Photos by: Tanner Wallace (Tan Tan Photography)
POWASSAN, Ont. – The Kirkland Lake Gold Miners saw goaltender Asher Ammann save all three attempts he faced in the shootout to backstop his club to a 4-3 victory over the Powassan Voodoos in a Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League meeting Saturday at the Powassan Sportsplex.
A solid start for the hosts saw the Voodoos tally twice before the contest was 12 minutes in.
Owen Head picked up the initial marker as he took a Jesse Lefebvre pass between the circles on a two-on-one and snapped it past Ammann.
The home side clicked again at 11:08 when Owen Smith finished off the leftovers off a Caleb Dawson in close chance.
Kirkland Lake got one back when Nathan Harper was left with a tap in after Powassan netminder Matthew Lyon could not contain a dump in that allowed Ben Guimares to put the puck in front that was quickly knocked in.
More from Harper had him tie it before the first intermission as he benefited from a solid forecheck that allowed him to finish off a Mikaleb Blier point shot.
In the second stanza, the Voodoos went back on top at 14:47 when Lefebvre neatly redirected a Head attempt from the point that eluded Ammann.
The Gold Miners acted quickly in the third to knot the proceedings once more thanks to Owen O’Grady who put an attempt on target from distance that Lyon could not contain that allowed the Kirkland Lake forward to go to the net and jam in the loose puck.
Still tied after regulation, overtime was required to try and find a winner.
In the five-minute extra session, it went without a decider as the clubs went to extra shots.
There, Ben Lyons came in with pace on the Miners’ initial attempt and zipped a shot into the left corner on Lyon.
That proved to be the only goal in the shootout as Ammann shut the door to earn the road result, helping Kirkland Lake improve to 4-1-1-0 on the season.
Meanwhile, Powassan suffered their first setback of the campaign in falling to Voodoos 4-0-0-1 overall.
