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Voodoos Upset Gold Miners

Voodoos goalie Matt Young celebrates after Voodoos upset the Kirkland Lake Gold Miners; the nation's 12th ranked Jr. A team. PHOTO BY SHANNA WRAY.

 

Voodoos goalie Matt Young celebrates after Voodoos upset the Kirkland Lake Gold Miners; the nation's 12th ranked Jr. A team.  PHOTO BY SHANNA WRAY. 

The Powassan Voodoos scored 3 times in the third period en route to a gritty 4-1 victory over the first place Kirkland Lake Gold Miners on Saturday night in Powassan.

The first period started off with some strong physical play from both sides as Kirkland Lake took to the body early on against the young Voodoos squad. After killing off s Traven Reed penalty, newcomer Jack Zanville converted on a rebound shot from Defenceman James Vuillemot and buried his first goal as a Voodoo to make it 1-0.

Powassan then relied heavily on some superb goaltending by Matt Young to kill off all 3 penalties in the opening frame as the Gold Miners outshot the Voodoos 13-6.

Powassan Head Coach Scott Wray expressed how important it was to have Matt Young in the net.

“He won the game for us,” said Wray.

“If it wasn’t for Matt it could have been 10-2 for them. He was solid and I wish he could have gotten the shutout because he was phenomenal once again for us.”

After a wide open first, both teams settled down into a defensive second period that saw the physicality carry over. Matt Young managed to turn aside all 7 shots he faced as he dueled between the pipes with Kirkland Lake Netminder Devon Debastos, who made 8 saves in a middle frame that saw no scoring from either side.

Following an unlikely Gold Miner’s turnover, Voodoos forward Kyle Moore took off through the neutral zone to score a beautiful breakaway goal for a 2-0 lead.

Shortly after the goal, Powassan got themselves into some penalty trouble midway through the third that saw Kirkland Lake Defenceman Ethan Strong blast home a one-timer on a two-man advantage to cut into the lead.

That was as close as the Gold Miners would get, however, as newly acquired Forward Jacob Erwin sniped just five minutes later for the Voodoos to restore the two goal lead.

North Bay Battalion prospect and Voodoos leading scorer Steve Harland capped off the night with an empty netter late to seal the victory while Goaltender Matt Young was named first star as he made 30 saves in the victory for his 9th win of the season.

With the win, the Voodoos improve to 8-10-0-3 on the season.   

Voodoos celebrate Jack Zanville's first period goal.  PHOTO BY SHANNA WRAY.