VIDEO / GALLERY: 1st period surge sees Cubs swarm Express

Game Photos: Sudbury Light Event Photography

SUDBURY, Ont. – The Greater Sudbury Cubs were all business to resume Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League regular season play as they struck for seven first period goals, and held firm from there, as they went on to derail the Espanola Express 7-2 Thursday at the Gerry McCrory Countryside Sports Complex.

With each club seeing their first game action since mid-December, it was Greater Sudbury that set the tone in this one scoring four times before the match-up was nine minutes old.

Josh Boucher got the Cubs going 3:59 in as he forced a turnover off a solid hit, then was set-up to the left of Espanola starter Dylan Kosik, where he snapped one in short-side.

A fortuitous bounce off a dump in helped Greater Sudbury add another moments later as a Seth Coulter attempt took a strange hop and saw the puck slide into the open net after the Express goalkeeper had ventured out to play it.

The early onslaught continued with Mathieu Morin jamming one in off a goal-mouth scramble.

Liam Doyle made it 4-0 before the midway mark of the first as he benefitted from a giveaway and made no mistake from between the hash marks.

Not done there, Pierson Sobush batted one in from mid-air, Cameron Walker clicked on a shorthanded breakaway, and Jaxon Bedard, ripped one in while against five defenders, as the trio connected to complete the offensive outburst prior to the first intermission.

Vaughn LeDrew entered the net for Espanola to begin the second stanza.

Action in the middle frame saw the visitors get on the board as Todd McBain was sent in off a long feed down the right wing where he wired one past Sudbury goalkeeper Joel Rainville at 4:16.

That was it for markers in the second stanza as the clubs hit the break with the home side up by six.

In the third, the Express picked up another just over seven minutes into the session when Garreth Sturgess sent a perfect cross-ice pass over to Landon Sanford, who promptly whipped in his second of the season.

There would be no further scoring on the night as Greater Sudbury improved to 8-1-1-0 in their past 10 contests.

Rainville picked up the win for the Cubs while Kosik suffered the defeat and LeDrew stopped each attempt he faced in 40 minutes of relief.