It wasn’t a high-scoring affair, but the Greater Sudbury Cubs managed to secure a 3-1 win during a Jan. 14 visit to Noelville Arena to take on the French River Rapids.
The Cubs got a goal in each period on their way to the win between the two Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League teams.
First blood in this one was drawn by Sudbury’s Ben Lacroix, after he flew down the left wing and fired a shot at the night that clipped a Rapids defender and slipped past French River goalie Elijah Grant.
With the Cubs up 1-0, the game would be back-and-forth and without further scoring until early in the second.
“Adding another 4:46 into the second stanza, the Cubs’ Mason Chitaroni weaved his way up ice into the Rapids zone and snapped a shot from inside the blueline that eluded Grant off a partial screen,” the team said in a news release.
It wasn’t until the third period that French River got on the board. On a power play, Nolan Masson sent Abram Snider in on Greater Sudbury goalie Noah Beaulne, who lifted in a backhand at 1:40 to make it a 2-1 game.
That would be it for the Rapids in terms of scoring in this one, but still time for the Cubs to add an insurance goal.
That insurance cushion came off the stick of Oliver Smith, who worked a give-and-go with Hudson Chitaroni and made a nice low deflection to help secure the road win.
The win improves Greater Sudbury’s record to 30-7-1-1, while French River’s record falls to 8-30-1-0.
The Cubs are back in action at home on Jan. 18 against the Soo Thunderbirds.
