Story by Brock Ormond
Photo: Wellington Dukes/OJHL Images
Two former Wellington Dukes helped to take down their old team and take Round 1 of the Battle of Quinte at the Governor’s Showcase in Buffalo, N.Y.
Lucas LaPalm scored twice and Corbin Roach chipped in a single to assist the Trenton Golden Hawks in a 6-2 triumph on Wednesday night.
Trenton jumped out in front with a pair of markers in the first, thanks to Owen Ireton and LaPalm following a few close early looks from Wellington.
Ireton and Adam O’Marra forced the Dukes defence into a cough-up and an ensuing goal at 8:47, as the Golden Hawks wrestled away all the momentum.
LaPalm followed that up by doing what he has done best – crashing the crease and sliding in a loose puck under Lane to increase the lead.
Lane made 19 saves on 21 shots, but ended up being removed from the net for the second in favour of Jack Lisson.
The move didn’t help Wellington’s fortunes, as LaPalm knocked in his second of the game on a shorthanded break with Barret Joynt about halfway through the middle stanza, then Corbin Roach and Noah Smith (1st as a Golden Hawk) gave Trenton some more breathing room with two quick markers in 1:10.
Newcomer Kayson Un Yi added the lone assist on Smith’s lamp-lighter for his first point in a Trenton uniform.
Wellington got on the board on a Connor Hunt tip-in at 4:18 of the final frame to break Bonisteel’s shutout bid.
Cory Jewitt set up Logan Goodwin for the point shot that led to Hunt’s deflection marker, his sixth of the year and third of the showcase.
The two teams exchanged markers in the late stages of the third, as Matthew Lee potted the Golden Hawks’ sixth marker for his first a G-Hawk thanks to a tee-up from Quinte Red Devils graduate Thomas Kuipers, and Jewitt screened out Bonisteel and got a piece of Dimitri Tzaferis’s wrister for his sixth of the season.
The secondary helper was achieved by Hunt, giving he and Jewitt both two-point nights in what was ultimately a losing cause.
The Dukes fall to 5-2-0-2 on the season as they return to the road Friday to visit the Markham Royals for a 7:30 p.m. puck drop.
