With just five minutes to play, the Greater Sudbury Cubs appeared poised to add at least one more point to their ledger at the 2025 Centennial Cup in Calgary on Saturday.

Coming off a solid 6-2 win in their opening encounter opposite the Grande Prairie Storm, the Cubs and Northern Manitoba Blizzard (MJHL champs) were knotted at 3-3 with overtime looming in a tournament that has seen a fair share of period four play.

But goals from Alexandre Andre, Tyler Dahms and Jack Linton (empty-net), all in a span of 2:32, derailed the Sudbury attempt to improve to 2-0-0, setting the stage for two critical final games on Monday and Wednesday.

For the second straight game, the Cubs exited the first period holding on to a 1-0 lead, this time courtesy of a power play tally from Lincoln Moore.

Jack Linton would pull the Blizzard even early in period two, with the scoreboard still reading 1-1 as the teams took to the ice for the third.

A Spencer Horgan strike just 19 seconds in effectively set the tone for the frame as Northern Manitoba rallied on the power play (Cheechoo Lathlin - 5:33) and Brett Ward gave his team their first lead, again on the man advantage, at 9:00.

Ben Harris got that one back for Sudbury 31 seconds later but the back to back NOJHL reps at this tournament could not maintain that momentum down the stretch.

The Blizzard outshot the Cubs 35-21 as Karsen Chartier took the loss for Sudbury, with Taye Timmerman picking up the win.

The Cubs will next meet the Trenton Golden Hawks Monday at 4:00 (MT), with the Hawks also sitting with three points after two games thanks to an overtime win and an overtime loss - the same point total as Sudbury which boasts a regulation win (three points) and a regulation loss.

The Cubs then close out round robin play Wednesday morning against the Kam River Fighting Walleye, fifth in Pool A with two points (overtime win + regulation loss).