Pursuit is a sports feature series highlighting athletes, coaches, and staff and significant sporting events from North Bay and the surrounding area.
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The middle of March always brings with it a sense of anticipation around the City of Powassan.
It’s the time of year when the hometown Voodoos are prepping for a run through the NOJHL playoffs. But in 2020 that run never materialized. Despite the Voodoos having one of the best teams, not only in their league but perhaps in the entire Jr. A loop in the country, the Voodoos never got the chance to play for a second NOJHL championship in franchise history.
The COVID-19 pandemic put a pause on the playoffs before they began and the Voodoos didn’t play hockey again until September 17, 2021. Four years removed from that ending, the Head Coach of the team, Max Gavin reflected on what it was like to live through that time.
Speaking to the Frontline Podcast Gavin says, “It was a wild end to my final year in Powassan.”
He says during the COVID-19 pandemic he truly learned where his passion lies.
“I got a job outside of hockey because there wasn’t a lot of hockey being played at the time. I got to work for a wonderful company, but in doing a lot of reflection I just kept coming back to the idea that I love coming to the rink every day and it's where my passion lies, and I love being able to help young players achieve their goals and I missed that. That's really what drew me back in.”
Gavin got a role at the University of Vermont for a year before moving to his current role at Dartmouth College, in New Hampshire, where he serves as the Assistant Coach of the women's hockey team.
“I’m loving it up here so far and definitely wouldn’t be where I am without my time in Powassan, and I still think back on my time there fondly.”
Gavin was hired by the Voodoos in April of 2018.
“I just put in an old school application to the team and about a week later (Owner) Jim Bruce and (General Manager) Chris Dawson reached out. I spoke to Chris on the phone briefly and he asked if I wanted to come for an interview. They didn’t know I was still in Michigan at the time. I drove from Michigan to North Bay in a little rented Ford Taurus in the middle of the winter.”
Gavin met them for dinner and said it didn’t take him long to realize that he would be in good hands if he got the job in Powassan.
“Anyone who has been around Chris and Jim knows they are two unbelievable people who care immensely about the program and the people around them and about hockey in general in the north.”
Gavin says he was very grateful and excited for the opportunity to join the team for what would be his first job as a head coach.
“The cherry on top of it all was that they were affiliated with the North Bay Battalion, and I had the opportunity to work with some of their prospects and learn from their staff too.”
He says the affiliation paved the way for the team to add some prospects with some pedigree to the roster.
“I give a lot of credit to Dawson for shaping that roster and to the Battalion for giving us some of their prospects who played big minutes for us. Guys like David Campbell, Goalies Joe Vrbetic, and Christian Cicigoi, so things came together, and Dawson set us up for success.”
He adds, “There are a lot of people in that organization though that don’t always get the credit for the team's overall success. Brent Tomlinson did so much for that organization and the real rock is (Assistant Coach) Josh Dale. He was really that X-factor that year. He knew most of the kids from growing up in that area and so he was able to bridge the gap by helping me understand their backgrounds and what makes them go. Patrick Rochefort was there at that time as well and provided a lot of that background to help me as a young coach grow into the role.”
The road the Voodoos took under Gavin's leadership had an inauspicious start. During their first pre-season game the team was down 3-0 to Pembroke on the first three shots of the game.
“I was definitely feeling the heat from that start, even though it was just an exhibition game, but I had about 50 family members and friends in the stands that took time out to be there.”
But following that the Voodoos got on track and Gavin says adjusting to the parity of the league in the first year was a big learning curve.
“It was so much fun because every game you're in, it was competitive, and you had to find different ways to win. We had a lot of growth during that season. For example, we lost to Kirkland Lake the first couple of times we played them, but by the time we got to the playoffs, we beat them in six games. We were young that year, but we had a committed group of guys that wanted to get better and do things that would give us a chance to win every night.”
The Voodoos were then swept by the Hearst Lumberjacks in a series that featured two games that were decided in overtime and the final was a 3-1 finish with the third goal being scored with just 40 seconds left in the game.
Gavin says the team could not wait to get back on the ice following that season.
“It seemed like everything was falling into place. We knew that if we could keep the core of the team together then we were going to have a special group coming back. About 80 per cent of our team was 17 or 18 years old. We knew if we could add some pieces to that, we could be putting together a special group,” he says.
During the summer Dawson was calling Gavin weekly to get his thoughts on players to bring into the team.
“He brought up Gregory Trudeau-Paquet who we just played against in that Kirkland series, and I wanted him on the team. I drove with Jim to Sudbury to meet with Greg and talk about what our program was all about and he was just all in on wanting to win. I think after we had the announcement that brought him and his teammate Sam Ellwood on board, everything else just fell into place.”
Gavin says from day one at camp, it was all about business.
“Parker Bowman (who was captain of the Voodoos Championship team in 2017) shows up and Cade Heard (who scored 55 points for the Voodoos in 44 games the season prior) comes back and all these guys are zipping around the ice from that first practice and Josh and I were looking at each other like we just had a good feeling about the year.”
The biggest surprise for Gavin during that preseason came when he got a call about a goalie who was looking to play somewhere.
“I told his advisor that I can give the kid one practice and one exhibition game and that’s all I can promise him. To his credit, he drove up from London, Ontario with no promises and no expectations and he showed up and it was like ‘This is it, this is the missing piece.’ He looked like Jonathan Quick in the way he moved, he was so athletic, great personality, great family and he gets in net, and we knew we were signing him, and that was Owen Say.”
Say went 31-2-0-0 with three shutouts, a Goals Against Average of 1.90, and a league-leading save percentage of 0.941 in 36 games played. He was named the league's goaltender of the month in September, October, January, and February and the CJHL player of the month in February as well.
“He’s a great story and a great role model for trusting in yourself and going out there and earning it,” says Gavin.
As the season got going Gavin says they knew they had a good squad, but he adds, “To win a championship and be a successful team, you have to get a little lucky as well and we did get lucky with guys like Say and Bowman coming back and bringing Greg and Sam in. If we don’t have all these guys, we are a different team,” says Gavin.
The Voodoos jumped out to a big lead and never looked back going 45-9-1-1 on the year with 92 points and capturing the East Division crown. They scored 264 goals as a team and allowed just 141. They had the league's best power play at 24.5%. Three players finished in the top five in scoring in the league. Bowman was second with 88 points, right behind him Trudeau-Paquet had 84 and Tomas Yachmenev finished fifth with 63. All three players also had 30 goals or more. Seiji Martone’s 42 assists was seventh in the league. It was a team that could wear down the opposition and completely smother their offense.
“We were fortunate to have a lot of talent in that locker room and as a coaching staff we just really tried to make sure that everybody was held accountable and were given the freedom to use their talent to contribute to our success,” says Gavin.
But with the season wrapped up, the playoffs were put on hold as the world was thrown into turmoil as the COVID-19 pandemic swept through North America.
“I remember we put a hype video together. We had asked the players' families to talk about how proud they were of the players, and it was this big montage, put to music. We showed the team as we were doing our pre-scout video on the morning we were supposed to host Cochrane for the first playoff game. The players saw it, and they were hyped. We did the video, did our pre-scout, the players left the parking lot, and 30 seconds later, Josh and I got a call from Jim and he said, ‘There’s probably a really good chance things are getting put on hold.’ The next day we just went to the rink, had the guys collect their stuff, and had them all head home,” says Gavin.
“It still, to this day, feels very unfinished and I think we will always carry that with us.”
Gavin says the worst part is the 20-year-old players who didn’t get to finish their seasons and have one last opportunity to showcase themselves.
“Just to cap off their careers and it was maybe the last time they had to show off for a scholarship or the next opportunity and also for the younger players, it was a loss of a year of development, the loss of a year of opportunity to grow and learn. I just really feel for the players. Definitely something I’ll never forget.”
Gavin penned a heartfelt letter to ‘Voodoos Nation’ which was posted on the team's socials. Among other things, the letter thanked the fans, sponsors, volunteers, game-day staff, and more for everything they did to make the team successful.
“I just hoped that it would help because I was definitely struggling with how to cope with what was going on at the time,” says Gavin.
“The lack of a closure of the season and the anger and frustration and confusion and all the emotions we’re feeling led me to that and I was hoping that letter could bring some closure and I know it helped me putting that out there.”
Despite the unheralded ending to that season, Gavin says, that while that is a lasting memory, he will also never forget the great memories of his time in Powassan.
“The people were great; the league was great and everything from the top down was well run. It was professional. The people cared, the players cared, and the atmosphere at all the rinks was special. You had fans in the building in every city, everyone in the town would show up to support their teams. It will always hold a special place for me and I will always be forever grateful to the Voodoos, the city of Powassan, and the city of North Bay.”
If you have a story idea for “Pursuit” send Matt an email at [email protected]
