Two first period goals from Oliver Smith helped propel the Greater Sudbury Cubs to a big 5-1 in the team’s best-of-seven playoff series against the Blind River Beavers.
The Beavers and the Cubs held the top two spots in the Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League for the majority of this past season, with Blind River leading the league for much of that time.
In Monday’s game on home ice at the Gerry McCrory Countryside Sports Complex, the Cubs jumped out to an early lead just 57 seconds into the game.
Less than a minute after the opening facebook, Cubs’ forward Ethan Larmand swooped down the left side and fired on Beavers’ netminder Noah Tegelaar. Smith scooped up the rebound and buried it.
At 14:22 of the first, Nolan Newton interrupted a play in his own zone, rifled a long pass to a speeding Hudson Chitaroni, who slipped into the Beavers’ zone alone and beat Tegelaar on the backhand to make it 2-0 for the Cubs.
Still in the first, Mason Chitaroni blasted one from the point at the Blind River net that Smith tipped passed Tegelaar to make it 3-0 for Sudbury.
Moving onto the second period, Newton got things off on the right foot by powering his way into the Beavers’ zone and firing the puck into the right corner to make it 4-0 for Sudbury.
Blind River eventually got on the board in the middle frame. On the power play, Beavers’ forward Andrey Manov managed to beat Metivier to make it a 4-1 game.
Greater Sudbury would extend their lead in the third. Cameron Walker won a draw, dropping the puck back to Cameron Shanks who blasted it passed a screened Tegelaar to make it 5-1 and give the Cubs the win and the series lead.
Game 4 Tuesday night back in Sudbury at 7:05 p.m.
NOJHL West Final
- Game 1: Cubs 2 Beavers 1
- Game 2: Beavers 6 Cubs 2
- Game 3: Cubs 5 Beavers 1
- Game 4: Tuesday, April 9 @ Sudbury 7:05 p.m. (Gerry McCrory Countryside Sports Complex)
- Game 5: Thursday, April 11 @ Blind River 7 p.m. (Blind River Community Centre)Game 6*: Sunday, April 14 @ Sudbury 7:35 p.m. (Gerry McCrory Countryside Sports Complex)
- Game 7*: Tuesday, April 16 @ Blind River 7 p.m. (Blind River Community Centre) *-if necessary
