Photos: Rob Fera – Points North Media
LIVELY, Ont. – The vaunted Greater Sudbury Cubs power play erupted for six-man advantage markers, including four in the third period, to help dismantle the Kirkland Lake Gold Miners 9-1 Thursday in the opener of the 2026 Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League playoffs at T.M. Davies Arena.
A tight-checking opening 20 minutes saw Greater Sudbury hold the edge in shots, but it ended up going scoreless.
In the second stanza, the Cubs eventually broke the deadlock just over four minutes in when Ty Dubreuil chased down his own dump in, then worked it back to the right point where Spencer Horgan lifted an attempt through traffic that eluded Gold Miners’ goaltender Glen McInnes.
After handling a couple of Kirkland Lake man advantage opportunities, they countered with a power play effort of their own at 18:18 thanks to Caden Dubreuil finishing off a short cross-crease pass from Mason Walker.
With the Cubs up a couple of skaters to begin the final frame, Walker sent a feed across to Briir Long in the left circle who whipped it past McInnes at the 31-second mark.
Extending their edge a couple of shifts later, Greater Sudbury defenceman Tyson Rismond heaved a pass ahead from deep in his own zone that sent Caden Dubreuil in alone on a breakaway that he promptly buried.
Not done there, Ty Dubreuil put the Cubs firmly in control as he finished off a drive to the net from teammate Lucas Antonioni at 3:46.
Daks Klinkhammer then helped ice it for the hosts with another power play goal as he darted out from behind the net and into the slot where he zipped a shot upstairs.
Continuing to light it up on special teams, Owen King wired one in from the right side on a five-on-three to add to the onslaught.
Then a fifth extra-man effort on the night saw Grant Guthrie jam in a nice in-close set-up from Klinkhammer.
Power play tally No. 6 then came at 15:55 as Greater Sudbury went up two skaters yet again that led to Antonioni banking one in from the left of the crease.
The Gold Miners eventually dashed the shutout bid of Cubs’ goalkeeper Iain Wintle with an extra-man marker of their own with just over a minute remaining as Vaive Hickey worked a give-and-go with Jack Nolan and snapped one high into the top righthand corner to round out the scoring.
Game 2 goes Friday at 7 p.m. back at T.M. Davies and on FLOHockey.tv, the official broadcast partner of the NOJHL.
No. 1 Greater Sudbury Cubs vs. No. 8 Kirkland Lake Gold Miners
Game 1: Cubs 9, Gold Miners 1
Game 2: Friday, March 20 @ Sudbury 7 p.m. (T.M. Davies Arena)
Game 3: Monday, March 23 @ Kirkland Lake 7 p.m. (Joe Mavrinac Community Complex)
Game 4: Tuesday, March 24 @ Kirkland Lake 7 p.m. (Joe Mavrinac Community Complex)
Game 5*: Thursday, March 26 @ Sudbury 7 p.m. (T.M. Davies Arena)
Game 6*: Saturday, March 28 @ Kirkland Lake 7 p.m. (Joe Mavrinac Community Complex)
Game 7*: Tuesday, March 31 @ Sudbury (T.M. Davies Arena)
*-if necessary
Greater Sudbury leads best-of-seven series 1-0
