Photos: Northern Lights Photography
HEARST, Ont. – Having their number so far this season, the Hearst Lumberjacks put a halt to the 13-game winning streak of the Greater Sudbury Cubs Thursday with a 6-3 triumph in Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League play at Claude Larose Recreation Centre.
Featuring the top two teams in the standings, it was the hometown Lumberjacks that wasted little time in opening the scoring.
Coming out of their own zone off an Adam Shillinglaw pass, DonHeaven Veilleux chipped a play ahead, then darted down the right wing and fired a feed through the crease that was steered in by a hard-charging Aiden Kalin, past Cubs’ starter Noah Beaulne, just 39 seconds into the proceedings.
The assist gives Shillinglaw points in five straight contests as the NOJHL leader in scoring among defencemen, extended his overall total to 19 on the campaign.
Adding another just over 10 minutes later, Hearst went up by a pair thanks to Henry Ouellet stuffing in a bouncing puck into the open side off a Cole Miller chance.
Greater Sudbury got one back, moments into a man advantage, thanks to Noah Kohan swiftly swatting in a crisp cross-ice pass from Samuel Assinewai at 12:31, in eluding Lumberjacks’ netminder Alexandre Boivin.
Tying it up early in the second stanza, the Cubs won a draw, which allowed Nate Lazarus to snap a shot from the point that was tipped in by Lucas Signoretti for his league-best 16th tally of the season.
After the visitors generated some intense pressure and had a couple of quality opportunities to go in front, it was Hearst who countered to retake the lead.
On the marker, Shillinglaw danced around a couple of defenders up ice into Greater Sudbury territory, where from a sharp angle, snapped a shot that eluded Beaulne midway through the contest.
That also resulted in a goaltending change with Matthew Vahramian entering in relief for the Cubs.
Hearst then restored their multi-goal cushion at 15:37 as Mathieu Comeau neatly redirected in a set-up from Tyler Patterson.
Banging in another before the second intermission, Veilleux began a dash down the right side and opted to shoot where he ripped a short-side sizzler into the top-right corner on Vahramian.
Moving to the final frame, the visitors pulled closer when Assinewai worked a give-and-go on a delayed penalty with Signoretti and buried his chance high on Boivin from close range.
Getting their goaltender out with three minutes left, Greater Sudbury used the extra skater and a late power play in an effort to pull closer.
However, Hearst put the game away with a shorthanded empty netter from Bronson Babyak to secure the victory.
Of note, all three of the Cubs defeats on the campaign have come at the hands of the Lumberjacks, including one in overtime.
The win moves Hearst to 13-4-0-1 overall, while the loss sees Greater Sudbury drop to 14-2-1-1.
