The best team won; and make no mistake - the Soo Thunderbirds are a "team", in every sense of the word.

Thursday night at the Gerry McCrory Countryside Sports Complex, the T-Birds received goals from six different players - Daniel Beaupre, Kaden Dundas, Kolby Fellinger, Dharan Cap, Jacob Smith and Wyatt Marlow (the latter would score twice) - as the Soo closed out the NOJHL West Division final in five games with a 7-3 win over the Greater Sudbury Cubs.

In five games, the Thunderbirds offense featured markers from no less than 13 different players on their roster. Game five was played without the services of Jackson Truchan (who sits tied with Dharan Cap as the playoff scoring leaders despite the fact that Truchan missed the last three games of the Sudbury series due to injury) and Sault Ste Marie team captain Brock Santa Maria.

The defending champs know what it takes to get to a league final and they proved it to a Sudbury crew that accomplished a great deal in 2022-2023.

Scoring for the Cubs were Samuel Assinewai, Nolan Newton and Pierson Sobush.

While the turnover in the Sudbury roster this off-season is sure to involve more than just three players as a handful of prospects hope to make a jump up a level of play, the contest on Thursday marked the end of the NOJHL days for the trio of Cole Crowder, Graeme Siren and Nicholas Toffoli.

The Thunderbirds will now take on the Timmins Rock in the NOJHL league final, the latter having swept aside the Powassan Voodoos in four straight games.