POWASSAN, Ont. – Nick Smith scored once and dished out three assists to help propel the Soo Thunderbirds to a 6-4 victory over the Powassan Voodoos in Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League play Saturday evening at the Powassan Sportsplex.
Picking up a pair of early man advantage opportunities, Sault Ste. Marie capitalized on both of them take an early 2-0 lead before the contest was five minutes old.
Lucas Theriault’s team-leading 27th started the outburst for the Thunderbirds at 2:26 before teammate Matthew Bazarin added to the cushion at 4:20.
The Soo then chased Powassan starter Joe Vrbetic in favour of Christian Cicigoi at 7:02 when they made it 3-0 on Brady Caruso’s first of the season.
The Voodoos did get one back courtesy of Carson Lux later in the frame, but the visitors got that back before the first was complete when Nick Smith struck shorthanded at 18:33 as he reached the 19-goal plateau on the campaign.
Storming back in the second stanza, the home side scored two times in the opening minute to pull within one as Max Newnam and David Campbell both connected in rapid succession for the hosts.
They kept coming and added another to knot the affair at 4-4 at 8:17 when Cade Herd collected his 14th of 2018-19.
From there the offensive output continued with Noah Boman putting the Thunderbirds back on top and then before the period was complete Spencer Van Tiem added another for the Soo in the final moments of the period to put them up by two after 40 minutes.
Action in the final frame saw neither side add any more markers before time expired as the guests held on to secure the road victory.
Bellini finished with two assists in the win for the Thunderbirds while Henry Scott, Joe Whitet and Gabienen Kioki had two helpers apiece for Powassan.
Colin Ahern finished with 26 saves to record the win for the Soo.
Cicigoi made 28 stops in relief for the Voodoos and suffered the loss while Vrbetic saved eight of 11 in just over seven minutes of work.
