Voodoos Steve Harland nets a second period goal in their home loss Saturday night. PHOTO COURTESY LEE ANNE DAWSON.
The Powassan Voodoos lost their second straight game at home Saturday night as the Abitibi Eskimos relied on an explosive 6 goal first period to propel them to an eventual 9-4 victory.
The first period didn’t start the way Powassan would have liked as Abitibi peppered the Voodoos net early and often. Eskimos Forwards Brenden Locke, Jake Holland and Brennan Roy all scored within the first 5 minutes of play to give Abitibi a 3-0 lead before Powassan’s leading scorer Steve Harland scored his 39th of the season on the powerplay.
Unfortunately for the Voodoos, the Abitibi onslaught didn’t stop as Forwards Tristan Salesse and Ryan Attwood scored to increase the lead before Roy notched his second goal of the opening frame to make it 6-1 for the Eskimos.
“This is a developmental league and that’s what we are here to do,” said Powassan Head Coach Scott Wray, who expressed what the game plan is for his team at this point in the season.
“The start isn’t what we wanted but it’s a process for developing guys who need time to improve. Our second and third period showed that when we buckle down and play hard, we can compete with anybody in this league.”
Powassan came on strong in the second period as they outshot Abitibi 21-7. Unfortunately for the Voodoos, Eskimos Goaltender Logan Ferrington turned aside all but one attempt he faced as Harland was able to bury his 2nd goal of the game and 40th of the year off a Kyle Moore rebound shot.
Abitibi’s Brennen Roy would answer shortly after, however, with his 3rd marker of the game. The Eskimos would add another late in the second to make it 8-2 with Forward Patrick Picard scoring on the backhand past Powassan Goaltender and North Bay Battalion prospect Jack Ondrovic.
The game remained fairly even for much of the third as the Voodoos and Eskimos traded chances. Newly-appointed Captain Jake Staples scored midway through the period on the powerplay with Harland drawing an assist on the play as well.
Nathan McLeod would also score for the Voodoos later in the final frame before Abitibi’s Brennan Roy added his 4th goal of the game en route to a 9-4 final.
Despite the Voodoos poor start, Powassan managed to outshoot Abitibi 43-31 in the loss.
Eskimos leading scorer Brady Clouthier added 5 assists in the victory to cement himself in third place in the NOJHL scoring race while the Voodoos Steve Harland pulled within 3 points of Cochrane’s Cody Gratton for the league lead with two goals and an assist against Abitibi.
Next game for the Voodoos comes on Wednesday night as they travel to Mattawa to face the struggling Blackhawks.
Puck drop is set for 7:30 p.m. at the Mike Rodden arena.
Story by Colby Clarke
