Photos: Caleigh Fera – Points North Media
SUDBURY, Ont. – Greater Sudbury Cubs standout forward Lucas Signoretti supplied four second-period special teams tallies, and added a final marker in the third, to propel his side to their 11th consecutive Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League victory Thursday, as they outscored the French River Rapids 8-4, at Gerry McCrory Countryside Sports Complex.
The Cubs got the game’s first goal near the five-minute mark of the of the opening frame, when they battled to keep a play in the French River zone, that led to Ryan Rubic steering in a cross-ice feed from Cameron Shanks.
No others were supplied the remainder of the frame as the home side took their narrow lead into the intermission.
Action in the middle stanza saw the Rapids draw level off an early man advantage effort.
On the tally, Alexandre Dubuc chopped in a backhand after a high attempt from the point hit off the end glass and bounced back in front.
French River then went ahead at 3:11 thanks to Dominic Bzdyl opting to shoot from the right wing on a two-on-one and wired his chance past Greater Sudbury netminder Stephen Toltl.
Tying it up via the power play, the home side saw Nolan Newton make a crisp pass off a fake shot, right to Signoretti, who promptly blasted in a drive by Rapids’ starter Brock Grein.
They then saw Signoretti strike once again as he cranked in a one-timer from a Mason Chitaroni set-up for another in rapid succession.
Going to work once more on the power play, Samuel Assinewai pumped in an attempt from the left circle to give him points in 13 straight outings.
Signoretti then hit his hat trick and league-leading 30th goal of the season off an impressive individual rush that he completed with a top-shelf sizzler while darting down the right side when the Cubs were shorthanded.
Countering, the Rapids got one back when Noah Szczurek whipped one in from the slot.
However, Signoretti capped off his outstanding period by collecting another man-down effort as he went in alone and made multiple dekes before finishing it off, in beating Nicholas Tarantella, who had entered in relief for the visitors after the Cubs’ fifth goal.
Heading to the final stanza, Assinewai provided a fourth extra-man effort for Greater Sudbury during a crafty rush that he completed by ripping one over the blocker of Tarantella.
Signoretti then capped off his outstanding night with a quick release that ended up banking in midway through the frame.
A fourth for French River came right after that as Cameron Jansa converted from between the hash marks to round out the scoring.
In continuing their winning ways, the Cubs improved to a NOJHL-best
25-2-1-1.
With the loss, the Rapids slipped to 8-17-1-2.
