.jpg;w=960)
Playing their second game in as many nights, the Soo Thunderbirds fell behind early and couldn’t recover.
Playing short-staffed, the Powassan Voodoos scored three times in the opening period, including twice in the opening 5:09 of the contest, en route to a 4-0 Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League win over the Thunderbirds at the John Rhodes Community Centre.
Powassan opened the scoring just 2:06 in when Caleb Van de Ven deflected a shot in close by Jake Fullerton past Thunderbirds goaltender Noah Metivier.
Jackson Buffam made it 2-0 just 3:03 later when he poked in a loose puck during a scramble at the top of the crease on the power play.
Powassan took a 3-0 lead at 16:25 of the opening period when Rodion Tatarenko jumped on a turnover in the slot and beat Metivier high stick side.
Jacob McClellan capped of the scoring with an empty net goal with 33 seconds to go in the third period.
Former Thunderbirds goaltender Alex Bugeja stopped 31 shots to pick up the shutout for Powassan.
Metivier made 20 saves for the Thunderbirds.
The Thunderbirds, who entered the game having not lost in regulation time in nine straight, fall to 20-5-2-3 with the loss.
The Thunderbirds loss, combined with a win by the Soo (Mich.) Eagles over Blind River on Saturday, means the Eagles have trimmed the Thunderbirds lead atop the NOJHL’s West Division to four points.
The Eagles also have three games in hand on the Thunderbirds.
Powassan improves to 22-7-4-1 with the win and pulls to within one point of Timmins for top spot in the East Division.
The Thunderbirds return to action on Wednesday night when the team hosts the Blind River Beavers in a 7:30 p.m. start at the John Rhodes Community Centre.
The game continues a stretch of six in a row at home to start the NOJHL’s return to play.
The remainder of the homestand sees the Thunderbirds host the French River Rapids on Feb. 12 in a 4:15 p.m. puck drop before hosting the Soo (Mich.) Eagles on Feb. 16 in a 7:30 p.m. puck drop and the Timmins Rock on Feb. 19 in a 7 p.m. start.