Photos: Northern Lights Photography
HEARST, Ont. – Rolling right along, the Greater Sudbury Cubs collected their seventh Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League victory in succession Friday by defeating the Hearst Lumberjacks 2-1 in a hard-fought meeting at Claude Larose Recreation Centre.
A tightly-contested opening 20 minutes went scoreless, much in part due to the efforts of the starting goalkeepers, Ethan Dinsdale of Hearst and Greater Sudbury’s Noah Beaulne.
In the second stanza, the league-leading Cubs struck shorthanded 34 seconds in after Cameron Walker’s lengthy pass sent Pierson Sobush in alone on a breakaway where he calmly snapped a shot along the ice through the legs on Dinsdale for his 10th tally of the season.
Gaining a 2-0 lead 12 minutes later, Greater Sudbury forced a turnover, which eventually resulted in Carter Geoffroy scoring with a quick wrist shot from mid-range.
Knocking down a dump-in attempt in the third period helped Hearst counter quickly in transition and use some quick passing that was finished off by Gregory Harley, 6:44 into the third, as he buried his initial NOJHL tally into the open net on Beaulne to cap of the rush.
That would be it however in terms of any more markers as the Cubs held firm defensively to secure the road decision.
The result saw Beaulne win his seventh straight appearance as Greater Sudbury raised their NOJHL-best record to 15-2-2-0.
In defeat, the Lumberjacks fell for a fourth outing in a row as they dipped to 12-6-2-0 on the campaign.