The Powassan Voodoos became the first Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League club to reach the 30-win plateau this season accomplishing the feat Monday evening with a 5-2 triumph over the Cochrane Crunch in an East Division match-up at the Powassan Sportsplex.
Voodoos goalie Julian Galloway was solid turning away 16 shots as the Voodoos were badly outplayed in the opening session.
After a scoreless first period, Cochrane opened the scoring midway through the second stanza thanks to Zach Hayes who collected his initial NOJHL marker for the Crunch.
The Voodoos countered with the equalizer at 12:28 when Eric Allair scored on the power play to knot the affair at 1-1.
Powassan then took the lead a minute and a half later as Aaron Dickson’s 11th tally of the campaign gave the home side the edge heading into the final frame.
In the third, the Voodoos came out flying as they upped the cushion 20 seconds into the session thanks to Ryan Theriault.
It was more Powassan a couple shifts later as they picked up their second man-advantage marker of the night when Eric Mondoux scored at 2:51.
Levi Johnson connected for a third straight game since joining Cochrane earlier this month to bring the visitors to within two with 11:06 to play.
However, the league-leading Voodoos shut the door from there and went on to ice it with a shorthanded empty-netter from Shane Beaulieu in the final minute to round out the scoring.
Beaulieu had an impressive night offensively for the winners as he also doled out three assists along the way.
Julian Galloway made 32 stops to record the victory while Taylor Unruh faced 25 shots in defeat for Cochrane.
With the result, Powassan improved to 30-5-1-2 overall while Cochrane slipped to 24-13-2-1.
The Voodoos played the game without Dylan D'Agostino who was suffering from a lower-body injury while Payton Vescio and Kobe Desmond both sat out with the flu.
Dylan Bond, who was assigned to the Trappers after the trade deadline, put in some solid minutes as a call-up.
The Voodoos are back on the ice Wednesday evening as they take on the visiting French River Rapids. Puck drop is set for 7 p.m.
