TIMMINS, Ont. – A Jake Staples power play goal just prior to regulation time expiring was the difference as the Powassan Voodoos pulled out a late 5-4 victory over the Timmins Rock Saturday evening in a Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League match-up at McIntyre Arena.
The win helped the Voodoos remain unbeaten on the season as they raised their record to 12-0-0-0 while the setback saw the Rock’s six-game winning streak come to an end as they fell to 9-5-0-1 overall.
Powassan jumped out to an early 2-0 lead on markers 16 seconds apart by Tyler Gervais-Rolfe and Steve Harland.
Timmins battled back to tie it before the first period was complete thanks to a Bain Cunningham power play tally at 13:14 followed by a Ryan Theriault even strength effort with 1:41 to go in the session.
Action in the middle frame saw each side connection once with Jordan Rendle putting the Rock in front three and a half minutes into the stanza only to see Staples pull the visitors even at 18:24.
Aaron Dart made it 4-3 Powassan with his second of the season 8:13 into the third, but the back-and-forth affair saw Timmins draw level with 3:11 to go in regulation thanks to another from Theriault.
Then with a late man advantage Staples won it for the Voodoos in dramatic fashion as he buried the game-winner just prior to time running out.
Eric Champagne and Tyler Peters had two assists apiece for Powassan while Devin Panzeca and Tristan Salesse did likewise for Timmins.
Shots on goal in the contest favoured the Rock 42-38 with Mario Cavaliere earning the win for the Voodoos while Logan Ferrington suffered the defeat for the Rock.
