FRENCH RIVER – A big night offensively, including notching a hat trick in his return to the Greater Sudbury Cubs line-up, saw Nolan Newton help pace his club to a 9-0 romp over the French River Rapids Saturday in a Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League contest at Noelville Arena.
Collecting his first NOJHL shutout for the Cubs was rookie netminder Matteo Beites.
Greater Sudbury that began the scoring five minutes in when a Daks Klinkhammer attempt from the slot found its way to Newton, making his season debut, on the left side that he quickly pumped past French River starter Matis Bureau-Morel.
More from the crafty Newton late in the period saw him neatly wheel past a pair of Rapids’ defenders before going in a smartly lifting in his second of the period with a highlight reel marker.
On the power play heading into the second stanza, the visitors went up three when Spencer Horgan slid a backhand to the top of the crease that Noah Kohan snapped in.
Going up by four, the Cubs’ struck shorthanded when Newton darted down the right wing on a two-on-one and put a feed across to Eidan Macartney, who had plenty of net to deposit his third of the season.
Newton continued his impressive night at 16:27 as he took a crisp cross-ice feed from Tyson Rismond and sent a sizzler from the right circle past Bureau-Morel to hit his hat trick.
That resulted in back-up Keiran Caughran entering in relief for the home side.
Going ahead six early in the final frame, Kaedyn Long neatly batted one in out of mid-air after a Kohan shot bounced out off the end boards.
Adding to the onslaught, Greater Sudbury’s Jacob Signoretti used a defender as a screen and put one through Bureau-Morel.
Capping off the one-sided result saw the Cubs’ Caden Dubreuil and Ty Dubreuil both convert from in close to finish things off.
