Story by Brock Ormond
Photo: OJHL Images/Wellington Dukes
The Wellington Dukes pulled off another clutch victory in their quest to stay in second place in the OJHL’s East Conference on Monday night.
The Dukes downed the Cobourg Cougars 4-1 to clinch their 30th victory of their major retooling season
Both goaltenders, Jack Lisson and Ryan Piros shut their respective doors in the first period on 20 total combined shots
Wellington’s offence came alive in the second frame when Dimitri Tzaferis roped a long-range shot through Piros at 3:53 from Caleb MacDonald and Zander Latreille for the opening goal.
Connor Hunt took advantage of a Cobourg penalty by getting a piece of a Pana Efraimidis shot to extend the Wellington lead to 2-0 at 7:46.
The Dukes powerplay continued to hum in the third, with Logan Sitlani adding some insurance on a point shot that floated through Piros again nine seconds into a Cobourg infraction.
Kaiden Harmon spoiled Lisson’s shutout bid at the 12:42 mark of the final frame with help from Belleville native Trevor Hoskin and Andy Reist, but that was all Cobourg was able to muster.
Cory Jewitt dumped a long empty-netter into the vacated Cobourg cage from his own zone while shorthanded for his 25th of the season to round out the scoring.
Josh Rumolo picked up his first point as a Duke with the lone assist.
Things got testy and scrappy near the end, but Wellington’s cooler heads prevailed.
Lisson turned away 28 of 29 shots to earn his 14th personal win of the year and improve Wellington’s record to 30-16-0-2 on the season with 62 points, three up on Markham for second spot.
The Dukes will try one last time to steal a win from the arch-rival Trenton Golden Hawks at Lehigh Arena at 7:30 p.m. Friday.
