Photos: Bob Davies
SAULT STE. MARIE, Ont. – Pierson Sobush supplied the lone marker in a five-round shootout as the Greater Sudbury Cubs withstood a furious late comeback bid by the Soo Thunderbirds to prevail 3-2 in a hard-fought Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League affair Saturday at John Rhodes Community Centre.
Greater Sudbury came out with an early effort, three and a half minutes into the match-up, when Matthew Mazzotta picked up his eighth of the season by darting down the left wing and firing a shot that eluded Sault Ste. Marie starter Landon Miller, with a sharp short side wrister, on a delayed penalty.
The Cubs then went up by a pair deep into the second period, moments after handling a Thunderbirds power play.
With that, the visitors came out quickly on a two-on-one and saw Noah Kohan fly down the right wing and had plenty of space to shoot at and whipped his chance into the left corner at 18:25.
Roaring back to force OT late in regulation, the Soo struck twice with extra skaters to send it to extra time.
The initial T-Birds tally came during a man advantage as Dharan Cap stuffed in a rebound off a Ranon Joseph point blast with 1:38 to go.
Still on the power play and having their goalie out for an additional attacker, Michael Chaffay snapped in the equalizer from the left of Cubs’ goaltender Noah Metivier with a half-minute remaining.
After a frenzied, yet scoreless, OT, the sides went to extra shots to determine a winner.
There after misses by the first nine shooters, Sobush won it by skating down on Miller, making a couple of quick dekes then providing the decider with a crisp snap shot into the left corner to end it.
The result helps league-leading Greater Sudbury raise their record to 35-6-2-0 while the T-Birds earned a point in defeat and went to 28-10-2-2.