MATTAWA, ON – Tyler Broderson, Christian Sgroi and Colin Nicholson each tallied twice to help the Mattawa Blackhawks skate to their first Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League victory Sunday afternoon, an 8-5 decision over the visiting Powassan Voodoos, at Mike Rodden Arena.
Nicholson opened the scoring for the Blackhawks 6:41 into the first period only to see Aaron Dart notch the equalizer for Powassan just over two minutes later.
The Voodoos grabbed a 3-1 lead in the middle stanza on markers by affiliate Casye Ton and Bo Peltier, who struck shorthanded.
Mattawa countered with three straight goals before the session was complete to go up 4-3 on efforts supplied by Broderson, Sgroi and Nicholson.
Powassan’s Steve Harland tied it 49 seconds into the third, but the Blackhawks added four of their own in a four and a half minute span to take control.
After Sgroi levelled the proceedings at 7:57, Cole Gilligan potted one midway through the period.
Just 23 seconds later Damon Lemmon made it 7-4 followed by Broderson’s second at 12:22 to put Mattawa on the verge of their initial triumph.
Brendan D’Agostino added a late power play marker for the Voodoos to round out the scoring on the afternoon.
Nick Grose had four assists to aid the Hawks in victory while Jimmy Philbin had three helpers of his own.
Shots on goal favoured Mattawa 46-38 with Joe Sheppard registering the win and Ben Auger suffering the loss.
The win breaks the Blackhawks 10-game losing streak to start the season.
For the Voodoos, it was a disappointing result after a hard fought 5-4 double OT loss at home Saturday against the 8-2 Sudbury Nickel Barons.
The regional rivalry which will include 12 games between the 2 sides now sits at 1-1, with the Voodoos getting their first win in franchise history against Mattawa back in September in Powassan.
Photo of Voodoos captain Aaron Sullivan
