Returning to the win column with their initial on-ice victory of the month, the Powassan Voodoos got three goals from Cayden Kowal to down the Soo Thunderbirds 4-1 in a Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League contest Sunday afternoon at the Powassan Sportsplex.
The win breaks the Voodoos seven-game losing skid.
Needing just 77 seconds to take the lead, the Thunderbirds’ Deven Jones-McDonald put his side on the board with his eighth of the campaign, in eluding netminder Austin Seibel.
Knotting the affair during a man advantage opportunity, Kowal pumped a chance through traffic from the left side that got by a screened Noah Metivier in the Sault Ste. Marie net.
Second period play saw Lucas de Caluwe collect his first NOJHL goal at 5:10 when the Powassan defenceman backpedaled along the blueline and wired a wrist shot off the post and in.
Going up by a pair, de Caluwe figured in on another as he chipped the puck off a Soo skater that allowed Kowal to muscle his way in on Metivier before neatly tucking one through his legs.
That resulted in the T-Birds making a goaltending change, with back-up Lincoln Melenthin entering in relief.
Capping off the result in the late going of regulation, Kowal used his skate to break up a Thunderbirds’ pass attempt in his own zone, then moved up and sank the clincher from centre ice, into an empty net, for his first career hat trick, while reaching the 20-goal plateau for the initial time in a single-season.
The Voodoos are back on the ice Friday night as they host the Kirkland Lake Gold Miners.