NEWS RELEASE
NORTHERN ONTARIO JUNIOR HOCKEY LEAGUE
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POWASSAN – The Powassan Voodoos got goals from four different skaters as they used a well-balanced attack to get by the Elliot Lake Vikings 4-2 Saturday in a Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League meeting at the Powassan Sportsplex.
The hometown Voodoos found the mark nearly 14 minutes into the match-up when Justin Rousseau buried a behind the net feed from Nathan Pelletier, who had forced a turnover along the end boards.
Heading to the second period, Elliot Lake drew level on an early power play when Nate Dugwell pumped a shot on target from the left circle that was stopped by Tyson Wilcox, but Tanner Gould was quick to scoop up the rebound and stuff in his first NOJHL goal.
Powassan regrouped with a pair of tallies in the back-half of the session to go up 3-1 after 40 minutes.
Pelletier picked up another assist just after an Elliot Lake penalty had expired as he cruised along the end boards and put a play on the tape of Ryan McCoy who ripped it in from the left side.
Up as skater again before the intermission, Caleb Dawson was teed up by Rousseau and proceeded to hammer his chance into the back of the net, leaving Vikings goalkeeper Ryder Lally with no chance.
Continuing to battle, Elliot Lake pulled to within one with just over five minutes to play as Max Ciesielski made a nice move on a defender, then drove hard to the net down the right wing and wired a shot top shelf.
The visitors later got Lally out for an extra attacker in an effort to tie it and force overtime, however Caden Dubreuil iced it for the hosts with an empty netter in the final seconds to wrap things up.
Beavers come back to beat Lumberjacks
BLIND RIVER – Rebounding from an early deficit, the Blind River Beavers stormed back to defeat the Hearst Lumberjacks 6-3 Saturday in Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League play at the Blind River Community Centre.
Hearst needed just 90 seconds to open the scoring when Damien Bourdon-Lemoyne put a backhand through the crease that was knocked in by Aiden Kalin on Blind River starter Connor Dunham-Fox.
The Lumberjacks then connected once more, a couple of shifts later, with Tyler Patterson connecting.
Regrouping, the Beavers got on the board with Owen King picking up his initial NOJHL tally at 4:52.
Still 2-1 for the visitors into the middle session, Blind River tied it on an early shorthanded effort that featured Clark Furman wheeling around the Hearst net and setting up Wyatt Gibson, who fired the puck by Alexandre Boivin.
The home side then took the lead at 3:47 as they broke out of their own zone in transition which allowed Jonah McIndoo to fire a cross-crease feed to Aaron Dukeshire, who guided it into the net.
A third in the session saw Beavers extend their cushion as Furman powered his way out from along the end boards and helped get the puck to Levi Lux, who roofed a shot from between the circles.
Hearst moved to within one at 15:17 of the third as Patterson redirected a Julien Trudel attempt from up high that just managed to trickle in.
However, Blind River secured the home ice victory with late empty netters from McIndoo and King to cap off the scoring.
Both teams play again Sunday afternoon as the Beavers will entertain Elliot Lake at 1 p.m. while the Lumberjacks head to Espanola for a 2 p.m. matinee.