The Greater Sudbury Cubs are back on top of the Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League after securing a 3-2 win over the Powassan Voodoos on Friday night in what was the team’s final regular season game of the 2022-2023 season.
On the road, the team skated to a 3-2 win at the Powassan Sportsplex.
“The hometown Voodoos began the night’s scoring just over four minutes into the match-up when Kaedyn Long raced down the ice in transition after a Cubs’ player rang a shot off the crossbar and in turn buried his chance by picking the bottom right corner on netminder Noah Beaulne,” the team said in a release.
Greater Sudbury’s Cameron Walker scored his first of two on the night to tie things up before the first period ended though, rocketing over the blueline to beat Powassan netminder Daniel Dirracolo on his blocker side.
The Cubs took the lead thanks to an early second period power play that saw Christopher Innes blast one toward the Voodoos’ net from the point that Oliver Smith redirected passed Dirracolo.
Up 2-1 and still in the second, Walker scored his second of the night when he fired a shot from the blueline through a crowd of players to find the back of the net.
“Moving to the third, it stayed 3-1 for Greater Sudbury until the final moments when the Voodoos’ Carson Ricci fired a rising shot through a screen from the left side with their goalie out for an extra attacker and only 14.2 seconds remaining.”
The win puts the Cubs back on top of the NOJHL to finish the regular season with 94 points and a record of 46-10-2-0.
In defeat, Powassan dropped to 36-20-1-0 overall.
The Cubs take on the Espanola Paper Kings in the first round of the NOJHL playoffs. Game One is at the Walden Community Centre on March 23 with a 7:30 p.m. start.
