The Greater Sudbury Cubs won their sixth straight game Thursday night, defeating the Kirkland Lake Gold Miners 7-1 at Gerry McCrory Countryside Sports Complex.
The Cubs continue to lead the Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League with 46 points, two points ahead of the Timmins Rock. Their record currently sits at 22-4-2-0.
Greater Sudbury went to work early, capitalizing on their first power play of the game to go up 1-0 on a goal by Nicholas Toffoli.
They extended the lead to two goals about midway through the first when 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,” the team said.
Assinewai picked up his second helper of the game at 17:45. The forward from Little Current weaved through traffic into the Gold Miners’ zone and fed the puck to the front of the net for Pierson Sobush to slam home from the top of the crease, his team-leading 17th goal of the season.
In the second period, it didn’t take Greater Sudbury long to add to their lead when, about eight minutes in, Nolan Newton notched the team’s third, still unanswered, goal of the game.
Around four minutes later, the Cubs added a fifth goal thanks to Marshall McCharles stuffing in a loose puck off a Carter Geoffroy point shot.
Before the second period ended, the Cubs would add their sixth goal to the scoreboard when Toffoli and Assinewai teamed to make it 6-0.
In the final frame, Aiden Landers made it a 7-0 game for Sudbury.
Kirkland Lake would finally get on the board in the final three minutes, spoiling Cub netminder Noah Beaulne’s near-perfect game. Gold Miners forward Samuel De Mauro worked a play free from behind the goal line and fed a charging Christian Genova who whipped in a wrister from between the hash marks.
Beaulne did pick up his 12th win of the season.
In other Cubs news, Hockey Canada and the Canadian Junior Hockey League announced that Cubs’ forward Assinewai has been named to take part in the Team Canada East Selection Camp, to vie for a roster spot in the upcoming World Junior A Challenge in Cornwall.
The 18-year-old Little Current resident will be among 32 Canada East hopefuls competing in the three-day camp, which runs Dec. 5-7 in Cornwall.
The Cubs are back in action on the road in Espanola on Sunday to take on the Paper Kings.
