Stories by Brock Ormond
Photo: Wellington Dukes/OJHL Images
DUKES 6 RANGERS 5 (OT)
The Duke Dome faithful got to experience a lot of offence again on Friday night.
Tristan Williams buried a powerplay goal in the final minute of the first overtime period to lift the Wellington Dukes to their fourth straight victory, 6-5 over the North York Rangers.
North York, last in the East Conference, didn’t look the part, as they got off to a blazing fast start with Kyson Patterson beating Colby Booth-Housego just 10 seconds off the opening faceoff.
Sacha Trudel breached the Rangers for his eighth of the season at 3:11 to tie the game at one and set a milestone in the process, recording his 100th OJHL point.
That score held into the second period, when the game was broken open with six goals combined, including two from Landon Marleau, Trudel’s second of the night and the team-leading 15th of the season from Zack Carrier.
The Rangers countered with two from Brayden Boyle and Rilan Swain to set up a chance for a comeback in the third.
Boyle buried his second of the night with less than eight minutes remaining before John Kenney’s equalizer with 2:20 to go in regulation set the stage for extra hockey.
A tripping minor gave Williams a chance to win it for Wellington and he did not miss, finishing off a setup from Carrier and Will Mitchell for a three-point game.
Carrier ended with four points in the Dukes 11th win of the year.
Colby Booth-Housego made 40 saves as both nets were busy with a 53-45 Wellington shot advantage.
PANTHERS 4 DUKES 1
The Wellington Dukes saw their four-game winning streak halted on Sunday night in a 4-1 loss to the Pickering Panthers.
Pickering took advantage of a Wellington penalty by scoring just over three minutes into the game through Ryder Dagenais to take a 1-0 lead.
The Dukes managed a late surge in the period and thought they had tied the game, but had a goal called back on them, keeping the score 1-0 after 20 minutes.
The Panthers got to Royden Smith again on an early marker from Tyler Bruce, then expanded on their lead some more with a tap-in goal from Sam Ethier.
The Dukes got on the board when Zack Carrier got teed up by Tristan Williams and Sacha Trudel on a powerplay for his team-leading 16th of the year.
Wellington made a valiant push in the third period, but the Panthers did an excellent job of stifling the visitors’ effort to produce a comeback and Quinte Red Devil graduate Ethan Toms buried an empty-netter to seal the victory.
Royden Smith made 38 saves in a solid start for the Dukes.
Pickering outshot Wellington 42-30 in dropping the Dukes to 11-10-2-4 on the season.
The Dukes are now off for a full week before facing the Oakville Blades back at Lehigh Arena at 1:30 p.m. next Sunday.
