The Powassan Voodoos got a pair of goals from both veteran Tyler Gervais-Rolfe and former North Bay Trapper Jack Drinkwalter while rookie Tyson Gilmour scored once and set-up two others to help power them past the French River Rapids by a 9-1 count in Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League exhibition action Wednesday afternoon at the Powassan Sportsplex.
The Voodoos grabbed a 2-1 lead after one period of play getting markers from Gervais-Rolfe and Eric McIntyre while Ian Robbie countered for French River.
Powassan broke the game open in the middle session striking for four unanswered tallies to take a 6-1 cushion through 40 minutes of play.
Gabriel Rheault, Gervais-Rolfe, Drinkwalter and Ryan Bazzana supplied the efforts in the frame for the Voodoos.
The home side then finished off the one-side affair by tacking on three more in the third to round out the scoring with Jacob Elred, Drinkwalter and Dayton Murray all finding the back of the net.
Owen Liskiwicz started in net for Powassan and picked up the win between the pipes sharing duties with Kingston product Curtis Stewart who was perfect for the Voodoos in the second half.
The Voodoos won the game with a handful of key players who are away at OHL camps including All-Star defenceman Eric Nagy and forwards Andy Baker, Rhys Brown, and Ryan Theriault.
Scott Adams and Al Rogers both saw time in goal for the Rapids in defeat.
Voodoos Head Coach Scott Wray was impressed by the way his young team performed.
“Obviously I'm very happy with the result,” he stated.
“I think the boys played pretty hard start to finish now we have to go into a very tough building and duplicate what we just did there are still some guys on the bubble and they get to go on the road and show what they have.”
Veteran Tyler Gervais-Rolfe sensed something good was going to happen on Sportsplex ice.
"From warm up to the end of the buzzer I could tell everyone was eager and excited to get on the ice and show what they had to offer to the team," said Gervais-Rolfe.
"It just seemed as if everyone was clicking from the start all the lines were working and it felt like we already had chemistry. If we play every game like this one we shouldn't have a problem throughout the season."
The Voodoos will play Thursday night in Noelville as they take on the Rapids. Puck drop is set for 7:30 p.m.
