ESPANOLA, Ont. – The Greater Sudbury Kings got three goals from Oliver Smith to help lift them to a 6-3 triumph over the Espanola Paper Kings in a Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League Sunday matinee at the Regional Recreation Complex.
Greater Sudbury got the game’s first goal, off a Brock Houser point blast that was eventually shovelled over by Cameron Shanks, to Smith on the right side, where he pumped it into the open side on Espanola starter Jake Marois.
The marker saw Smith score for a fourth straight outing.
Answering with a shorthanded equalizer at 12:10, Owen Fergusson forced a turnover in the neutral zone, which allowed Lucas Signoretti to dart in alone and tuck in a low backhand for his NOJHL-leading 26th tally of the season.
Supplying another early in the middle frame, Smith chipped a play around a defender and went in uncontested on Marois where he made a nice move and slipped the puck in between the legs at the 56-second mark.
Drawing even once more, Jack Lynes won a draw right back to Kyle den Ouden, who quickly sizzled a shot past Cubs goalkeeper Noah Metivier.
Retaking the lead yet again, Smith supplied his third of the day at 11:22 as he hammered in a one-timer off a Samuel Assinewai set-up.
Coming right back, Greater Sudbury tacked on another moments later with Ben Lacroix whipping one upstairs from the right circle on Marois.
The marker also saw the Paper Kings bring in back-up Andrew Gaulton, in place of Marois.
A late four-on-three advantage brought the home side back to within one as Spencer Horgan worked a quick give-and-go with Fergusson, before slamming in his 17th of the season, which tops all league defencemen.
In the third, the Cubs went back up by two when Smith left the puck for Assinewai, who came in over the blueline and wired it over the glove of Gaulton into the top right-hand corner.
The guests then wrapped up the road result with a long-range, man-down, empty netter from Josh Kavanagh in the late going to round out the scoring.
With the victory, Greater Sudbury moves to 24-7-0-0 overall, while with the loss, Espanola falls to 18-11-0-0.
