As expected, the Greater Sudbury Cubs have secured a 2-0 lead in their best of seven NOJHL (Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League) quarter-final series opposite the Iroquois Falls Storm - though the final score of game two likely caught more than a handful of the faithful league followers a little by surprise.

After finishing with almost twice as many regular season points as the Storm (90 vs 48), the Cubs took care of business in the series opener, downing the visitors 7-1 and were well on their way to duplicating that effort the next night in Sudbury, up 6-1 a little over four minutes into the final frame.

Four unanswered goals from the Storm wasn't quite enough to avoid a 6-5 loss, but it may be enough to provide the Iroquois Falls' crew a little boost of momentum as the series heads north for games three and four on Monday and Tuesday evenings (March 24th & 25th).

Or it may simply provide a wake-up call to the Cubs to take nothing for granted. Time will tell.

A penalty filled affair in game one would see the defending champs build up leads of 3-1 and 6-1 after 20 and 40 minutes of play respectively as the big guns for Sudbury were in top form right out of the gate.

Nolan Newton (3G + 1A) and Lucas Signoretti (2G + 3A) were in on five of the seven Cubs' goals, with Spencer Horgan and Samuel Assinewai capping things off and Lucas Willoughby burying the only puck that would elude Sudbury starting netminder Karsen Chartier (26 saves).

Coach Darryl Moxam and company showed no signs of letting up at all in game two, up 4-0 after the opening frame and still comfortably ahead in the third.

But a pair of goals from Alexandre St Pierre with tallies from Jordan Mayo and Ben Sherwin squeezed in between provided for a little drama in the final five minutes of play.

Signoretti increased his point production to seven in just two games with a pair of markers, joined on the scoresheet by Ryan Rubic, Samuel Assinewai, Daks Klinkhammer and Noah Kohan with Jaden Lyons opening the scoring for the Storm with a second period tally.

The contest featured just six minor penalties in all, with four to the Cubs as Karsen Chartier turned aside 23 of the 28 shots that he faced while Maverick Fletcher settled down nicely following a rough opening twelve minutes, registering 38 saves between the pipes for the Storm.

Game five, if necessary, will take place Thursday (March 27th) at the Gerry McCrory Countryside Sports Complex.