The Powassan Voodoos stormed back from a two-goal third period deficit and rallied with four unanswered tallies to pull out a 7-5 come from behind victory over the Kirkland Lake Gold Miners in an action-packed Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League match-up Saturday at the Joe Mavrinac Community Complex.
Some solid work on the forecheck helped Kirkland Lake open the scoring three minutes in when Ryan Evenhuis dropped one back in the high slot to Dakota Seaman, who promptly whipped a rising attempt past rookie Powassan netminder Colton Donaldson.
Not done there, the Gold Miners came right back and bagged another one less than a minute later as a fortuitous bounce off a wrap-around came right to Matt Hill who moved in on top of Donaldson and converted from close range.
Powassan had a great chance to cut into the deficit just past the midway mark of the first period as a Voodoos forward Owen Fergusson went in all alone on a breakaway, only to be stymied by a sharp left pad save supplied by Kirkland Lake goalkeeper Zach Reddy.
The visitors did get one back on a nice rush by Alexander Bradshaw who darted into the Gold Miners’ zone and while using a defender as a screen, ripped in a low shot at 14:05.
Buoyed by that, the guests tacked on another before the first intermission thanks to Battalion prospect Chase MacQueen-Spence firing one cross-crease that left Ben White with a tap in to level the proceedings.
Regaining the lead in the middle stanza, Seaman collected his second of the night as he moved over the blueline and wristed one home, blocker side, to make it 3-2 Miners.
That resulted in Alex Bugeja entering the net for Powassan, as he went the rest of the way between the pipes.
From there, the home side regained their two-tally cushion thanks to Luciano Supino who had an initial shot blocked, but he was quick to snag the rebound and chip it over the glove of the Powassan goalkeeper to become yet another player on the evening to pick up their first NOJHL goal.
Answering back, while cycling out of the corner and into the middle of the ice, MacQueen-Spence wired one into the top right hand corner with his opening marker to make it a one-goal game after 40 minutes.
In the third, the back-and-forth affair saw the home side go up 5-3 as Seaman and Supino teamed up to feed Ryan Evenhuis driving towards the net where he knocked in his initial NOJHL offensive effort at 3:30.
The visitors continued to push back however and clicked on the man advantage when Justin Spurrell whipped one in from between the hash marks, five minutes later.
They maintained their pressure and notched the equalizer as Finn Action-Rinaldo, the lone returner from the 19-20 team, blasted one from the top of the right circle to knot the score.
The Voodoos then completed their comeback moments later thanks to Bradshaw’s second of the night as he finished some crisp passing by Jacob McLellan and James Johnson with a quick shot while open in front.
Finishing the comeback Fergusson clicked on a mini two-on-one in the late going to wrap-up the comeback.
Bugeja made 16 stops in relief to collect the win while Donaldson handled eight of 11 in nearly 25 minutes of work.
The Gold Miners’ Reddy faced 42 shots in a losing cause.
The win moves the Voodoos to 2-0 on the season thanks to a 4-2 season opening win Friday night in Noelville against the French River Rapids.
Game summaries, league standings, schedule information, statistics and other related news can be found online at NOJHL.com.
