CHELMSFORD, Ont. – A battle between two of the top teams in the Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League standings Thursday saw the Rayside-Balfour Canadians and Powassan Voodoos battle to a 1-1 double overtime draw at Chelmsford Arena.
Both clubs came out skating to begin the contest firing quality shots on net in the opening frame, but the lone tally of the frame came late in the stanza courtesy of the Canadians.
It happened as Rayside-Balfour’s Ethan Lavallee secured a point in a seventh straight contest as he helped feed Justin Janowski for his second goal of the season at 18:11 as he beat Powassan starter Christian Cicigoi.
The goaltenders’ battle stayed 1-0 late into the middle session when the Voodoos drew level as Quintin Loon-Stewardson scored for a fifth time as the equalizer came with 68 seconds left to knot the affair after two periods of play as his effort eluded Canadians’ netminder MacKenzie Savard.
Picking up one of the assists on the play was Tyson Gilmour, who extended a point streak to five with the helper.
Each of the goalkeepers took over from there as the remaining 31-plus minutes were scoreless, including both OT sessions.
The low-scoring affair saw the Voodoos seven-game winning streak come to an end, but they are now unbeaten in eight straight.
Savard was busy and finished with 47 stops in the tie while Cicigoi handled 36 of 37 fired his way on the night as each side earned a point.
