With a dominant 7-2 victory over the Timmins Rock on Thursday night at the Gerry McCrory Countryside Sports Complex, the Greater Sudbury Cubs are now just three points away from locking up the 2025 NOJHL regular season title.
Sudbury wasted no time electrifying the home crowd last night, striking before the two-minute mark with a lethal power-play goal from Noah Kohan. League-leading scorer Lucas Signoretti dished a perfect cross-crease feed to Kohan who hammered it home past Rock netminder Dryden Riley to set the tone early.
Minutes later, the Cubs capitalized on a Timmins turnover, sparking a lightning-fast two-on-one rush. Ryan Rubic setup Cameron Shanks, who fired a rocket over Riley’s glove to make it 2-0. The offensive onslaught continued when Mason Walker blazed down the left wing and rifled a sharp-angle shot into the net for his 11th of the season, giving Greater Sudbury a commanding 3-0 lead after 20 minutes.
Timmins tried to claw back in the second period, cutting the deficit to two goals just 29 seconds in when Reece Liu buried a rebound past Cubs’ goaltender Karsen Chartier. But less than three minutes later, Signoretti grabbed a loose puck, worked a flawless give-and-go with Nolan Newton, and buried his 42nd goal of the season—tying him with Blind River Beavers’ forward Owen King for the league lead in goals scored.
The Cubs kept rolling.
Signoretti delivered a precision stretch pass to Newton, who out-skated the Timmins’ defence and executed a beautiful backhand finish to make it 5-1. Timmins swapped goalies, but it made no difference. Walker netted his second of the night in a net-front scramble, and Newton added another power-play goal, thanks to a fortuitous bounce off a Rock defender.
The lone goal of the third period came on a late Timmins’ power play, but by then, the damage was done.
With the commanding win, the Cubs inch even closer to clinching the NOJHL regular season crown. Now, all they need is a combination of three points earned or dropped by the Hearst Lumberjacks to officially lock it down.
Their next game comes Thursday, February 27th when the Cubs host the French River Rapids.