After introducing 19-year-old goaltender Sasha Gaumond in Sault Ste. Marie on Oct. 29 against the first-place Soo Thunderbirds, he made the difference as the Greater Sudbury Cubs beat the Thunderbirds for the first-time this season with a 4-3 victory in overtime.
Gaumond stopped 42 of the 45 Soo shots that he faced. The win marked back-to-back wins for the Cubs over the top two teams in the West Division, including a 4-1 victory over the Soo Eagles on Thursday night in Sudbury.
Gaumond was acquired earlier in the week from the Hawkesbury Hawks of the Central Canada Hockey League. Gaumond made a number of highlight-reel saves in the contest including a game saver in overtime.
He added an exclamation mark on his debut by recording an assist on one of the two goals scored by Cubs and NOJHL’s leading scorer Kyler Campbell, who scored the game winner at the 1:30 mark of overtime on a play from defenceman Chris Innes.
Billy Biedermann continued his scoring pace of late by scoring his ninth goal of the season to open the scoring for the Cubs in the Soo.
The youngest player on the Cubs roster has now scored six goals in his last six games. Biedermann has now moved into second-place in team scoring with 12 points and is among the league leaders in rookie-scoring.
Cubs’ forward Mathieu Morin scored his fourth goal of the season late in the third period to force overtime before Campbell scored the game-winner and earned 1st star honours for the Cubs.
On Thursday night, the Cubs pulled out an impressive 4-1 victory over the 7-2-1 Soo Eagles. Jaxon Bedard, who was called up by the OHL Sudbury Wolves on Friday night, scored two goals for the Cubs while Biedermann and Cole Crowder added singles.
Cubs’ veteran goaltender Joel Rainville was named the game’s first star by stopping 42 of the 43 shots that he faced.
The Cubs will be back in action on Thursday night when they face the Espanola Eagles. The game will be played at the Chelmsford Arena as the Cubs will mark their return to their former venue.
Game time is 7 p.m. and fans are asked to bring a non-perishable food item to support the Chelmsford Food Bank.
