Voodoos vs Rock semis Mar 31 17 from Chris Dawson on Vimeo.
Timmins Rock Head Coach Paul Gagne did not mince words when evaluating game one of the NOJHL East Division Final, played Friday night at the Powassan Sportsplex:
"Kudos to them. They played well. We played terribly. That's hockey."
The Powassan Voodoos, coming off more than one week of rest since their four-game sweep of the Kirkland Lake Gold Miners, showed no rust whatsoever as they returned to the ice in front of a large home crowd, swooping in for the kill by scoring early and often against a tired Timmins Rock team.
Parker Bowman scored two goals for the Voodoos, including the winner on the powerplay in the first period. The Voodoos converted on three of their seven powerplay chances. Bowman also scored shorthanded to round out a strong special teams night up and down the roster.
Gary Mantz paced the Voodoos with one goal and two assists and Ryan Bazzana, Gabriel Rheault and Bo Peltier added single goals as 12 Powassan skaters registered at least one point. The Voodoos outshot the Rock 46-26 on the night.
Nate McDonald played flawlessly for 47 minutes before allowing two meaningless Timmins goals. McDonald made 24 saves for the win, while Al Rogers took the loss for the Rock, allowing all six Powassan goals before being relieved by Jeff Veitch, who started the third period between the pipes for Timmins.
The Voodoos, a team with a proven record of going streaking, have now won five-straight games to begin their quest for an NOJHL championship. Head Coach Scott Wray was pleased with the effort. "Rest is key, I didn't know how we were going to come out after eight days. I thought we dictated the pace early and picked up where we left off in the Kirkland Lake series," said Wray.
Wray said the two third period goals by the Rock did not faze him or his team, adding that a late-game change in tactics, in an effort to cut into the Voodoos' 6-0 lead, saw the long stretch pass get behind the Powassan defencemen and lead to the Timmins chances.
The Rock had a quick turnaround after dispatching the Cochrane Crunch in a hard-fought series mid-week. Timmins coach Paul Gagne admitted his troops were played out after the Crunch series and the travel to Powassan.
"Not a great start for us," said Gagne, "the first three shifts we had two penalties, and then two powerplay goals right away, that doesn't help. We got behind the eight-ball, it was not one of our better games. The only positive for us was the third period, we had three breakaways, a couple of goals, some two-on-ones."
"They were in a tough series with Cochrane, it was a physical series, I watched all of it. When you're doing that for six games and then travelling here on the day of the game, it's a taxing game. I think tomorrow we'll see a way better team (after sleeping here," added Wray.
Gagne added that his team would be taking the ice Saturday morning to fine tune some things while cautioning that his group would not see a drop in morale following the game one loss.
"Last series we lost the first game also," said Gagne about his team, "if anything their pride is hurting, but we're going to come back and we're going to play some good hockey."
Game two goes Saturday night at 7 p.m. at the Powassan Sportsplex.
