Cubs outlast Lumberjacks to repeat as NOJHL champions
Buoyed by a four-assist night from Nolan Newton, including one on the eventual game-winner, the Greater Sudbury Cubs held on to defeat the Hearst Lumberjacks 6-4 Wednesday in a highly competitive Game 7 of the Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League Final in front of a near-capacity crowd at Gerry McCrory Countryside Sports Complex.
The win sees the Cubs capture the Copeland Cup – McNamara Trophy for a second straight year and once again earned the right to represent the NOJHL at the Centennial Cup, presented by Tim Hortons, May 8-18 at the Max Bell Centre in Calgary, Alta.
Converting on the night’s initial man advantage opportunity, Greater Sudbury opened the scoring eight and a half minutes into the contest when Lucas Signoretti snapped a shot from up top that was blocked, but Daks Klinkhammer collected the loose puck between the circles and fired it past Hearst netminder Alexandre Boivin.
The tally gives Klinkhammer points in each of his last eight playoff outings.
Tying it up on a late first period five-on-three, the Lumberjacks’ Mathieu Comeau jammed in a chance laying in the crease off an Adam Shillinglaw attempt in eluding Cubs’ starter Karsen Chartier.
Retaking the lead 70 seconds into the middle frame, Nolan Newton put a backhand out front from below the goal line that Noah Kohan quickly lifted in, late into a power play.
Going up by a pair at 3:43, Greater Sudbury made it 3-1 after Samuel Assinewai, who was seeing his first action in a month due to injury, put a feed out from down low to Cameron Shanks, who pumped it in, short side, on Boivin.
Getting that back a few minutes later, Henry Ouellet pressured a turnover for Hearst and left Bronson Babyak with a tap-in into the open side.
Answering quickly, Spencer Horgan put the home side back up by a pair as he took a pass from Newton then made a couple of crafty dekes before sliding in his fifth of the postseason by the outstretched pad of Boivin.
The Cubs kept coming and went up by three midway through the match-up as defenceman Alexandre Valade found the range from the high slot and whipped it in, blocker side, through traffic.
With that, the Lumberjacks made a goaltending change as Owen Bonthuis entered in relief.
Still battling, the visitors got back to within two at 13:22 when Aiden Kalin connected by steering in a nice short pass across from Ty McKay.
Greater Sudbury carried their two-goal cushion into the third, and had a quality chance to up their edge early, but Assinewai rang a shot off the post.
Then a splendid individual effort from Hearst’s DonHeaven Veilleux saw him dash into the Cubs zone where he darted around a couple of defenders before depositing a backhand on Chartier at 3:25.
Keeping it close, Bonthuis denied Kohan on a breakaway with just over six minutes remaining.
Another Kohan chance saw him put it in the net, but it was nullified on an offside call by the officials.
Hearst then got their netminder out for an additional skater with two minutes to play, but a shot block helped the Cubs’ Lincoln Moore send Klinkhammer ahead as he powered his way in and scored into an empty net in the late going to secure the hard-fought result and claim the NOJHL title.
NOJHL Final
No. 1 Greater Sudbury Cubs vs. No. 2 Heart Lumberjacks
Cubs win best-of-seven series 4-3
Game 1: Lumberjacks 6 Cubs 2
Game 2: Cubs 5 Lumberjacks 4 (OT)
Game 3: Cubs 6 Lumberjacks 1
Game 4: Cubs 5 Lumberjacks 1
Game 5: Lumberjacks 10 Cubs 6
Game 6: Lumberjacks 5 Cubs 4
Game 7: Cubs 6 Lumberjacks 4
