A team does not defend their league championship in just two games. Players, coaches and management of the Greater Sudbury Cubs certainly know that.

Yet for as much as there is no reason to panic following a season-opening two game homestand that featured a 4-4 draw with the Soo Thunderbirds followed by a 6-2 loss at the hands of the Hearst Lumberjacks, it is also clear to one and all that there remains a whole lot of work to be done at the Gerry McCrory Countryside Sports Complex if the 2023-2024 NOJHL champs are to make a return visit to the Centennial Cup next spring.

With the shootout now tossed aside in favour of seven minutes of three on three hockey, the Cubs and T-Birds registered the first tie game the league has witnessed in quite some time Thursday in Sudbury.

Spotting the visitors a 2-0 first period lead (goals from Cooper Labelle and Aiden Atkinson of the Soo), the Cubs stormed back to even the contest at 3-3 after two as Noah Kohan, Nate Lazarus and Tannen Iserhoff more than offset a goal by James Elliott.

Nolan Nemecek restored the T-Birds lead just over a minute into the third, converting on the power-play before Iserhoff forced overtime as the rookie who netted 22 goals in 33 games for the Timmins Majors last year drilled home his second of the game in the final minute of play.

Though chances were numerous, neither team could find the back of the net in OT as former goalie partners Noah Metivier (1st star - 33 saves) and the Cubs Noah Beaulne (23 saves) held the fort in extra time.

Iserhoff was right back at it in game two, opening the scoring versus Hearst at 14:43 of the opening frame before Mathieu Comeau pulled the very experienced Lumberjacks side even before the end of the period.

Penalties proved costly to the Cubs in the middle stanza as the visitors went 3/3, with markers from Damien Bourdon-Lemoyne, DonHeaven Veilleux and Bourdon-Lemoyne, a second time, putting Hearst in the driver's seat heading to the third.

Eidan McCartney cut the deficit to two goals just 3:22 in but coach Marc-Alain Begin and company sealed the deal with a pair of late empty-net strikes as both Veilleux and Comeau joined Bourdon-Lemoyne in the two goal club.

The Sudbury side can take comfort in the fact that they outshot Hearst 29-16, though high quality chances were likely much closer given the special teams' numbers.

The Cubs have one more home game remaining, next Thursday opposite the Elliot Lake Vikings before taking to the road to face Hearst next Saturday and the Iroquois Falls Storm the next evening.