Photos: Allyson Demers
KIRKLAND LAKE, Ont. – The Powassan Voodoos held off a resilient Kirkland Lake Gold Miners side Saturday and before eventually pulling out a 3-1 victory in a Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League contest held at Joe Mavrinac Community Complex.
An early power play helped the Voodoos strike first as Powassan defenceman Mitch Wilkie powered his way down the right side boards into the Kirkland Lake zone and then put a pass in front that Tucker Shields chipped past netminder Ethan Barron.
The tally for Shields was his team-leading 18th of the campaign, and with it, extended a consecutive game point streak to eight in succession.
It stayed 1-0 Voodoos into the middle frame where Mathieu MacMillan cleanly won a face off back to Jack Kelly, who promptly whipped a shot off the left post and in to put the guests up by a pair at 3:23.
Staying that way until late in regulation, Kirkland Lake got their goalkeeper out for an extra attacker in an effort to pull closer.
The Gold Miners then did just that as Chance DeBolt broke through the Powassan defence and drove to the net where he sent a backhand by goaltender Daniel Dirracolo at 19:29.
However, after getting Barron out once more, the Voodoos’ Liam Serviss iced the road win with long-range empty-net-effort to cap off the victory.
With the outcome, Powassan improved to 24-11-1-0 overall while Kirkland Lake dropped to 4-31-1-0.