Story by Brock Ormond
Photo: OJHL Images/Wellington Dukes
The lead atop the East Conference widens for the Trenton Golden Hawks after they secured a 4-1 win in Round 3 of the Battle of Quinte on Friday night.
On a night where they honoured retiring former director of hockey operations John McDonald with a pre-game ceremony, his long-time team jumped out to a hot start against the arch-rival Wellington Dukes and never looked back.
Ex-Duke Corbin Roach converted on a turnover behind the net just 48 seconds in and then Adam O’Marra deked out Shane Shelest to give Trenton a 2-0 lead less than 4 minutes into the contest.
Wellington offered a good response, but Trenton continued to ward off the visitors and struck again for two more quick tallies in less than a minute from Taeo Artichuk (as part of a two point night), who was left alone to bury a centering pass from behind the night and David Fournier, who whipped a clean shot over Shelest’s glove off the left wing.
Ryan Schaap lasered a high shot off the crossbar and in on Brady Spry to get one back for Wellington, but the Belleville native was unbothered the rest of the night.
Zander Latreille and Nick DiPaolo earned assists on Schaap’s 21st of the year.
Shelest rebounded to make 30 saves on 34 total shots, while Spry stopped 26 of 27 to earn one of the three star honours.
Wellington falls to 27-16-0-2 on the season and stays in second place with 56 points ahead of a Sunday matinee tilt at 2:30 p.m. at Lehigh Arena.
