The Powassan Voodoos became the first Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League team to reach the 20-win plateau this season after earning a 4-1 triumph over the Timmins Rock Friday at the Powassan Sportsplex as the team and the community celebrated Pink in the Rink night.
It was the Voodoos fourth straight victory. Voodoos head coach Beau Moyer felt it was not a flashy effort but he enjoyed seeing his squad score some hard working goals.
"I have to give coach Corey Beer from Timmins a ton of credit for the way they set up defensively to defend us," said Moyer.
"When they get all their guys back will be a tough team to beat. Looking at our club tonight they stuck with it all night long and really dug deep in offensive zone 1 on 1 battles," added Moyer.
Action in the opening frame was tight-checking and went scoreless.
Powassan was dominant in the middle stanza however as they struck four times in a 13-minute span to take control of the contest.
Rob McCollum put the Voodoos in flight 3:03 into the session while Harrison Israels notched his 17th of the campaign a couple shifts later.
The home side kept coming with Tomas Yachmenev connecting at 12:20 before Tyler Gilberds finishing off the offensive outburst at 15:41.
A third-period power play effort from Jordan Picard helped Timmins dash Powassan netminder Graham Dynes’ shutout bid just past the 11-minute mark of the frame to conclude the night’s scoring.
Tyson Gilmour supplied two assists for the winners to give him points in three straight and 11 of his past 12 contests.
Dynes finished with 28 stops to record the win as the Voodoos improved to a league-best 20-3-0-1.
"Dynes played his best game in Voodoos Jersey," admitted Moyer as the only goal that beat Dynes was on a deflection.
"We have a nice goalie tandem with him and Cicigoi now."
Former Voodoos netminder Tyler Masternak faced 38 attempts in defeat for the Rock who fell to 9-13-1-1 overall.
The Voodoos are back on the ice Saturday night when they travel to French River to take on the Rapids.
