Story by Brock Ormond
The Wellington Dukes picked up their first home win of the 2024-25 OJHL season with a convincing 8-1 victory over the Markham Royals on Sunday afternoon at Lehigh Arena.
After not finding the net through the first two periods in their home opener on Friday, the Dukes produced a quick start with a pair of markers from returning players on Sunday.
Colin Smith fired a shot through heavy traffic at the tail end of a powerplay for his first of the season, then Ben Vreugdenhil cut off the left wing and backhanded a high hard shot off the crossbar behind Sebastian Monaco exactly four minutes later.
A lot of commotion and penalties occurred in the second period, with the Dukes making Markham pay for some undisciplined play.
Zander Latrielle deflected a Logan Sitlani shot past Monaco at 9:54, before Julian Mandarino drew the Royals back to two with a rebound goal.
The hosts scored twice after that, with captain Cory Jewitt converting a rebound and Riley Noble one-timing a Sitlani feed top shelf for his first goal as a Duke and first in the OJHL to jump ahead 5-1 going to the break.
A move by the Royals to go to Ryan Harris in net didn’t pay off, as the Dukes cashed in three more times to punctuate the victory.
Jewitt buried a Ryan Schaap feed on a shorthanded rush for his second of the game and third of the season, before Zach Carrier and Sacha Trudel finished the scoring with their third and first of the year, respectively.
In total, 11 Dukes had multiple points on the day, with Jewitt, Carrier and Sitlani all recording three points and Jack Lisson was nearly spotless with a 34-save performance.
Final shots favoured Wellington 44-35, as the club moves to 2-1 on the young season.
The Dukes next action is Friday on the road in Burlington against the Cougars at 7:30 p.m.
