Photos: Allyson Demers
KIRKLAND LAKE, Ont. – Ryan Rubic’s first goal of the season, coming eight and a half minutes into the third period, broke a tie game and proved to be the decider as the Greater Sudbury Cubs went on to defeat a battling Kirkland Lake Gold Miners side 4-2 in a Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League contest Sunday afternoon at the Joe Mavrinac Community Complex.
The visiting Cubs opened the scoring five minutes into the match-up when some miscommunication behind the net by the Gold Miners allowed Rubic to dash in and put a pass in front that was finished off by Cameron Walker.
Answering with an equalizer, via the power play, Kirkland Lake drew level at 11:43 as Ryan Greco was credited with his second of the campaign in putting one past Greater Sudbury starter Noah Beaulne.
Retaking the lead in the middle session, the Cubs caught the Gold Miners on an ill-timed change that allowed Beaulne to push the puck up ice to Benjamin Lacroix, who went in on a two-man break and fed it across to Cameron Shanks and saw him fire his chance past goalkeeper Connor Davis.
Tying it up again, Jesse Dupuis collected his team-leading ninth goal, three minutes into the third, after Kirkland Lake forced a turnover and fed him in between the hash marks where he buried a shot on Beaulne.
Regaining the lead after that, Greater Sudbury’s Hudson Chitaroni skated down the slot, then after making a move to his left, sent a smart cross-ice pass over to Rubic, who slammed in the eventual game-winner, into the open side.
Adding some insurance in the latter stages of the contest, Shanks powered his way to the net from the corner and stuffed a backhand under the pad of Davis to round out the scoring.
The win sees the Cubs improve to 12-2-0-0 on the season while the Gold Miners fell to 4-8-1-1 in defeat.
