The Greater Sudbury Cubs let a lead getaway late before rebounding in overtime to hold off the Powassan Voodoos 4-3 Wednesday in the finale of Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League Showcase at Gerry McCrory Countryside Sports Complex.
It was the first time the NOJHL finalists from last spring have met in the 2024-25 season and it was a fast-paced affair.
Notching the night’s initial tally, Greater Sudbury’s Ryan Rubic spun out from the side boards and fired an attempt that Powassan netminder Austin Seibel could not locate before the puck pinballed off a couple of bodies and found its way in, halfway through the first period.
Heading to the second stanza, a solid forecheck helped the Voodoos tie it as Justin Rousseau worked a pass over to Cayden Kowal who wired in the equalizer past Cubs’ goalkeeper Matthew Vahramian at 2:48.
Retaking the lead a few shifts later, Greater Sudbury’s Ben Harris slid a backhand to an open Lucas Signoretti in front that he quickly roofed over a downed Seibel.
Tacking on another, this time via the power play, Eidan Macartney fired a cross-ice pass over to Samuel Assinewai, who powered through the right circle ripped one upstairs, short side, at 8:53.
A fast-paced third period saw Powassan inch closer with just over three and a half minutes to play as they countered in transition in the neutral zone where Kowal worked a play ahead that allowed Nathan Pelletier to go in and snap a shot through the legs of Vahramian.
Buoyed by that they got the equalizer at 17:52, off the stick of Caden Dubreuil, as he snagged the rebound off a Mason Rontondo attempt between the circles and buried it to send it to extra time.
On a man advantage in OT, Signoretti provided his NOJHL-leading fourth game-winning goal by taking a Mason Chitaroni feed, then calmly waiting for an opening before neatly picking the bottom left-hand corner to end it.
With the result, the Cubs improved to 7-1-1-1 overall, while in the narrow setback, the Voodoos picked up a well-earned point as their record went to 2-4-0-1 on the campaign.
