Photos: Rob Fera – Points North Media
SUDBURY, Ont. – The red-hot Greater Sudbury Cubs continued their winning ways Thursday evening as they blanked the Espanola Paper Kings 4-0 in a Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League affair at Gerry McCrory Countryside Sports Complex.
Needing just 47 seconds to strike first, the NOJHL-leading Cubs took an early lead.
On the tally, Mason Walker stripped the puck off a Paper Kings’ player in the neutral zone, then sent a head-man pass up to Lucas Signoretti, who darted in alone and snapped a shot through the legs of Espanola starter Jack Helkie, to notch his league-best 15th tally of the season.
Greater Sudbury continued to press the pace, holding a significant edge in shots on goal, but Helkie did his part to keep it 1-0 after one period of play.
The home side continued to push in the middle stanza and eventually added to their lead late into it during a man advantage opportunity.
On the power play tally, Cubs’ captain Mason Chitaroni moved in the back door from the point and pumped in a one-timer off a crisp Signoretti cross-ice feed at 18:49.
In the third, Jacob Lamoureux stuffed in a rebound off a Signoretti attempt with under six minutes to go.
Securing the victory, Ben Harris jammed in a close-range effort while on a power play, with help from Noah Kohan, who collected his third assist of the evening.
Cubs’ netminder Noah Beaulne was there when called upon to register his second shutout of the season, which tops all NOJHL goalkeepers.
In continuing their winning streak, Greater Sudbury raised their record to 14-1-1-1, while in defeat, Espanola fell to 7-8-1-0.
