Voodoos explode for five late goals to down Vikings, 8-1

The Powassan Voodoos broke open a close game with five third-period goals to dump the Elliot Lake Vikings 8-1 Friday in Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League play at the Powassan Sportsplex.

Notching the night’s opening tally nearly nine minutes into the contest, Ryan Patrick fired a rising attempt that was deemed to have gone in and out by the referee positioned along the goal line.

Remaining 1-0 Voodoos into the second period, the home side added to their lead at 8:58 thanks to Tucker Shields who tucked in a loose puck off a spinning Darby McCarthy attempt. The goal helped both players extend point streaks to five straight outings.

A late man advantage helped Powassan take a 3-0 lead after 40 minutes, as a crisp cross-ice feed courtesy of Zach Turner found Cameron Lemcke sliding in the back door, that was quickly whipped in to the open corner.

Breaking it open in the third, the Voodoos scored five times to win going away.

Some solid work along the end boards by Lemcke early in the session, eventually saw him put a pass in front that was promptly swatted in by Rhys Smetham.

Adding another, the Voodoos went hard to the net and had a couple of cracks before Michael MacLean jumped in and finished off a goal-mouth scramble with his first of the season at 6:11.

Then Mathieu MacMillan, Chase Thompson and Rotondo, with his first in the NOJHL, all connect in rapid succession.

Elliot Lake did eventually dash the shutout bid of Miles Gordon, while on the power play, at 17:05 when Jake Norman moved in from the left point and put in a low shot off a Gavin McLenaghan feed from behind the net for his initial league tally to round out the scoring.

The win was Powassan’s fourth in a row as they improved to 9-2-0-1 on the campaign.

With the defeat, the Vikings dropped to 2-8-1-1 overall.