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Photos: Northern Lights Photography
HEARST, Ont. – The Greater Sudbury Cubs saw Lucas Signoretti notch what proved to be the game-winning goal, and go on to add two assists, to lead his side to a 6-1 victory over the Hearst Lumberjacks Tuesday in Game 3 of the Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League Final at Claude Larose Recreation Centre.
This sees Greater Sudbury take a 2-1 series lead in the best-of-seven set heading into Game 4 back in Hearst Wednesday at 7 p.m.
It was the Lumberjacks who opened the scoring 5:20 into the proceedings when Mathieu Comeau finished off a feed put in front by Chase Thompson, moments after teammate Tyler Patterson was denied by Cubs goaltender Karsen Chartier off a rush down the left wing.
The assist for Patterson gives him points in all 12 games he’s skated in this postseason.
Coming back to tie it two and a half minutes later, Greater Sudbury’s Noah Kohan pressured a turnover deep in Hearst territory and fired a feed into the slot that Matteo Signoretti collected and whipped past the blocker of netminder Alexandre Boivin for his initial NOJHL playoff tally.
The visitors then took the lead midway through the first period as Lucas Signoretti pumped in a crisp cross-crease pass from Daks Klinkhammer.
That marker sees the league’s leading point-getter etch his name on the game sheet for an 11th straight outing.
Going up by a pair 6:18 into the middle stanza, a Hearst clearing attempt clipped off the end glass and bounced out to the top of the crease where Ben Harris snagged the puck and snapped it high over the glove of Boivin.
Extending their lead to three in the waning moments of the stanza, Lucas Signoretti snapped a shot from the top of the right circle that was tipped in by Kohan parked in close.
Extending their edge in the final frame, Signoretti added another point as he neatly set-up Nolan Newton between the circles that he lifted in at 3:54.
Hearst got their goalkeeper put for an extra attacker with six minutes to go and also had a two-man advantage as they looked to pull closer.
However, Greater Sudbury handled that then finished things off with an empty netter from Matteo Signoretti to round out the scoring.
NOJHL Final
No. 1 Greater Sudbury Cubs vs. No. 2 Heart Lumberjacks
Cubs lead best-of-seven series 2-1
Game 1: Lumberjacks 6 Cubs 2
Game 2: Cubs 5 Lumberjacks 4 (OT)
Game 3: Cubs 6 Lumberjacks 1
Game 4: Wednesday, April 23 @ Hearst 7 p.m. (Claude Larose Recreation Centre)
Game 5: Friday, April 25 @ Sudbury 7:30 p.m. (Gerry McCrory Countryside Sports Complex)
Game 6*: Monday, April 28 @ Hearst 7 p.m. (Claude Larose Recreation Centre)
Game 7*: Wednesday, April 30 @ Sudbury 7 p.m. (Gerry McCrory Countryside Sports Complex)
*-if necessary
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