Dawson leads Powassan past Greater Sudbury
Led by a four-point night from veteran forward Caleb Dawson, the Powassan Voodoos went on to defeat the Greater Sudbury Cubs 7-4 Friday night in a Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League contest at the Powassan Sportsplex.
It was the Cubs who began the scoring nearly four minutes in when a dump in hit off a Voodoos defenceman and found its way to Mason Walker, who went in and ripped a snapshot past the glove of Powassan starter Derrick Champagne.
The tally was Walker’s 29th of the year as he also extended a point streak to 11 outings in succession.
Countering with an equalizer at 6:28, Jax Pereira tied it as he took a pass from Dawson and burst through the Greater Sudbury defence and lifted a backhand that eluded netminder Mattew Vahramian.
More work from Dawson a couple of shifts later saw him spot an open Ryan Saginaw in front where he quickly pumped in his 31st tally of the campaign.
Continuing to trade markers early on, the Cubs’ Owen King wired in his league-leading 19th power play effort by finishing off a Walker feed after a goal-mouth scramble.
A pair of late Heath Bradley goals helped Powassan take a 4-2 lead into the intermission.
His initial marker came at 17:08 when he banked a play off the stick of a Greater Sudbury forward’s stick and saw it go upstairs on Vahramian.
He then clicked again before time expired as he corralled a loose puck in the high slot and wired it in, blocker side.
Second period play featured the Cubs pulling to within one as King was sent in alone by a long Nate Lazarus pass and went in and buried his 40th of the campaign and an impressive 90th in just 78 career NOJHL games.
Restoring their two-goal cushion deep in the session, via the power play, Saginaw found Dawson darting down the middle and after taking a pass on the tape, went in and sent a sizzler into the bottom left corner.
Adding to their edge four and a half minutes into the third, Powassan defenceman Marcus Krats took a feed from Bruce Grey and whipped one in through bodies from distance.
Briir Long inched the visitors closer while up a skater as he wired a shot from the left side that flew by Champagne.
In the end though, Dawson secured the home ice triumph with an empty netter to cap things off as he slid in a shot from his own end to reach the 25-goal plateau for the first time in his NOJHL career, for a single season.
The victory raises the Voodoos record to 33-13-1-2, while the Cubs are now winless in three as they fell to 37-8-3-2.
