Photos by: Tanner Wallace (Tan Tan Photography)
POWASSAN, Ont. – Exploding for seven second period goals, the Powassan Voodoos went on the dump the Espanola Paper Kings 12-3 Friday in a Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League contest at the Powassan Sportsplex.
The Paper Kings wasted little time in opening the scoring when Cain Savage sent a bouncing puck towards the net from the side boards that skipped through Voodoos’ starter Owen Loftus, just nine seconds into the proceedings.
Coming back to tie it past the seven-minute mark, Powassan’s Caleb Dawson extended a point streak to seven as he whipped an attempt towards the target that hit off an Espanola defender and eluded netminder Cameron Millar.
Retaking the lead, via the power play at 15:01, the visitor’s Ryan Atkins was teed up at the point by Denver Mulligan and sent a shot through a crowd for a tally that was credited to Emerson De Giacomo on a tip in.
Answering with another equalizer in the final minute of the period, the Voodoos’ Owen Smith raced down the left wing with speed on a two-on-one and sent a saucer pass across to Anthony Boyes, who quickly swatted it in.
Heading to the middle stanza, the home side took their first lead at 1:45 thanks to Ryan Saginaw finishing off a couple of quick passes from Dawson and Caden Dubreuil while going in alone.
That saw the Paper Kings opt to make a goaltending change, with Liam Cheeseman entering in relief.
However, more from Powassan saw Aydin Beharie convert a couple of shifts later when he pumped in a blast from the left circle off a Scott Szczygiel feed.
Two more markers, under a minute apart, saw Ben Bristol-Murray rip one upstairs while Aidan Duchesne made it 6-2 by finishing off an odd-man rush with Boyes.
Another from Duchesne added to the onslaught at 14:34 when he skated in on a breakaway and made a crafty deke prior to neatly lifting in a backhand.
Carter Drigo did get one back for the guests deep in the session while up a skater, as he cranked in a one-timer off a Mulligan feed only to see Dubreuil counter moments later as he got behind the defence and buried his chance.
Capping off the offensive outburst, before the period expired, Alexandre Saulnier took his time in slot and snapped in his fifth of the season at 19:53.
With Millar back in net to start the third, he was left with no chance on the 10th goal as Owen Head was left with an open net off a Saulnier set-up.
Szczygiel added to the romp after that by batting in a backhand out of mid-air, prior to a low Max DeCoff blast, while Powassan was up a skater, rounding out the one-sided result.
With the victory, Powassan improves to 12-3-2-1 overall, while in defeat, Espanola falls to 9-11-0-0.
