It was one of those nights where little went wrong, and whatever the home side tried, worked.
The Voodoos won the front-end of a home-and-home with the Rayside Balfour Canadians 5-1 behind Andy Baker's team-leading 13th and 14th goals of the season.
Powassan is now 7-1-1-0 at the Sportsplex, and their dominance on home ice against a quality opponent has never been more evident this season than Friday night.
Eleven Voodoos registered at least one point, and the only negative to be taken from Friday's game was that the team "eased off the gas, and lost the shutout for Nate McDonald," said Head Coach Scott Wray after the game.
Contributions came from up and down the lineup, whether through the physicality of Parker Bowman, the agitating of Gabriel Rheault, or the offensive outburst from rookie defenceman Tye Lindeman, who tripled his season point total to three, with two assists on the night.
"I thought Tye played a decent game. He's young, it's a step in the right direction. He's moving up, it's great for us, with a 16-year-old on defence, you never know, but he's turned out to be a real solid player," observed Wray.
Special teams again played a role in the Voodoos win, as they potted both a powerplay and shorthanded marker in the game.
With Brett Hahkala in the box for boarding, Ryan Bazzana flipped a pass from the Voodoos zone that Baker batted at with his glove, gathered the deflection off a Canadians defenceman and raced in, scoring his 13th glove side. Dayton Murray notched the second assist on the goal.
The Canadians ice an extremely large defensive corps, but the constant turning to retrieve pucks sent to the corners by the Voodoos seemed to wear out their towering backline. The size of the Canadians did not deter the Powassan players, as the consistently were the most physical group of the night. Rheault was especially effective in dishing out physical punishment.
A classic example of taking one for the team came on Baker's second of the night as Tyler Gervais-Rolfe absorbed a hit along the side boards, kept the play alive, and Cameron Moore took possession, then feeding Baker for the 2-0 goal and eventual game-winner.
The Voodoos did lose two defencemen for part of the first period, as both Bazzana and Dayton Murray made trips to the dressing room. Both did return during the second period, although Murray received some extra rest in the third once the game was out of hand.
In the second period, Tyson Gilmour, seemingly gaining confidence by the shift, scored a workmanlike goal from the top of the crease off a Lindeman point shot. Eric Nagy drew the other helper. Gilmour was a force on the night, winning puck battles and skating better than he has all season.
With Cade Herd also back in the room being attended to, Gary Mantz tirelessly double-shifted throughout the period and was by far the best player on the ice. How Mantz was not named one of the three stars following the game is a mystery.
Mantz got in on the fun by being on the finishing-end of a slick three-way passing play, calmly deking Canadians goalie Owen Johansson to score and make it 4-0, Lindeman and Rolfe with the assists.
"Mantz is the type of guy that you keep throwing out there. He doesn't seem to get tired," said Wray post-game.
A few minutes later, Bowman was rewarded for his physical play, as he stepped across the Rayside blueline, let fly, and scored his fifth of the season, from Kyle Challis and Nagy, making it 5-0 Voodoos.
Nate McDonald made every save he could to preserve the shutout, but Bradley Johnson finally solved the goalkeeper with just over eight minutes to go in regulation.
Voodoos defenceman Jacob Elrod was on the receiving end of a hit-from-behind from Matthew Neault with nine seconds to play, drawing the ire of Wray and the fans.
"We're going to go down there and play a simple road game, get pucks behind their D, get them turning. If they're chasing the game, they can't be as chippy. We're going to play as a four-line team. We're going to play the game the right way," said Wray.
The Voodoos face the Canadians Saturday night at 7 p.m. at Chelmsford Arena and return home to face the Cochrane Crunch Monday at the Sportsplex. Puck drop is 7:30 p.m.
