Photos: Rob Fera – Points North Media
SUDBURY, Ont. – An action-packed opening to the Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League season Thursday saw the Greater Sudbury Cubs and Soo Thunderbirds skate to a thrilling 4-4 overtime tie at Gerry McCrory Countryside Sports Complex.
After unveiling their 2023-24 championship banner in a pre-game ceremony, a fast-paced opening frame saw both clubs bring plenty of energy early on.
It was visiting Sault Ste. Marie who opened the scoring, just over six minutes in, after a play out of the corner hit the skate of a Greater Sudbury defender and saw the puck find the stick of Cooper Labelle, who buried his chance on Cubs’ netminder Noah Beaulne, from between the circles.
An opportune bounce aided in a second Thunderbirds marker as a dump in was mishandled, which allowed Aiden Atkinson to backhand in his first NOJHL goal from close range.
Some solid stops by T-Birds starter Noah Metivier, who helped backstop the Cubs to last season’s title, kept his former club off the board as the Soo took a 2-0 lead into the intermission.
On the power play to commence the middle frame though, Greater Sudbury converted late into it when Noah Kohan redirected a Jacob Signoretti attempt towards the target by Metivier at 1:43.
The home side then drew level thanks to Nate Lazarus collecting his initial league tally by slamming in a shot off a fortuitous bounce that came off the end boards.
Coming right back, the Thunderbirds regained the lead less than a minute later as James Elliott scored in his NOJHL debut after Bryan Fenlon forced a turnover and set him up in the slot where he promptly finished off his opportunity.
Evening the score once more, the Cubs’ Eidan MacCartney tried a wraparound that Tannen Iserhoff stuffed in from the top of the crease to pick-up his first in league play.
Moving to the third period, the T-Birds regained the lead with an early power play effort that saw Nolan Nemecek crank in a blast from the left circle off a Fenlon feed.
Battling back in the late-going, with Beaulne on the bench for an extra attacker, Greater Sudbury forced OT after Iserhoff batted in the equalizer off a frenzied goal-mouth scramble.
Moving to additional time skating three aside, with the league’s new seven-minute overtime in effect, the play went end-to-end with quality chances throughout.
However, despite multiple big-time opportunities and featuring top notch stops by the goaltenders, a winner was not determined as the game finished in a draw.
The Cubs are right back at it Friday as they host Hearst while the Thunderbirds welcome the rival Soo Eagles to John Rhodes Community Centre on Saturday.
Highlight of the Night – NOJHL YouTube Channel
