Going into last night’s game with 1-1 record, the two-time Northern Ontario Hockey League champion Greater Sudbury Cubs were looking to improve things, but the Powassan Voodoos had other ideas.
On Thursday evening at the Gerry McCrory Countryside Sports Complex, the Voodoos rebounded from a two-goal hole in the third to score four unanswered goals and rescue a game they appeared to be losing.
The final score of 4-2 for Powassan was not what Greater Sudbury had in mind.
The Cubs scored first, just past the 14-minute mark of the first when defenceman Tyson Richmond snapped a shot from the blueline that forward Noah Kohan deflected past Voodoos’ starter Cole Vreugdenhil to give Sudbury a 1-0 lead.
The balance of the period was scoreless.
Powassan came of the dressing room for the second period ready to go, peppering Greater Sudbury’s net with shots. Despite the effort, the Voodoos couldn’t beat netminder Matthew Vahramian.
“Then in the final minute of the frame, the home side got a late goal off the stick of Lucas Antonioni as he scooped up a loose puck at the top of the crease, off of some nice work by teammate Spencer Horgan, and lifted in his second of the season at 19:24,” the game report reads.
The Cubs were up 2-0 going into the third. That cushion proved inadequate for the surging Voodoos squad.
Around seven minutes in, Powassan’s power play put them on the board when Justin Rousseau whipped the puck past Vahramian to make it a 2-1 game.
Nineteen seconds later, the Voodoos would do it all over again with Ryan Saginaw burying a one-handed pass from Cayden Kowal to knot the affair at 2-2.
“With the assist, Kowal now has points in eight straight regular season contests, dating back to the 2024-25 campaign,” the report reads.
About three minutes later, Powassan would take the lead when, after killing a penalty, Anthony Boyes set up Rousseau who scored his second of the night from the left circle to make it a 3-2 affair.
The Cubs pulled the goalie in the dying minutes of the game, trying to force a tie and send it to overtime. Instead, a Saginaw iced the puck into Greater Sudbury’s empty net to seal the deal and give Powassan the 4-2 win.
The victory sees Powassan improve to 3-0-0-0 early in the season, while two-time defending NOJHL champion Greater Sudbury fell to 1-2-0-0.
The Cubs are back in action tomorrow, travelling for a 7 p.m. match against the French River Rapids in Noelville.