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Voodoos clinch 1st overall with win over Gold Miners

Voodoos win 40 games for third time in franchise history
The Powassan Voodoos clinched their second consecutive Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League regular season title after defeating the Kirkland Lake Gold Miners 4-3 Saturday evening at the Powassan Sportsplex.

With the win, the Voodoos improved to an NOJHL-best 40-7-1-3 with their 84 points securing the No. 1 overall seed in the upcoming league playoffs. It is also the third straight 40 win season for the Voodoos franchise which is only in its fourth year of existence.  

Powassan outshot Kirkland Lake 11-9 in a scoreless first period with Voodoos’ starter Christian Cicigoi and the Gold Miners’ Cade McEwen keeping opposing shooters at bay in the session.

The home side was quick to strike in the middle stanza though as Cade Herd connected 40 seconds into the session for his 18th goal of the season.

It was more Powassan later in the period as Dylan D’Agostino made it 2-0 at 9:31 before Herd added another to extend the cushion to three.

Kirkland Lake got on the board early in the third with Sam Ellwood striking just 42 seconds into the final frame.

Ellwood then added another at 11:36 as he struck shorthanded for his second of the period.

The Voodoos added some insurance, which they would need, as Eric Allair scored into an empty net with 54 seconds remaining.

Continuing to battle, the Gold Miners got one more at 19:52 as Ellwood finished off a hat trick for his first three-goal game in league play to conclude the scoring.

Christian Cicigoi made 29 saves to pick-up the win for Powassan while Cade McEwen suffered the setback while facing 36 shots in net for Kirkland Lake as they fell to 21-18-7-4 on the season.