Three periods of regulation and an overtime session were not enough to settle matters as the Aurora Tigers defeated the Wellington Dukes in a shootout 2-1 (2-1 SO).
The two teams needed eight turns to complete the shootout. Wellington’s shootout goal was scored by Erick Delaurentis. Aurora’s other shootout goal was scored by Taylor McCloy.
The Tigers came back from a one-goal deficit to capture the victory. Aurora fell behind 1-0 after a goal by the Dukes’ Luc Brown at 5:43 in the first period. The Tigers knotted things up at 1-1 on a goal by Kory Kennedy at 10:01 in the first period.
Aurora’s Kevin Entmaa was a brick wall in net, as he came up with 39 saves and let only one puck past him. The solid play of Entmaa will be reflected in his goals against average, which pre-game was 2.05.
In addition, Aurora received assists from McCloy, who had one.
Wellington managed to stay out of the box better than usual, tallying one minor for two minutes in penalty time. The Dukes ended up below its season average of 11.0 penalty minutes per game. Wellington could not produce up to it normal offensive output. The Dukes put an average of 3.5 pucks into the net per game. The Tigers were unable to stop Wellington from sending pucks towards the net, and the Dukes eventually piled up 40 shots on goal.
Other players who recorded assists for Wellington were Chad Thibodeau and Griffin McCarty, who each chipped in one.
Aurora incurred four minutes in penalty time with two minors. Tyson Teichmann made 28 saves for Wellington on 29 shots. The Dukes registered zero goals on two power play opportunities.