Photos: Rob Fera – Points North Media
SUDBURY, Ont. – With 11 wins and a tie in their past 13 games, the Greater Sudbury Cubs continued on a roll Thursday as they swamped the Iroquois Falls Storm 10-1 in a Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League tilt at Gerry McCrory Countryside Sports Complex.
Wasting little time in opening his NOJHL goal-ledger, just acquired Cubs’ forward Briir Long connected 6:49 into his league debut as he wheeled to the high slot and wired a wrister past Storm starter Virgil Sausset-Plateaux.
Adding another on the power play, the home side went up by a pair as Eidan Macartney lifted a cross-ice pass over to Spencer Horgan who whipped it in from the right side.
Up a skater once more, Owen King took a feed from Horgan and sizzled it in from the top of the right circle, on a night that he extended a point streak to seven.
Greater Sudbury added another late in the first period when Matteo Signoretti put the puck into the crease that was inadvertently knocked into their own net by Iroquois Falls at 17:52.
Action in the middle stanza saw the Cubs click on the power play once more after Mason Walker put a pass up top to Alex Valade who snapped in a shot through a screen at 2:19.
Coming right back with another, King potted his second of a night as he skated around in Storm territory before lifting one in from the left circle.
The onslaught continued when Valade was allowed to walk in from the point and fire an attempt that leaked through Sausset-Plateaux.
A fourth extra-man effort extended the cushion as Walker led a rush up-ice then worked a quick give-and-go with King that he steered in from close range.
Walker added one more, while King collected his ninth career NOJHL hat trick in just 57 outings, in the final frame.
Iroquois Falls would eventually dash the shutout bid of Greater Sudbury’s Matthew Vahramian off a nice individual dash made by Simon Lemieux in his initial league contest.
It began in his own zone and after darting through multiple defenders, Lemieux sped into the Cubs’ end and buried a wrist shot into the net with 11:06 remaining, in what proved the final goal of the evening.
The victory raises the Cubs’ record to 16-6-1-0 on the campaign, while in defeat the Storm slipped to 8-12-0-2.
