Voodoos win 7th straight with comeback win over Crunch

The Powassan Voodoos proved to be ever-resilient once more as they battled back from a deficit to defeat the Cochrane Crunch 7-4 Monday evening at the Powassan Sportsplex for their seventh Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League victory in succession.

Cochrane got the early jump in the contest as they struck twice in a 27-second span in the opening frame to go up by a pair on markers by Zach Hayes and Justin Bofshever.

An early second stanza power play helped the Voodoos get on the board when Cameron Moore connected at 1:46.

The Crunch countered to get that back 10 minutes later as Seiji Martone notched his third of the campaign.

Battling back, Powassan answered with tallies from Henry Scott at 12:33 and Matthew Hardwick, during a man advantage, with 24 seconds left in the session, to knot the affair at 3-3.

The home side took their first lead in the final frame compliments of Tomas Yachmenev at 1:57 only to see Austin Whelan answer for Cochrane with his 10th a few shifts later to level the proceedings.

However, the Voodoos’ Brett Shawana broke the deadlock for good with just over four minutes left in regulation as his sixth of the year proved to be the game-winner.

Powassan then put it away in the late going on empty net goals from Moore and Yachmenev to complete the comeback and extend their winning streak.

Yachmenev also had two assists for a four-point night while Ryan Mills chipped in with a couple of helpers.

Voodoos’ netminder Christian Cicigoi finished with 39 saves to earn his sixth consecutive victory while Cochrane’s Shayne Battler faced 26 shots in defeat.