Caleigh Fera – Sudbury Light Event Photography
SUDBURY, Ont. – The Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League-leading Greater Sudbury Cubs won their sixth straight game Thursday night as they defeated the Kirkland Lake Gold Miners 7-1 at Gerry McCrory Countryside Sports Complex.
Picking up the night’s initial power play early on, Greater Sudbury went to work and scored on it as they put an attempt under Kirkland Lake starter Ethan Barron that he could not control, which left Nicholas Toffoli with an easy backhand into the open net for his fifth of the campaign.
Adding to their lead midway through the first period, Cole Crowder slammed in a one-timer from close range off a spinning back pass from behind the net by Samuel Assinewai.
The assist for Assinewai saw him extend a consecutive game point streak to eight in a row.
He then collected his second helper of the session at 17:45 as he weaved through traffic into the Gold Miners’ zone and put a feed in front that was snapped home by an open Pierson Sobush at the top of the crease, who notched his team-best 17th goal.
Moving to the middle session, Greater Sudbury added to their lead nearly eight minutes in off a rush by Nolan Newton that eventually saw him drive to slot and put a shot under the arm of Barron.
A fifth Cubs’ marker came at 12:06 thanks to Marshall McCharles stuffing in a loose puck off a Carter Geoffroy point shot.
They then capped off another three-tally period when Toffoli banked in a chance from just inside the blueline off of Assinewai parked in front.
In the final frame, the home side’s Aiden Landers finished off a second opportunity while left unmarked near the net.
Dashing Noah Beaulne’s shutout bid with just over three minutes remaining in regulation, Kirkland Lake’s Samuel De Mauro worked a play free from behind the goal line and fed a charging Christian Genova driving to the net who whipped in a wrister from between the hash marks to put his club on the board and round out the evening’s scoring.
Beaulne did pick up his 12th win of the season, which puts him just one off the league-lead and the Cubs’ NOJHL-best 22nd triumph, while a busy Barron was peppered with plenty of rubber in defeat.