The Greater Sudbury Cubs never trailed in their game seven encounter with the Hearst Lumberjacks on Wednesday night at the Gerry McCrory Countryside Sports Complex.

At various times, they held leads of two and three goals.

Yet head coach Darryl Moxam insisted, post-game, that the 6-4 series deciding victory was as nervous as he had ever been behind the bench in a game.

Given how this series played out, one could hardly blame him.

The Cubs went up three games to one after posting impressive back to back road wins by scores of 6-1 and 5-1 - and led 6-4 after forty minutes of play back at home in game five only to surrender six straight goals to the Lumberjacks in a singular period of hockey.

After outscoring Hearst 11-2 in their first two meetings at the Claude Larose Recreation Centre, Sudbury dug themselves a three goal deficit by the midway point of game six in Hearst and saw starting netminder Karsen Chartier chased before rallying and dropping a close 5-4 affair to knot the series at 3-3.

Given all of the above, coach Moxam was not feeling much at ease despite him team securing a 5-2 second period lead in game seven, an advantage that was trimmed to 5-3 to start the third. He was even less at ease when a strike by DonHeaven Veilleux just 3:25 into the final frame reduced the margin to a single goal.

In fact, it wasn't until Daks Klinkhammer slid his second goal of the game with just 37 seconds remaining that Moxam truly felt confident that he and his team would celebrate a second straight NOJHL title, holding on for a 6-4 win.

Noah Kohan, Cameron Shanks, Spencer Horgan and Alexandre Valade rounded out the scoring for the Cubs, with Mathieu Comeau, Bronson Babyak and Aiden Kalin answering for the Lumberjacks.

Re-inserted for the start between the pipes, Karsen Chartier came through with a 37-save performance that included several point blank key stops at critical moments of the game, registering the win.

Finishing post-season play with ten points more than the next nearest player, Lucas Signoretti (15GP - 17G - 19A = 36 pts) was named as Playoff MVP, duplicating the Most Valuable Player honours he earned from regular season play.

The Cubs will now prepare to represent the NOJHL at the 2025 Centennial Cup taking place from May 8th to the 18th in Calgary.

At the moment, remaining confirmed entries include the: Trenton Golden Hawks (OJHL); Rockland Nationals (CCHL); Edmundston Blizzard (MHL); Melfort Mustangs (SJHL); Calgary Canucks (host + AJHL champions); Kam River Fighting Walleye (SIJHL); Braves de Valleyfield (LHJQ); Grande Prairie Storm (AJHL finalist).

The Dauphin Kings and Northern Manitoba Blizzard are meeting in game seven Thursday night to decide the Manitoba Junior Hockey League title.