Story by Brock Ormond
Photo: Wellington Dukes
Another game, another tie for the Wellington Dukes.
Two days after a 4-4 stalemate with the division rival Haliburton County Huskies, the Dukes deadlocked with the St. Michael’s Buzzers 3-3 on Sunday afternoon at Lehigh Arena.
After falling behind 1-0 on a goal by Brandon Cohen, Dukes rookie Zander Latreille’s speed and shiftiness drew a penalty shot opportunity.
The Windsor native made no mistake on a deke for his first OJHL goal at 11:46 of the first.
Lucas Lapalm converted on a David Campbell centering pass to give the Dukes a powerplay marker and the lead at 15:37.
Jacob Vreugdenhil added the second assist on Lapalm’s seventh of the year.
St. Mike’s strung together back-to-back powerplay goals of their early in the second period courtesy of defencemen Aiden Shepard and Matt Milic to give the Buzzers the lead back again.
Wellington enhanced its forecheck in an attempt to tie the score and it paid off when Jaxen Boyer forced the Buzzers to turn it over and gave Will Mitchell a break.
The 17-year-old from Kingston made good use of the opportunity, acing a shot through the five-hole of St. Mike’s goalie Jacob Gorinsky at 16:33.
That was the catalyst to help the Dukes earn another single point, along with two massive saves on separate Buzzers breakaways by Ethan Morrow.
Each team misfired on a double overtime man advantage and the Dukes finished with one point once again.
Morrow made 22 saves in total to backstop the Dukes to the deadlock.
This is believed to be the first time in recent seasons the Dukes have tied two games in a row.
Wellington’s next game is a huge one, with the Trenton Golden Hawks in town at 7:30 p.m. on Friday for Round 1 of the Battle of Quinte.
The game can be seen on Your TV Quinte Channels 4/700.
