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2025 centennial cup nojhl sudbury

Road to the 2025 Centennial Cup: Greater Sudbury Cubs

Led by an experienced core, the NOJHL champions are set for a return engagement at the National Junior A Championship

Jason LaRose
|
May 4, 2025
|

The Greater Sudbury Cubs are back.

For the second year in a row, the Cubs claimed the Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League (NOJHL) championship and, with it, a place at the 2025 Centennial Cup, presented by Tim Hortons.

The lineup that will step onto the ice in Calgary includes 13 players who made the trip south to Oakville a year ago, finishing 1-3 in the preliminary round and missing out on the quarterfinals.

The baker’s dozen includes No. 2 scorer Samuel Assinewai, who finished the season on a 24-game point streak and ranked third in NOJHL scoring (34-38—72), and goaltender Noah Beaulne, who had a 2.44 goals-against average and a league-leading six shutouts in the regular season.

Greater Sudbury was rarely challenged atop the NOJHL during the regular season, going 44-6-2 with a +138 goal differential that ranked fourth in the entire Canadian Junior Hockey League (CJHL).

They took charge early, running off a 20-game win streak from early November through late January, and finished 10 points clear of the second-place Hearst Lumberjacks.

Sweeps of Iroquois Falls and the Soo Thunderbirds returned the Cubs to the league final, where the Lumberjacks provided the opposition in what turned out to be a thriller of a series.

After Hearst drew first blood, Greater Sudbury bounced back with three-straight wins to put it on the verge of another NOJHL title. But the Lumberjacks mounted an epic comeback with a six-goal third period in Game 5 and took Game 6 at home to force a decider.

A three-goal Cubs lead shrunk to one in the final minute of Game 7, but Greater Sudbury saw out a 6-4 victory to once again hoist the Copeland Cup.

NOJHL teams have not found much success at the national level; just twice have teams from the league reached at least the semifinals – the Rayside Balfour Sabrecats, who got to the final in 2000, and the Thunderbirds, who were semifinalists in 2012.

HOW THEY GOT TO CALGARY

Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League
Quarterfinal: defeated Iroquois Falls Storm 4-0 (7-1, 6-5, 4-3 OT, 2-0)
Semifinal: defeated Soo Thunderbirds 4-0 (7-4, 4-2, 6-3, 5-0)
Final: defeated Hearst Lumberjacks 4-3 (2-6, 5-4 OT, 6-1, 5-1, 6-10, 4-5, 6-4)

REGULAR SEASON

Record (W-L-OTL): 44-6-2 (1st in NOJHL)
Goals for: 252 (2nd in NOJHL)
Goals against: 114 (1st in NOJHL)
Power play: 72 for 232 (31.0% – 1st in NOJHL)
Penalty killing: 215 of 243 (88.5% – 1st in NOJHL)
Longest winning streak: 20 (Nov. 8-Jan. 23)

Top 3 scorers:
• Lucas Signoretti – 46G 55A 101P (1st in NOJHL)
• Samuel Assinewai – 34G 38A 72P (3rd in NOJHL)
• Nolan Newton – 24G 29A 53P (16th in NOJHL)

PLAYOFFS

Record: 12-3
Goals for: 75
Goals against: 49
Power play: 25 for 66 (37.9%)
Penalty killing: 54 of 65 (83.1%)

Top 3 scorers:
• Lucas Signoretti – 17G 19A 36P
• Spencer Horgan – 5G 20A 25P
• Daks Klinkhammer – 10G 14A 24P

NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP HISTORY

2024 – Greater Sudbury Cubs | 8th place | 1-3 | 11GF 18GA

COLLEGE & UNIVERSITY COMMITMENTS

None

CJHL TOP 20 RANKINGS

Sept. 30 – 19th
Oct. 7 – 13th
Oct. 14 – 7th
Oct. 21 – 7th
Oct. 28 – 6th
Nov. 4 – 5th
Nov. 11 – 5th
Nov. 18 – 6th
Nov. 25 – 6th
Dec. 2 – 5th
Dec. 9 – 4th
Dec. 16 – 2nd
Dec. 23 – 1st
Jan. 6 – 1st
Jan. 13 – 1st
Jan. 20 – 1st
Jan. 27 – 2nd
Feb. 3 – 2nd
Feb. 10 – 2nd
Feb. 17 – 3rd
Feb. 24 – 4th
March 3 – 7th
March 10 – 7th

For more information:

Esther Madziya
Manager, Communications
Hockey Canada

(403) 284-6484 

emadziya@hockeycanada.ca 

Spencer Sharkey
Manager, Communications
Hockey Canada

(403) 777-4567

ssharkey@hockeycanada.ca

Jeremy Knight
Manager, Corporate Communications
Hockey Canada

(647) 251-9738

jknight@hockeycanada.ca

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