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HomeNewsFull Throttle: Voodoos week 13 - Turbulence

Full Throttle: Voodoos week 13 – Turbulence

The season keeps on rolling for the Powassan Voodoos, but this week brought some turbulence.

I use the word turbulence lightly because any team that splits a weekend series, a 9-3 win over the Soo Eagles, and a 4-2 setback to the Soo Thunderbirds, would consider that a good weekend. For a team fresh off a 21 game winning streak, and coupled with two straight losses prior, it made for some rocky times, even if their sterling record sat at 24-4-0-0.

“Everyone was firing on the first one against the Eagles,” head coach Max Gavin explained. “Everything was going our way, everything was going right. Sometimes when you have a big win, you can sometimes have a bit of an emotional downer the next day so I think we got caught in our own heads a little bit.”

“I have to give credit to the Thunderbirds for playing a good, solid game,” he continued. “I don’t think we took advantage of our opportunities and we are dealing with adversity with injuries and suspensions, but no excuses we need to play better.”

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As for the CJHL’s weekly top 20 rankings, the Voodoos have slipped since they were crowned number one in Canada two weeks ago. With the three losses in four outings, the team has slipped to sixth in the country. One theme from Gavin throughout this season has been, it’s not where we rank today but where we rank at the end of the year that matters. It’s hard to argue with that, and six is still incredibly respectable, but how do you manage young men who are aged 16-20 in not feeling a sense of doubt?

“I think we have to look in the mirror,” Gavin explained. “We’ve had a couple of team meetings and we understand what we need to do to be successful. If we bring our work ethic and manage our emotions in games we will be fine.”

“We’re in control, we feel, most nights, and we need to understand the responsibility of the group we have,” Gavin said. “It’s about continuing to push and get better.”

In the 9-3 win over the Eagles, Seiji Martone saw top-line minutes with Parker Bowman and Greg Trudeau Paquet. A hard-working, in your face, love to have on your team, hate to play against type of player, Martone exploded for seven points (two goals, five assists) and was named a weekly star in the NOJHL.

“Credit to him, he took advantage of an opportunity, he’s been playing well,” Gavin stated. “It goes to show with our forward group, our depth is our key and I think guys can play anywhere in the lineup. It was just a matter of seeing him progressively get better as the season went along, earning an opportunity and when he got the opportunity he took advantage of it. He has been doing a great job.”

Martone celebrates after the 9-3 victory over the Eagles. (Supplied by the Powassan Voodoos)

Powassan takes on the tough northern road trip this weekend, with a three and three between Cochrane, Timmins, and Hearst, which began Thursday night with a 5-3 win over the Crunch.

“We came out flying, I thought we played a good first period,” Gavin said. “The second period, we got a little bit comfortable and Cochrane took advantage of mistakes and we missed a couple of chances to put it away. Sometimes when you let teams that work hard hang around, and they have some good goaltending, there are no easy games in this league no matter the team’s record.”

The Voodoos will be without the services of Owen Say, their star netminder for the weekend, as he is in British Columbia competing with Team Canada East at the World Junior “A” Challenge.

However, Gavin is confident in Say’s backup, Luke Greenwood, to get the job done.

“I think it’s a good opportunity for Luke with Owen gone,” Gavin said. “He’s going to get some starts and have an opportunity to establish himself, not that he hasn’t already. When guys get opportunities, they have to take advantage, and I thought last night he did a good job keeping us in a tight game and making some big saves when we needed it and I expect him to continue to do that the rest of the way.”

A huge part of the win over the Crunch was Parker Bowman. After a scorching start to his season, the Captain quieted down a bit. In the win over the Eagles, things seemed to turn around for him, however, with two goals and two assists. Even in the loss to the Thunderbirds, he added a goal and an assist, and in the win over Cochrane, he added two goals 23 seconds apart.

“You go through 56 games, you’re not going to play at an elite level for 56 games,” Gavin explained. “He did a great job understanding he was in a slump and getting out of it and now he is back to where he wants to be. That’s part of playing a long junior hockey schedule, and you work hard to get out and as soon as you get a break it turns back around.”

Powassan doesn’t have much time to revel in the victory as they’re back to the grindstone Friday night against the Timmins Rock. The Voodoos have taken the two meetings with the Rock this season but in tight fashion. The first game was a 5-4 overtime win in Timmins, and the next came as a 4-3 shootout win at home. Considering the two teams at the top two in the NOJHL, expect this one to go to the wire as well.

On Saturday, the Voodoos face off against the defending NOJHL champs, Hearst Lumberjacks, so the road doesn’t get any easier.

“That’s the nature when you come on a three in three up north,” Gavin said. “You’re going to have three hard games. Timmins is right behind us, and Hearst is right there too so I expect two hard-fought games against two good teams. They also get a big crowd so it should be fun for the boys to play in front of a big fan base. I am excited to see how we do.”

Greg Trudeau Paquet celebrates a goal against the Eagles. (Supplied by the Powassan Voodoos)
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