Greater Sudbury Cubs forward Samuel Assinewai scored a hat trick to lead the local Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League squad to a 5-3 win over the Espanola Paper Kings on Nov. 24 at the Regional Recreation Complex.
Assinewai opened the scoring in this one. After a draw in their own zone, Greater Sudbury’s Cameron Shanks sent Assinewai in alone on Espanola netminder Jake Marois. A neat backhand tuck beat Marois to give Sudbury the 1-0 lead.
Assinewai would score the second goal of the game on the very next shift, taking a play across the crease and swatting it in from the left side.
“Battling back, the Paper Kings answered with two of their own to knot the affair at 2-2 after one,” the league said in a news release.
The Kings’ first goal came about after Atley Gringorten kept the puck in the Greater Sudbury zone before feeding a pass to Cayden Kowal, who chipped it over goaltender Noah Metivier.
Espanola tied it up in the final minute of the first. On a line change, Blake Peters-Davey was sent in alone on a breakaway, beating Metivier with a rising backhand for his 11th goal of the season.
Moving to the second, the league-leading Cubs retook the lead during a power play after Oliver Smith sent a cross-ice feed to Assinewai who guided it into the net to complete his hat trick.
Then early in the third Cameron Walker scored from close range to put Greater Sudbury back up by two goals, 4-2.
Espanola wasn’t done yet though. Nicolas Saucier made it 4-3, marking the second breakaway goal for the Kings during this game.
Solid forechecking by the Cubs kept Espanola off the board for the rest of the game. Smith sunk an empty-netter late in the third to make the final score of 5-3.
After this fourth straight win, Greater Sudbury continues to sit atop the NOJHL standings with a record of 22-6-0-0 overall.
In defeat, the Paper Kings fall to 16-10-0-0.
