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Cubs withstand late comeback to win 3-2 over T-birds

The Jan. 28 NOJHL game went into overtime and ended in a shootout 
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Pierson Sobush supplied the lone goal in a five-round shootout as the Greater Sudbury Cubs withstood a late comeback bid by the Soo Thunderbirds to prevail 3-2. It was a hard-fought Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League affair Jan. 28 at John Rhodes Community Centre.

Greater Sudbury came out with an early effort three and a half minutes into the match-up, when Matthew Mazzotta picked up his eighth of the season by darting down the left wing and firing a shot that eluded Sault Ste. Marie starter Landon Miller, with a sharp short side wrister, on a delayed penalty.

The Cubs then went up by a pair deep into the second period, moments after handling a Thunderbirds power play.

With that, the visitors came out quickly on a two-on-one and saw Noah Kohan fly down the right wing and had plenty of space to shoot at and whipped his chance into the left corner at 18:25.

Roaring back to force overtime late in regulation, the Soo struck twice with extra skaters to send it to extra time.

The initial T-Birds tally came during a man advantage as Dharan Cap stuffed in a rebound off a Ranon Joseph point blast with 1:38 to go.

Still on the power play and having their goalie out for an additional attacker, Michael Chaffay snapped in the equalizer from the left of Cubs’ goaltender Noah Metivier with a half-minute remaining.

After a frenzied, yet scoreless, extra period, the sides went to extra shots to determine a winner.

There after misses by the first nine shooters, Sobush won it by skating down on Miller, making a couple of quick dekes then providing the decider with a crisp snapshot into the left corner to end it.

The result helped league-leading Greater Sudbury raise their record to 35-6-2-0 while the T-Birds earned a point in defeat and went to 28-10-2-2.

The Cubs next take on the Espanola Paperkings Feb. 2 at 7:05 p.m. at the Gerry McCrory Countryside Sports Complex in Sudbury.

 


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