IROQUOIS FALLS – The Abitibi Eskimos rode the strength of four goals by Brady Clouthier to power them past the Powassan Voodoos 7-1 in their Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League home opener Saturday evening at Jus Jordan Arena.
Abitibi jumped out to an early 3-0 first period cushion picking up a lead they would never relinquish.
After Brenden Locke put the Eskimos up one two minutes into the contest they tacked on a pair of man advantage efforts by Kezmin Madden and Harrison Jacobs to extend their cushion.
Nathaniel McLeod put Powassan on the board later in the session as he notched his third marker early in the season to give the Voodoos some life.
Special teams allowed Abitibi to extend their lead in the second stanza thanks to a pair of power play efforts courtesy of Clouthier.
The Eskimos forward then capped off his four-goal night with two more tallies in the third to round out the scoring on the night.
Ryan Kerr and Ryan Attwood supplied two assists apiece to chip in offensively for Abitibi.
Eskimos netminder Chet Tooker turned aside 39 of 40 attempts he faced to register the victory in his NOJHL debut.
Powassan’s Ben Auger stopped 36 of 43 in suffering the loss with Randy Beauchamp handling all four shots he faced in eight minutes of relief.
League play resumes Wednesday on two fronts as Abitibi visits Kirkland Lake while Elliot Lake visits Sudbury in a pair of 7:30 p.m. starts.
