Photos: Turnbull’s Northern Photography
IROQUOIS FALLS, Ont. – A Samuel Assinewai marker in the third round of the shootout proved to be the difference in helping his Greater Sudbury Cubs slip past the Iroquois Fall Storm 2-1 in a tightly-contested Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League game Saturday evening at Jus Jordan Arena.
Also striking first, Assinewai jammed one past Storm goaltender Brodie Haylock, who was making his NOJHL debut, in the crease to help the Cubs forward extend a point streak to seven straight contests.
Moving to the middle stanza, Iroquois Falls capitalized on a power play at 7:29 with Tyler Corbett spinning and firing a low shot from a sharp angle that beat Greater Sudbury netminder Noah Beaulne.
Both goaltenders then shut the door the remainder of the second, along with a scoreless third period and the five-minute overtime, to send it to extra shots.
There, Hudson Chitaroni, of the guests, with a snap shot, as well as a nice backhand effort from Michael Leech of the Storm accounted for the initial two tallies in extra shots.
Assinewai converted for the Cubs after that with a couple of dekes and tucking his chance by the pad of Haylock before Beaulne closed the door on the final Iroquois Falls opportunity to finalize the result.
The victory helps Greater Sudbury improve to 16-4-0-0 while the Storm salvaged a point in the narrow setback, while falling to 5-15-0-1.