Powassan clinches 1st in NOJHL East with win over Espanola

NORTHERN ONTARIO JUNIOR HOCKEY LEAGUE

NOJHL NETWORK MEDIA UPDATE

Release Date: Saturday, Feb. 18, 2017

Powassan clinches 1st in NOJHL East with win over Espanola

POWASSAN, Ont. – Dylan D’Agostino tallied twice and added an assist to help lift the Powassan Voodoos to a 6-1 victory over the Espanola Express Saturday evening in Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League play at the Powassan Sportsplex.

With the result, Powassan clinched first overall in the NOJHL’s East Division as they improved to a league-best 40-7-1-1 overall on the season.

They are also now just seven points shy earned by them or lost by the Soo Thunderbirds from capturing their first NOJHL regular season title in franchise history.

In Saturday’s contest, the Voodoos took flight with a pair of first period markers from D’Agostino and Tyler Gervais-Rolfe.

The home side then upped their lead early in the second stanza as Dayton Murray picked up his 15th of the campaign at 1:56.

Espanola got on the board at 5:49 thanks to Riley Naudeau, but Powassan’s Shane Beaulieu answered that just 42 seconds later to make it a 4-1 game after two.

The Voodoos then finished things off with two more goals in third as Austin Ramirez and D’Agostino both found the back of the net to record their 11th and 15th goals of the year respectively.

Murray and Brett Hahkala had two assists each for Powassan.

Shots on net favoured the Voodoos by a 44-28 count with Andrew Suriano picking up the win.

Mitchell Jacobson started for the Express and suffered the loss giving up four on 18 attempts while Logan Sawka handled 24 of 26 in 33 and a half minutes of relief.