Voodoos double up Crunch 6-3

POWASSAN, Ont. – Nicolas Case and Harrison Israels both tallied twice while Tyson Gilmour doled out three assists to lead the Powassan Voodoos to their fourth straight victory, a 6-3 decision over the Cochrane Crunch, in Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League action Monday night at the Powassan Sportsplex.

Powassan opened the scoring near the 12-minute mark of the first period as Gilmour set-up Case for his 11th goal of the campaign.

Markers 29 seconds apart from Aaron Dickson and Brandon MacKinnon upped the Voodoos lead to three in the middle frame before Austin Stauffer’s 29th put Cochrane on the board at 9:45.

Israels got that back for the home side though, two and a half minutes later, as he collected his 30th goal of the season to make it 4-1 after two periods of play.

Battling back early in the third, the Crunch picked up goals from Nicolas Flanders and Austin Whelan before the session was 70 seconds in as the visitors pulled to within one.

However, Case added some insurance at 7:32 before Israels wrapped things up with a late empty netter to secure the win.

Rob McCollum had two assists to aid the Powassan cause.

Julian Galloway was busy in the Voodoos net as he made 40 saves to earn the decision.

Taylor Unruh started for Cochrane and allowed three against on 16 attempts while Shayne Battler suffered the loss in relief giving up two on 10 shots in over 34 minutes of work.

The same two teams meet again Thursday as they finish off a two-game home-and-home set in a 7 p.m. start at Tim Horton Event Centre.