Responding from a sizable early hole, the Hearst Lumberjacks proceeded to supply seven unanswered goals to knock off the Powassan Voodoos 7-4 Sunday evening in Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League play at Claude Larose Recreation Centre.
The visiting Voodoos needed less than three minutes to open the scoring when Eric Whitelaw batted in an Owen Kahl shot that rattled off end boards and bounced back in front, then past Lumberjacks’ netminder Owen Bonthuis.
Adding another via the power play, Whitelaw banged in another as he took a nifty pass from down low by Ryan Saginaw and after being originally denied on an initial attempt, promptly slammed in the rebound at 12:06.
Continuing to click, Cayden Kowal wheeled out of his own territory with speed and while darting into the Hearst end, wired a wrister by Bonthuis, which saw goalkeeper Alexandre Boivin enter to play the rest of the session.
A fourth in the frame saw Kowal snag the leftovers off a Kahl chance and pump it in during the final minute of the period.
Bonthuis then returned to commence the middle stanza for the Lumberjacks who made a statement that they were not out of it.
Hearst captain Adam Shillinglaw began his club’s reply on a man advantage as he worked a give-and-go with Liam Boswell then ripped a shot upstairs past the glove of Powassan’s Austin Seibel.
Making it 4-2, Bronson Babyak picked off an errant Powassan pass and sent a crisp cross-ice feed over to Aidan Kalin, who steered in his 22nd tally of the season at 8:02.
A couple of shifts later, Babyak aided on another, off an odd-man rush, and fed Brayden Hindman whose first chance was blocked, but he quickly collected the puck and propelled in a backhand.
Up a skater to begin the third, Hearst capitalized to draw level thanks to Tyler Patterson in close as he finished a Shillinglaw attempt.
They then took the lead at 6:50 as Boswell shoveled a feed ahead to Ty McKay who lifted in a sharp-angle effort that managed to get through Seibel.
Adding to their offensive surge on a late power play, the Lumberjacks’ Damien Bourdon-Lemoyne worked his way out from below the goal line and wired a sharp pass across to DonHeaven Veilleux, who zipped it in with authority.
Capping off the comeback, Hearst’s Mathieu Comeau took his time skating into the neutral zone, across the red line, then scoring into an empty net to finalize the outcome.
The Voodoos are back home on Friday night as the Lumberjacks travel south to face the Voodoos.