Greater Sudbury Cubs become back-to-back NOJHL champions
Daks Klinkhammer was a bulldozer as he powered his way toward the goal on Wednesday night, shrugging off a defender and pushing the puck into the empty net.
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Players on the Greater Sudbury Cubs bench and fans in the stands at Gerry McCrory Countryside Sports Complex erupted in celebration as the home side took a 6-4 lead, while at the other end of the ice, goaltender Karsen Chartier motioned for his teammates to stay calm. He knew the Hearst Lumberjacks were very much still in the fight, as they had been for all seven games of a gruelling NOJHL final.
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Thirty-seven more hard-fought seconds later, the horn finally sounded and the Cubs could finally celebrate winning back-to-back championships.
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'All glory to God — it was a tough series, a good playoff run and a great group, really resilient,' said Klinkhammer, his smile as bright as the championship medal around his neck. 'I'm just super happy to get the job done, especially at home, in front of such an amazing group of fans.'
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Klinkhammer scored twice and Noah Kohan, Cameron Shanks, Spencer Horgan and Alex Valade once each, while Chartier made 32 saves to help the Cubs shake off a determined Hearst crew, backed by its own sizeable cheering section, that had battled back from a three-game deficit in the series.
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'I can't even explain it right now,' said 19-year-old forward Nolan Newton, who recorded three assists, including one on Valade's eventual game-winner. 'All the boys came to play today. We played our system, everyone worked hard — it was just great.
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'I can't even speak right now.'
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Having dispatched their first two playoff opponents in short, if not easy series, the top-seeded Cubs were tested like never before by the Lumberjacks, who trailed 5-2 on Wednesday before battling back with goals in the late second and early third frames and perhaps evoking memories of their wild comeback win in Game 5.
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This time, however, Greater Sudbury held up Hearst's relentless pressure, even with veteran defenders such as captain Mason Chitaroni and William Haley injured, and Chartier made some of his better stops as time ticked away.
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'You look in that room and we have had our ups and downs, whether on ice or off ice,' said Cubs head coach Darryl Moxam, the reigning NOJHL Coach of the Year, who rated the series as the most difficult and certainly most nerve-wracking of his career. 'We just found a way to come back and stay the course.
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