Story by Brock Ormond
Photo: Wellington Dukes/OJHL Images
It wasn’t the Wellington Dukes night on Saturday in the ‘Jungle.’
Despite the Dukes outshooting the Aurora Tigers 43-25, the hosts rolled to a 6-3 victory thanks to a fast start and continued to stay upstream against Wellington.
Three early Aurora goals got past the Dukes in about a three-and-a-half minute span from Andreas Mikrogiannakis, Tristen Aben and Simon Howard in the first half of the opening frame.
Wellington found one late courtesy of affiliated player Jordan Charron, a call-up from the Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League’s Ayr Centennials, who swung a bouncing puck over Aurora goalie Matthew Humphries’ right shoulder for his first OJHL marker in his first game.
Cory Jewitt and Ryan Schaap added the helpers.
Aurora continued to stay ahead of the game by getting two more goals in the second from Matthew Johnson and Antonio Cerqua, sandwiching Zach Mascard’s tally from Ronen McFarlane, who returned to the lineup after an injury.
Ethan Murray recorded his fifth of the year a little more than a minute into the third from Schaap to pull the Dukes back within two, but a comeback wasn’t meant to be.
Cerqua iced the Tigers win with an empty-netter.
Noah Davis made 19 stops as Wellington dropped its second game in a row to fall to 9-7 on the season.
The Dukes will return home for a mid-week affair with the Markham Royals on Wednesday, with puck drop slated for 7:30 p.m. at Lehigh Arena.
