Not having lost a match in four games, the powerhouse Greater Sudbury Cubs welcomed the French River Rapids to Gerry McCrory Countryside Sports Complex on Jan. 15.
French River might wish the game never happened, because the Cubs started scoring early and didn’t stop all game, while almost entirely shutting down the French River offence.
Led by Nolan Newton’s hat trick and Iain Wintle’s shutout, the Cubs had skated to a 11-0 win.
“Scoring on their initial push into the French River zone, Greater Sudbury’s Caden Dubreuil darted down the right side and fired a shot that was stopped by netminder Ethan Madden, but the rebound bounced out and hit the skate of Mason Walker then slid in, just over a minute into the match-up,” the team said in a release.
Greater Sudbury made it 2-0 at 2:55 of the first thanks to Owen King’s 10th goal in four games.
“Adding another later in the session, Alex Valade put a play to the target from the point through traffic that clipped off Newton and went into the net.”
Moving into the second period, the Cubs made it 4-0 after Daks Klinkhammer potted his 17th of the season, snagging a loose puck in the neutral zone and sliding into French River territory where he wired a wrister over the shoulder of Madden.
“A seven-goal outburst blew it open in the third as Newton, with a pair; Lucas Antonioni; Spener Horgan; Eidan Macartney; King and Klinkhammer completed the blowout.
The win improves the Cubs’ record to 26-6-1-2, solidifying their lead over the Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League. The Rapids are sitting in last place.