POWASSAN, Ont. – A Rico Rossi goal just past the eight-minute mark of the third period proved to be the game-winner while Henry Scott scored once and added three assists for a career-best four points as the Powassan Voodoos went on to defeat the Cochrane Crunch 6-3 Monday evening in a Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League East Division affair at the Powassan Sportsplex.
Meeting for the sixth time this season and with the Voodoos already taking four of the first five, the home side got the early jump in this one as David Campbell collected his ninth of the season with an assist going to Dakotah Woods eight and a half minutes into the contest.
Going to the power play in the latter portion of the first period, Cochrane’s Ryan Mooney collected his fifth at 16:21 to even things up.
The Crunch came right back and added another 31 seconds later on an Owen Perala effort to give them a 2-1 lead through one.
An inadvertent collision with a falling Powassan player caused an injury to Cochrane goaltender Zach Wickson four minutes into the middle stanza as he was down for a lengthy period and was forced to leave the game as medical personnel took the utmost caution in caring for the netminder.
Bradley Dobson came in to replace Wickson and saw the Voodoos’ Gabinen Kioki knot the affair at 2-2 at 5:56.
Down a man later in the session, Kioki clicked again for Powassan as his shorthanded effort made it 3-2.
However, the Crunch countered with a man-down marker of their own before the second was complete with Austin Whelan supplying the equalizer at 18:06.
Heading to the third, the Voodoos regained the lead for good on Rossi’s eventual difference maker.
They then saw Scott add some insurance at 16:30 before Brett Shawana iced it with an empty netter in the final seconds to wrap up the night’s scoring.
Nicholas Flanders had an assist in the contest for Cochrane as he extended a point streak to seven in the process.
Shots on goal on this night saw Powassan hold the edge by a 32-27 count with Christian Cicigoi picking up the win.
Dobson suffered the defeat in relief for the Crunch allowing four against on 19 attempts while Wickson saved 11 of 12 before departing after his injury.
With the outcome, the Voodoos moved into a three-way tie for top spot in the NOJHL East with 37 points as they joined Kirkland Lake and Timmins in first place in the division as they improved to 18-8-1-0.
With the loss, the Crunch slipped to 16-13-0-1 and sit four points behind the divisional leaders.