ESPANOLA, Ont. – The Espanola Paper Kings got two tallies apiece from Blake Peters-Davey; Owen Fergusson and Lucas Signoretti then eventually held off the Greater Sudbury Cubs 7-6 in a high-scoring Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League contest Sunday afternoon at the Regional Recreation Complex.
A physical start to the affair saw three goals scored within the five minutes and also saw each side connect once via the man advantage.
A Peters-Davey even strength marker got Espanola going 1:39 into the game as he finished off a Kyle den Ouden feed.
Hudson Chitaroni drew Greater Sudbury level with a power play effort a couple of shifts later as he picked off a clearing attempt in the neutral zone before moving in a firing a shot past Paper Kings netminder Jake Marois from the left circle.
Up a skater themselves, Spencer Horgan put the hosts on top just over a minute later by whipping one in from between the hash marks in beating a downed Noah Metivier in the Cubs’ crease.
Special teams saw Espanola add another midway through the first period when Fergusson was gifted a giveaway and went in alone on a shorthanded breakaway before cutting to his right as depositing his 35th tally of the campaign.
The home side then tacked on a fourth in the session after forcing a turnover, which allowed an open Fergusson to notch his second of the day.
Pulling back to within one in the waning moments of a power play, Greater Sudbury’s Marshall McCharles slammed one in from the top of the crease at 3:15.
Espanola countered that a couple of shifts later when den Ouden sent Signoretti in on Metivier and saw him lift a glove-side attempt into the net for his NOJHL-leading 45th goal of the season.
The Cubs Nolan Newton then made it 5-3 with half a game remaining as he knocked in a rebound off a Chitaroni attempt, who had gone hard to the net to join the rush.
Back and forth they went with Signoretti striking once more as he took a back pass from Braydon Bruce and ripped it upstairs for his 46th.
Continuing to collect tallies, the visitors banged in two more moments apart to make it a one-goal affair.
Noah Kohan got the guests’ fourth as he cruised in from up top and chipped a chance over Marois at 14:26.
They then banged in another right after that with Newton guiding in a close-range backhand.
Peters-Davey continued the offensive barrage late in the second as he went in and tucked in his club’s seventh of the afternoon.
In the third, Greater Sudbury made it 7-6 via the power play at 7:30 as Josh Kavanagh stuffed one in on a wrap around.
The Cubs pressed to tie it and force overtime, but Paper Kings held on for the home ice triumph.
With the outcome, Espanola moves to 33-20-1-0 on the year while with the loss, Greater Sudbury falls to 39-12-1-2.
The same two teams will meet again Thursday in a 7:05 p.m. start at Gerry McCrory Countryside Sports Complex and on FLOHockey.tv.
