Shillinglaw leads Lumberjacks by the Voodoos

HEARST, ON - Buoyed by a four-point night from their captain Adam Shillinglaw, the Hearst Lumberjacks went on to down the Powassan Voodoos 7-2 Saturday in the second meeting of their Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League quarter-final at Claude Larose Recreation Centre.

This sees the Lumberjacks take a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven affair that now heads to the Powassan Sportsplex for Game 3 Monday at 7 p.m.

Converting on the night’s initial power play, Powassan took a brief edge when Anthony Boyes corralled a loose puck at the top of the crease and lifted it up over Hearst starter Alexandre Boivin at 5:59.

Answering that just 24 seconds later, Shillinglaw tied it for the Lumberjacks as he came down the left wing and put a shot on Voodoos’ netminder Tyson Wilcox, then going after a rebound, used one hand to jam it in.

Another from Shillinglaw at 13:06 gave Hearst the lead when he sent an attempt towards the target that clipped off a Powassan player and changed direction before sliding through the legs of Wilcox.

Collecting his third point of the period, Shillinglaw fired a point shot, which was denied, but Ty McKay quickly scooped up the rebound and whipped it in, blocker side.

Heading to the second stanza, the Voodoos came out quickly to get back to within one thanks to Jack Nolan, who knocked in a loose puck off a Jackson Smith chance that came from inside the blueline.

A late man advantage helped the hosts take a 4-2 lead after 40 minutes when Shillinglaw snapped a shot that hit off teammate Tyler Patterson, before finding its way in at 19:32.

In the final frame, the Lumberjacks capitalized on a turnover deep in the visitors end that allowed Aiden Kalin to set-up DonHeaven Veilleux alone in front where he ripped in his second of the series.

He then notched his third of the affair as he took a pass from a falling Liam Boswell and slammed it home before Henry Ouellet converted in close in the late going to round out the scoring.