Photos: Northern Exposures
ELLIOT LAKE, Ont. – Skating out to a strong start, the Powassan Voodoos went on to defeat the Elliot Lake Red Wings 4-1 Sunday afternoon in a Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League match-up at Centennial Arena.
The Voodoos took flight a minute and a half into the proceedings when Cameron Lemcke snagged a loose puck behind the net and fired in front to a waiting Jackson Buffam, who whipped a shot past Elliot Lake starter Cameron Smith.
Adding to the lead near the midway mark of the first frame, Powassan broke out of their own zone in transition and saw Chase MacQueen-Spence have a chance blocked, but Rodion Tatarenko gathered up the disk and proceeded to snap it into the corner.
Building on that, the visitors went to the power play before the intermission and made it 3-0 thanks to Alexander Bradshaw’s 20th of the season, which came at 14:45, during a goal-mouth scramble.
In the middle session, the Voodoos kept coming and went up by four half-way through the contest when Easton Robitaille backpedaled into the slot and whipped one by Colton Donaldson, who entered the game for Elliot Lake to begin the period.
A nice rush up the ice by Kjell Osborne late in the second helped put the Red Wings on the board as he split the Powassan defence, darted in, and snapped a shot that eluded goaltender Owen Wray at 18:44.
Action in the third period saw neither side convert offensively as the Voodoos skated away with the road victory.
Wray won for a fourth straight appearance helping his side snap a three-game drought as Powassan improved to 26-10-4-1 on the year.
Smith suffered the defeat as the Red Wings, while Donaldson was solid in relief, allowing only against, as Elliot Lake slipped to 11-27-1-0.