Photo: Sam Hossack Media
SUDBURY, Ont. – The Greater Sudbury Cubs got goals from five different players to help them hold off the Hearst Lumberjacks 5-4 Wednesday in the finale of the opening day of the Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League Showcase at Gerry McCrory Countryside Sports Complex.
The defending NOJHL champion Cubs began the scoring seven and a half minutes into the match-up as Brent Moxam snagged a bouncing puck and worked it over to Deven Jones-McDonald, who in turn put it on net, then saw Lucas Antonioni slam in the rebound.
Doubling their lead with just seven seconds remaining in the first period, Greater Sudbury’s Cameron Shanks zipped one high blocker side on Hearst netminder Owen Bonthuis from the slot.
Action in the second stanza saw the Cubs go up by three at 1:53 when rookie Eidan Macartney made a strong power move while dashing down the right wing and neatly picking the corner on Bonthuis.
The Lumberjacks got one back six minutes into the session with William Pâquet backpedaling slightly at the point, then wiring a shot that flew through a screen and beat Greater Sudbury goaltender Noah Beaulne.
Getting that back, Lucas Signoretti knocked a play down then proceeded to make a couple of crafty moves before sending a feed across that left Ben Harris nothing but gaping net to collect his third of the campaign.
Trimming the deficit back to two, Pâquet once again did the work in picking up an assist and seeing Keenan Quenneville chip in his initial league tally by conerting in close.
In the third, an impressive effort by Noah Kohan saw the Cubs collect their fifth of the evening as he flew down the left wing before driving in and sending a backhand by Bonthuis for an impressive man advantage effort.
Countering, Hearst saw Aiden Kalin tip in a Sam Taylor wrister right after that to make it a 5-3 game.
The Lumberjacks then pulled to within one near the midway mark of the frame with Owen Hey getting a piece of another Taylor attempt from the right point.
Battling hard to tie it, Hearst picked up a late power play, and along with their goalkeeper out for an additional skater, looked to square the affair and force overtime.
Greater Sudbury did tighten up defensively though in holding on for the narrow victory.
The outcomes sees the Cubs improve to 6-1-1-1 overall while the Lumberjacks fell to 4-2-0-0.
Day 2 of the NOJHL Showcase goes Wednesday with six more contests on the docket.
