Photo Credit: Freeze Frame Photos
The Greater Sudbury Cubs continued their strong start in the Copeland McNamara Cup Championship Series, defeating the Timmins Rock 4–3 in Game 2 at the Countryside Sports Complex. With the victory, Sudbury now holds a 2–0 lead in the best-of-seven series.
Coming off a dominant 9–3 win in game one, the Cubs were tested much more closely in the second matchup, as both teams traded momentum throughout the contest.
Timmins opened the scoring midway through the first period while shorthanded. At 9:09, Ryan Armitage notched his fifth goal of the postseason unassisted, giving the Rock an early 1–0 advantage. However, the Cubs responded quickly. Just over a minute later at 10:11, Briir Long tied the game with his ninth of the playoffs, assisted by Mason Walker and Spencer Horgan.
Sudbury grabbed the lead before the end of the period. At 17:12, Mason Walker scored his ninth of the postseason, finishing a play set up by Briir Long and Jacob Signoretti to make it 2–1 heading into the intermission.
The second period saw more back-and-forth action. Timmins evened the score at 13:33 on the power play, as Ian Lachance recorded his second of the playoffs with assists from Maxx Hamelin and Evan Katic.
The Cubs answered once again, regaining the lead at 16:41. Kaedyn Long buried his fourth of the postseason off a setup from Spencer Horgan and Noah Aboflan. Sudbury then extended their lead on the power play at 18:30, when Daks Klinkhammer scored his ninth of the playoffs, with assists credited to Noah Aboflan and Tyson Rismond, giving the Cubs a 4–2 edge after two periods.
Timmins pushed back in the third period, cutting the deficit to one at 15:06. Ashton Beriana scored his second of the postseason, assisted by Maxfeld Shin and Matteo Paradiso, but the Rock were unable to find the equalizer late.
In goal, Frédéric Cousineau made 19 saves on 23 shots for Timmins in the loss, while Iain Wintle turned aside 23 of 26 shots to secure the win for Sudbury.
With the series shifting north, the teams will now head to Timmins for games three and four. Game three is scheduled for Tuesday, April 21 at the McIntyre Arena, with puck drop set for 7:05 p.m., as the Cubs look to build on their 2–0 series lead.
