Kaedyn Long’s OT winner gives Sudbury NOJHL Title
A Kaedyn Dubreuil goal 15:35 into the first overtime gave the Greater Sudbury Cubs a dramatic 3-2 victory over the Timmins Rock in Game 4 of the Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League final at McIntyre Arena to give them the Copeland Cup – McNamara Trophy championship.
With the outcome, Greater Sudbury takes the best-of-seven series in four hard-fought games and will move on to represent the NOJHL at the Centennial Cup, presented by Tim Hortons, May 7-17, in Summerside, P.E.I.
In Wednesday’s contest, moments after the Rock rang a shot off the cross bar early on, the Cubs countered quickly and opened the scoring a minute and a half in as Noah Aboflan sent a pass across to Briir Long in the left circle where he wired a shot that beat Timmins netminder Frédéric Cousineau.
Answering with an equalizer at 15:50, Maxx Hamelin picked off a play in the neutral zone and wheeled down the right wing where he snapped an attempt upstairs on Greater Sudbury starter Iain Wintle.
Still knotted at 1-1 into the second stanza, the clubs completed the frame without a go-ahead marker.
Breaking the deadlock in the third, the Cubs’ Noah Kohan snagged a loose puck off a draw in the Rock end, then after being denied on an initial chance, collected the rebound and chopped it past Cousineau.
Pulling even once more, a few shifts later, Nolan Masson sent a sharp feed over to Ryan Armitage, who hammered in a one-timer into the open side, leaving Wintle with little chance on the tying tally.
Some late heroics in the final minute of regulation saw Cousineau deny Mason Walker with a huge pad save on a penalty shot with 27 seconds remaining to help force extra time.
In OT, Greater Sudbury pulled out the victory as Spencer Horgan put a play ahead up to Caden Dubreuil, who fired a shot, that Cousineau stopped but Long corralled the rebound and lifted in the game-winner as Greater Sudbury claimed a third consecutive NOJHL title.
NOJHL Final
No. 1 Greater Sudbury Cubs vs. No. 4 Timmins Rock
Game 1: Cubs 9, Rock 3
Game 2: Cubs 4, Rock 3
Game 3: Cubs 3, Rock 0
Game 4: Cubs 3, Rock 2 (OT)
Greater Sudbury wins best-of-seven series 4-0
