Two tap-ins from Cole Crowder helped the Greater Sudbury Cubs triumph over the French River Rapids in the Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League tilt Thursday evening at Gerry McCrory Countryside Sports Complex.
A fast-paced opening 20 minutes saw league-leading Greater Sudbury generate more chances than French River, but neither club would convert offensively thanks to the performances by starting netminders Matthew Perdue of the Rapids and the Cubs’ Noah Beaulne.
The second period saw the Cubs get on the board three and a half minutes into the frame as Samuel Assinewai snagged a loose puck in the neutral zone and darted into the French River zone, sending a backhand in front then directed in by a hard-charging Crowder from the top of the crease.
The assist for Assinewai now gives him at least one point in each of his past 14 NOJHL games played.
Halfway through the period, the guests came close to tying it when they rang a shot off the post moments into a man advantage.
They would however click late on the same power play off a crisp cross-ice feed by Jordan Bax, that was quickly slammed in with a Josh Russell one-timer at 11:51.
Collecting the assist was Connor Picard, who etched his name on the game sheet for a fifth consecutive game.
Regaining the lead early in the third, Cubs defenceman Graeme Siren sent a wrist shot from the right point through a maze that got by a screened Perdue for the eventual game-winner.
Crowder then tacked on his second of the evening at 8:31, while the Cubs had the extra player on the ice, spinning in close to the net and sliding in a rebound off a Billy Biedermann chance from the top of the left circle.
Putting the game away with a couple of Rapids players in the penalty box, Pierson Sobush finished an Oliver Smith pass for his NOJHL-best 31st goal of the season to cap off the scoring.
That also saw Sobusg extend a consecutive game point streak, in the process, to 13.
The win sees the Cubs improving to a league-leading 32-5-2-0 while French River fell to 6-30-0-1 overall.
The Cubs next meet the Powassan Voodoos at the Powassan Sportsplex on Jan. 20 at 7 p.m., and once again face the French River Rapids on Sunday, Jan. 22 at 4 p.m. in the Noelville Arena.
