Photo: Edward Moskowitz notched a hat trick, including two powerplay goals and a shorthanded marker to put the Dukes in the win column, 7-4 over the Lindsay Muskies on Friday night.
Photo Credit: Wellington Dukes/Facebook
A hugely productive first game from a new player helped the Wellington Dukes win their home and season opener Friday night.
Edward Moskowitz notched a hat trick, including two powerplay goals and a shorthanded marker to put the Dukes in the win column, 7-4 over the Lindsay Muskies.
The Toronto native jumped all over a rebound in front of the Muskies cage for his first tally 4:10 into the game, then went upstairs on a 2-on-1 shorthanded rush to give Wellington a 2-0 in the first period.
Returnee David Campbell one-timed a Julien Jacob pass home on another man advantage at the 16:48 mark, before Taylor Barnett answered at the buzzer for the Muskies on a powerplay of their own.
The game continued to be chippy in the second frame, with both East Division rivals feeling the heat carried over from last season.
Moskowitz finished off a tic-tac-toe play with Campbell and Ryan Smith for his third marker on another powerplay, then Corbin Roach jammed the puck home on a scramble for his first of the year at 10:47 to chase Muskies starter Noah Metivier from the net.
Just eight seconds later, Boyd Stahlbaum got one back for Lindsay, but Smith put away another swift feed from Campbell at 12:54 to restore the four-goal bulge.
The Muskies did their best in the third to claw back into the game with two third period markers from Owen McNamara and Michael Carter, but were, unfortunately, swimming too far upstream.
In his first meaningful game in two years, Connor Hunt finished the scoring by blasting a centering pass from Roach off the crossbar and in behind Phillippe De Champlain for Wellington’s fourth powerplay marker of the night.
In total, the Dukes outshot Lindsay 34-23, and got multi-point efforts from Campbell, Moskowitz, Smith, Roach, Jacob and Jacob Dietz.
Captain Jacob Vreugdenhil, Connor Paronuzzi, Zander Latreille, and Jaxen Boyer all registered single assists and Ethan Morrow was a winner in net with 19 saves.
The Dukes are on the road in Georgetown to face the Raiders in their home opener at 5:30 p.m. Saturday.
