It took a seven-round shootout in Noelville for the Greater Sudbury Cubs to secure a win over the French River Rapids on Feb. 2.
A goal from Chris Innes propelled the Cubs to the 5-4 win.
Oliver Smith led the Cubs with two goals while the Rapids Matthew Stringer countered with a pair of goals himself.
The Rapids got on the board first in this one. Jesse Lefebvre notched his 10th of the season after Nolan Masson banked a shot off the boards to the Battalion prospect, who slammed it home at 6:51 of the first.
The Rapids made it 2-0 on a power play thanks to Stringer’s 10th of the season, scored from inside the right faceoff circle at 11:18 and beating Cubs’ newly acquired goalie Matthew Vahramian, who was making his first start for the team since being acquired from the Elliot Lake Vikings.
“The high-scoring Cubs got the offence rolling early in the second as Oliver Smith netted his 34th at 4:35 of the middle frame to make it 2-1,” the league said in a news release.
Smith did it again a few minutes later, tipping in a point shot by Brock Houser at 6:57.
“The Cubs took the lead just over a minute later as Marshall McCharles put home a rebound on a scramble in front of the Rapids net as the visitors grabbed their first lead 3-2 at 8:04 of the middle frame.”
After the Rapids swapped out Grant in net for veteran Brady Dyer, Springer got his second for French River at 13:52 of the second period.
Tied 3-3, the Cubs pulled Vahramian and put Noah Beaulne between the pipes.
It stayed 3-3 until late in the third. On an odd-man rush, the Cubs Ben Harris batted one past Dyer for the 4-3 lead at 17:10 of the third.
With the Rapids’ net empty for the extra attacker, Dominic Byzdyl’s point shot got through traffic and behind Beaulne to make it 4-4.
The two sides went scoreless in the five-minute overtime, forcing the seven-round shootout to determine the winner.
Beaulne was able to turn away six of the seven shooters he faced, while Dyer allowed two goals on seven tries as Hudson Chitaroni opened the shootout with a goal on the first shootout shot.
With the win, the Cubs improve to 34-9-1-1 for a league-leading 70 points, while the Rapids move to 8-32-1-1 for 18 points.
