GALLERY: Powassan collects road win in Cochrane

COCHRANE, Ont. – The Powassan Voodoos skated out to an early lead and never looked back as they went on to cruise past the Cochrane Crunch 8-1 in a Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League contest Friday at Tim Horton Events Centre.

The visiting Voodoos opened the scoring near the six-minute mark of the first period as Cameron Lemcke set-up Alex Little in front, who lifted in his 16th goal of the season.

Adding another midway through the frame, Powassan went up by a pair when Ryan Patrick beat Cochrane netminder Marcus Ouellet by completing a give-and-go with teammate Rhys Smetham.

Not done there, the guests picked up another at 14:10 when Jaden Sturge collected a loose puck in the neutral zone then skated down the left side where he moved in and put one past Ouellet.

The Crunch came out quickly in the second stanza and saw Nathan MacDonald knock one in from the left of Voodoos’ goalkeeper Kannon Flageolle, off a Tucker McConnell-Fritz attempt from the right point.

However, Powassan answered back with tallies from Carson Ricci and Smetham to make it 5-1 before the period was five minutes in.

Ricci’s effort came from up high as his shot went through a screen and caught iron before going in.

As for Smethem, he finished off a two-on-one by cutting to his right and tucking his chance under the pad of Ouellet.

A sixth on the night added to the edge when Conor O’Brien snapped one in from the right circle to give him 13 markers in 2022-23.

Putting the game away in the third Little added another while in close at 8:16 while Jack Kelly finished off the road victory a minute later as his 15th of the campaign was provided by guiding in a Michael MacLean set-up.

The win moves the Voodoos 34-13-1-0 overall while the loss dropped the Crunch to 7-41-1-1.