Cubs solid in downing Voodoos
Rolling out to an early lead, the Greater Sudbury Cubs did not look back from there as they went on to down the Powassan Voodoos 9-2 in Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League action Thursday at Gerry McCrory Countryside Sports Complex.
The Cubs opened the scoring a couple of minutes into the matchup when Owen King sent a down low no-look back pass in between the circles that Kaedyn Long quickly collected and whipped past Voodoos’ netminder Derrick Champagne.
Greater Sudbury then went up by a pair midway through the first period when Daks Klinkhammer pressured a turnover in the Powassan end that led to Eidan Macartney feeding Noah Kohan in the slot where he wired in his 13th of the season.
Not done there, the home side added another a couple of shifts later thanks to Alex Valade snapping a shot from the left circle by a screened Champagne.
That resulted in the visitors opting to make a goaltender change, with back-up Cole Vreugdenhil entering in long relief for the Voodoos.
Heading to the second stanza, the Cubs added another in transition as Klinkhammer pulled up in the Powassan end along the side boards and found Kohan coming in down the middle where he took the pass and buried his second of the evening at 5:19.
The Voodoos eventually got on the board during a man advantage off some crisp puck movement that led to Ryan Saginaw setting up Braden Begley along the blueline where he moved in slightly and lifted an attempt from up top that eluded goalkeeper Iain Wintle.
Countering, Greater Sudbury answered with a pair of tallies to go up 6-1 after 40 minutes.
Jacob Signoretti got the fifth one for the hosts with an even strength effort as he slammed in his own rebound after being teed up by King.
Then on the power play deep in the frame, King fired one towards the target that clipped off a defender and went in.
Adding to the onslaught with another extra-man effort early in the third, King notched another as he snapped in a cross-ice feed from Nolan Newton.
Getting one back, Parker Bonsignore connected for the guests at 4:53 when he banged in a loose puck off the end boards that came out the other side of the net after a Dylan Rousselle point shot.
Capping off the one-sided result, Signoretti picked up his second of the night as he finished off the leftovers after a Kohan rush, then completed a hat trick in the waning moments as he jumped in from the point and converted from a sharp angle to wrap things up.
With the victory, the Cubs improved to 24-6-1-2 overall, while with the loss, the Voodoos fall to 19-9-0-2.
Both teams play again Friday as Greater Sudbury visits French River and Powassan hosts Espanola in a pair of 7 p.m. starts.
