, a Powassan defenceman tried to rim the puck around his own net down low, but it clipped off the stick of the Cubs’ Eidan Macartney and sailed past a surprised goalkeeper, Cole Vreugdenhil.
Restoring their multi-marker cushion at 4:36, Dawson collected an attempt by Marcus Kratz and knocked in his eighth of the campaign.
A fourth on the night saw defenceman Jackson Marnell whip one to the target from the left point which sailed through a crowd and eluded a screened Vahramian for his first NOJHL goal.
A change after that saw back-up Mateo Beites enter in relief for Greater Sudbury.
However, Powassan kept coming and made it 5-1 at 15:20 when Cayden Kowal darted around behind the net where he put a play in front from below the goal line that ended up banking in.
Third period action saw the Voodoos notch another man advantage effort when Begley pumped a wrister from up high that was neatly redirected in by Dawson situated at the top of the crease.
Up a pair of skaters in the late going, the Cubs capitalized with Noah Kohan connecting as he tapped in a one-timer put his way by Daks Klinkhammer.
The proved to be the evening’s final marker as Powassan finished up with a 2-0 record in the Showcase while Greater Sudbury went 1-1.
Collecting player of the game laurels were Vreugdenhil and Kohan.
