Voodoos easily handle the Rapids
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Voodoos victorious over Rapids in Wednesday’s NOJHL meetingPOWASSAN, Ont. — The Powassan Voodoos scored second-half goals on manpower, even strength and on the power play as they beat the French River Rapids 5-2 in a racy affair in the Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League on Wednesday night at the Powassan Sportsplex.
Neither side would convert offensively in the scoreless first 20 minutes, with French River goalkeeper Matthew Perdue and his Powassan counterpart Daniel Dirracolo both handling every try they faced in the session.
There were plenty of opportunities in an action-packed second stanza, including an early penalty being awarded.
That came after the Rapids’ Connor Picard split the Voodoos’ defense in a rush and was hampered on his way to the net.
On his chance, however, Dirracolo calmly passed him and stood upright to thwart the opportunity.
The visitors traded end-to-end chances, eventually breaking the deadlock near the frame’s four-minute mark.
They scored the first goal of the game after intercepting a clearance attempt and used a couple of quick passes before Picard made the connection this time as he slid the puck past the Powassan keeper’s outstretched block for his 11th of the season.
The home side countered fairly quickly and equalized thanks to Liam Serviss forcing a turnover which allowed Jake Fullerton to hit a skater with his racquet in a two-on-one where the defender decided to shoot and fired a shot from the left circle for his first NOJHL record.
The blistering pace continued and Powassan took the lead just after half-time when Cameron Lemcke grabbed a loose puck and darned a wraparound between Perdue’s skate and the post.
With the tally, Lemcke now has four straight points as he also notched his 20th career league marker.
The Voodoos added another via special teams and capitalized on the power play as they converted ahead of the second break.
There, solid work along the end boards helped Chase Strychaluk put a pass forward from behind the net that was promptly whipped by a Nicholas Liotino one-timer at 17:20.
In the final frame, in a play where Jordan Bax saw a puck hit from his chest, French River pulled back to one and allowed him to move and shoot one past Dirracolo’s glove.
Powassan regrouped and got that back when Conor O’Brien finished a three-way passing play that included Thomas Gazich and Lemcke from the top right at the Rapids net.
Tucker Shields helped finish the game with eight minutes to go and quickly dealt with a feed he received in the slot he fired for his team-leading 19th of the year.
Mathieu MacMillan, who has now picked up points from seven straight competitions, set the stage for the evening’s final goal.
The win sees the Voodoos improve to 28-11-1-0 overall while the Rapids drop to 6-34-1-1.
