The Powassan Voodoos wave to the crowd of 400+ during their game 3 victory over the Gold Miners. PHOTO BY CHRIS DAWSON.
For any expansion team, inaugural seasons can be very difficult for so many reasons; building a fan base in a relatively small area, hiring a responsible management and coaching staff to handle the day-to-day operations, and not to mention finding skilled young players to put a first-year squad together that can play competitively with its experienced opposition.
Such a task is what the Powassan Voodoos were faced with for the 2014-2015 Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League season. However, after the North Bay Battalion of the Ontario Hockey League sought out former Centennials player Scott Wray to be the Voodoos first Head Coach in team history, a system was put in place to build upon.
From rags to riches it seems for the Powassan Voodoos of the NOJHL, who are fresh off an East Division Semi-Finals series victory over the defending-champions from Kirkland Lake. An unlikely, yet extremely impressive playoff run for a team that finished 4th during the regular season with just 16 wins.
“This has been months in the making,” said Wray, who was a professional hockey player for 16 years and long-time Captain of the Central Hockey League’s Rapid City Rush.
“Our coaching staff has long been addressing our strong points and we’ve been preaching this system. The boys are completely buying into it now.”
With Wray behind the bench, the Voodoos have battled through the rookie season struggles to become the NOJHL’s most unpredictable team; having gone 6-1-0-1 in the playoffs thus far including a perfect 4-0 record on home ice.
It speaks highly of the first-year Head Coach, who has stuck by his team all year long despite their inconsistency throughout the regular season.
“We could be a very scary team to play against one night and just non-existent the next,” said the 35 year-old Ottawa, Ontario native.
“We couldn’t string wins together and beat the good teams on a consistent basis but when the regular season ended I just told the club it’s a fresh start for all of us.”
With the East Division Finals set to go this Friday night in Cochrane, Powassan can take salvation in the fact that going deep in the post-season in nothing new to Wray, who led his Rapid City team to the Ray Miron President’s Cup Championship in 2010.
“People can talk about how good or bad you are during the season but you’re really judged on how you perform in the playoffs,” Wray added.
“If you would have told me around December that we’d be here, it would have been hard to believe but I’m starting to learn to expect the unexpected with this group. They have come together at the right time and it’s awesome to see it unfold.”
Wray and his Powassan team will be back in action this Friday night as the Voodoos travel to Cochrane to take on the Crunch in Game 1 of the NOJHL East Division Finals. Puck drop is set for 8:00 p.m. at the Tim Horton Event Centre.
