There wasn't a whole lot of defensive structure to the NOJHL exhibition match-up between the Greater Sudbury Cubs and Blind River Beavers Thursday evening at the Gerry McCrory Sports Complex - not that this would cause Lucas Signoretti to lose much sleep.
Acquired over the summer by the Cubs from the Espanola Paper Kings, the leading scorer in the loop last year looked just fine in his Sudbury debut, scoring three times (twice shorthanded) as the home side down the visiting Beavers 6-4 one week ahead of the start of regular season play.
Tannen Iserhoff, Ryan Rubic and Samuel Assinewai added solo tallies while goaltender Noah Beaulne turned aside 30 of the 34 shots that he faced for the win.
Defenseman Leighton Hurst netted a pair of goals for Blind River, both on the power play, with Dan McLaughlin and Levi Lux rounding things off as the Beavers fell behind 5-1 by the middle of period two before making things interesting.
Starter Wylen Cambensy surrendered five goals on 27 shots while Bronx Bodnar looked strong in relief, recording 17 saves on 18 shots.
The free-flowing fast moving contest featured only three minor penalties - all to the Cubs - and was completed in just a hair of two hours.
"I think it looked great for still being so early," noted veteran defenceman Mason Chitaroni, one of ten returnees in the lineup last night from the team that claimed the NOJHL banner last spring.
"I am confident the pieces will align by the time we reach December and then the playoffs."
Beyond the offensive spark that Signoretti supplied were plenty of solid performances by newcomers, with 17 year-old blueliner Alex Valade looking particularly comfortanle both jumping into the rush and engaging himself physically in the encounter.
"The biggest thing for our young guys right now is just to come out and compete," suggested Chitaroni. "This league has a lot of compete, so it you can come out here and compete more than the next guy, you're going to have a good chance here."
If all of this sounds like the words of a young man who fancies himself something of a role model this winter, that only makes sense.
"I am going to have to step into a leadership kind of a role here this year," said Chitaroni. "That's something I definitely have to work on, just being very supportive and helping out the guys, being a mentor to the younger guys."
"It's an adjustment for me, but one I think I will be able to adapt to pretty well."
And for as much as there are several new faces in the roster, a separate change in the structure of the NOJHL for 2024-2025 should help deal with that period of acclimatization.
"I love one division," said Chitaroni, discussing the move to throw all 12 teams into a singular combined bracket. "It's a little bit of extra travel, but more time to get to know the guys."
"I'm excited about that."
With head coach Darryl Moxam nursing his return from hip surgery and assistant coach/GM Dave Clancy joining him in the crowd, bench duties would fall on Jason Stos, Kerry MacLennan and newcomer Darryl Lafrance.
