Story by Brock Ormond
Photo: Wellington Dukes/OJHL Images
Being down three regular defencemen proved to not be much of an issue for the Cobourg Cougars in a 5-2 victory over the Wellington Dukes on Friday night.
Missing Jonathan Kapageridis, Duncan Schneider and captain Jesse English, the Cougars rode a hot powerplay with three goals and a 24-save performance from goaltender Tommy O’Donnell to their 13th win of the season
The Cougars silenced the Lehigh Arena faithful with two quick goals on the man advantage in the first 7:43 from Owen Cassidy and Beckett Ewart, but Ryan Schaap answered back with a powerplay marker of his own, his 16th of the year out of a goalmouth scramble from Cory Jewitt and Zander Latreille to cut the deficit for Wellington.
The Cougars continued to hold steady against a couple of Wellington pushes in the second and notched their third powerplay marker from Nico Laforge with a little more than a minute to play.
Jewitt buried his 16th of the season to take advantage of a quick start to the third, 37 seconds in, from Schaap and Ryan Castle, but the Dukes couldn’t pull even.
Ewart buried his second of the game on a feed from Carson Durnin at 10:08 for a huge insurance marker.
Cobourg punctuated the game with a Gabe Runco empty-netter in the later minutes to win going away.
The visitors outshot Wellington 32-26, with Dario Cantini making 27 saves as the Dukes six-game point streak came to an end.
The Dukes face the Milton Menace at 6 p.m. on Sunday in their final road game before the holidays.
