Story by Brock Ormond
Photo: OJHL Images/Wellington Dukes
The Trenton Golden Hawks pulled victory out of the jaws of defeat over the Wellington Dukes on Friday night.
David Fournier completed a hat trick by scoring the tying and winning goals to help the G-Hawks overcome a late two-goal deficit and snatch away their 14th straight win, 6-5 at Lehigh Arena.
A high-octane offensive game started fast with each team trading goals twice in the opening frame.
Ben Vreugdenhil got Wellington on the board with his 13th of the year before Jamie Darlison undressed the Wellington defence and beat Dario Cantini top shelf for his first goal in his first game back with Trenton after starting the season in the BCHL.
Riley Noble beat Brady Spry with a powerplay marker at 14:53 from Cory Jewitt and Vreugdenhil to help Wellington regain the lead, but Devin Mauro retied the score with a shot off Cantini’s elbow before the period ended.
Fournier got on the offensive horse with the lone goal of the second on a powerplay, taking a pass in the slot from Devin Mauro and rifling a shot over Cantini at 4:08.
The Dukes thought they had tied the score partway through the stanza on a Ryan Schaap deke, but the goal was waived off after video review due to the Trenton net being off.
Wellington continued to persist and eventually got rewarded with three unanswered markers in the third from Kyle Kavc on a shot off a Jewitt faceoff win, Ethan Murray on a moving deflection off Zack Carrier’s right wing wrister and a strange shot that snuck in from behind the goal line courtesy of Jared McNeil.
Quinte Red Devil graduate Spry buckled down after that goal and the Golden Hawks started to find their momentum with the net empty.
One of several former Dukes, Cooper Matthews, snapped a long-distance shot through traffic to make it 5-4, then Fournier buried the tying goal 41 seconds later on a powerplay.
The first overtime passed without a decision, setting the stage for Trenton’s heroics.
Moments before Fournier’s winner, Spry spread out and made a spectacular save to rob Carrier of the potential winner, the most crucial stop of the game.
That cued up the winning play, when Trenton’s #88 sprung into action off the faceoff and went in on a breakaway, deked out Cantini and lifted a backhand into the cage to send the Golden Hawks soaring to another ‘W.’
The shots favoured Trenton 34-26 and improves their record to 25-3-1-0 and 51 points, jumping eight points ahead of Wellington in first.
Despite the loss, the Dukes added another piece to a point streak, which is now at five straight games. Their record is now 21-10-0-1.
Now in a second place tie with the Toronto Jr. Canadiens, the Dukes will get ready for another big clash against a East Conference rival, the Haliburton County Huskies, at 2:30 p.m. Sunday.
