With the offense delivering as expected and veteran goaltender Noah Metivier looking in mid-season form, the Greater Sudbury Cubs blitzed through a pair of tough season-opening home games this week.
The line of Marshall McCharles (1G - 2A), Hudson Chitaroni (1G - 2A) and Cameron Walker (2G) were flying from start to finish on Thursday as the Cubs kicked off the 2023-2024 campaign with a 7-4 win over the Hearst Lumberjacks.
Samuel Assinewai added a pair of tallies for the winners with Ben Lacroix capping things off. While Tyler Patterson (2), Owen Hey and Maddoc Newton all managed to solve Metivier, two of those goals came in the final five minutes of play when Sudbury were definitely not at their best, defensively-speaking.
Earlier in the game, the Sault Ste Marie native had come through with a number of key stops as part of a 36 save performance, outdueling his counterpart at the opposite end of the rink (Tristan Boileau - Hearst) who turned aside exactly the same number of pucks as the Cubs outshot the Lumberjacks 43-40.
Cue a whole different set of offensive front-runners the next night for coach Darryl Moxam and company as Nolan Newton (2G-3A) and Oliver Smith (1G-3A) teamed up to lead Sudbury to a 5-2 win over the defending league champion Timmins Rock.
Sudbury Wolves' draft pick Hudson Martin picked up his first NOJHL goal while Cameron Walker bumped his season total up to three as the Cubs built up a 3-0 lead, watched Timmins cut the margin to within one but rode a key strike from captain Smith in the final minute of period two to victory.
Metivier added another 33 saves as the Cubs were nothing if not opportunistic, with the visitors directing more pucks on net than did the homeside (SOG - Timmins 35; Sudbury 27).
Reacquired earlier in the day from the Collingwood Blues, Newton was making his season debut on Friday after the Barrie Colts' prospect racked up 40 points in 58 games last year with the Cubs.
While the lineup, at this point, is filled with slightly more than half in the way of returning players, several newcomers have showed well in the first two outings, especially along the blue line.
Sturgeon Falls native and Owen Sound Attack prospect Zachary Major missed the entire 2022-2023 season following a nasty ATV accident last summer.
Still, Sudbury GM Dave Clancy noted that a very solid showing at the Owen Sound camp roughly a week ago helped solidify the team's intention to bring him to the nickel city - a move that they have certainly not regretted early on.
A 6'2" defenceman who played his AAA hockey with the North Bay Trappers, Major has displayed both above-average skating skills, especially for his size, as well as a strong hockey IQ in terms of his decisions with the puck.
This despite having participated in just two practices before his first game.
"I really just have to go with my gut and what the coaches have told me since I got here," noted the 17 year-old high-school senior who is attending E.S.C. Champlain. "I haven't been here for long but the coaches are pretty clear about what they want from their "D's" (defencemen)."
"It wasn't that hard to adapt to their systems."
As for dealing with a year away from the game that he loves, Major managed to find a silver lining.
"There are a lot of negatives from missing a (full) year - but even though I couldn't skate, I was able to do a lot of weightlifting," he said. "It made me a bigger guy and it really helps out there."
"I'm still not 100%," Major added. "I'm coming back to my game. My skating will come back during the season."
The Cubs will look to build on their early success with a pair of games this week, hosting the Soo Eagles on Thursday at 7:00 p.m. and playing their first road of the season two nights later, facing off against the Powassan Voodoos.
