Story by Brock Ormond
Photo: OJHL Images/Wellington Dukes
The Wellington Dukes had a positive ending to a tough final month of the regular season, sweeping a home-and-home set against the Aurora Tigers Thursday and Friday.
On Thursday afternoon in Aurora, the Dukes had to get some timely offence in the clutch from Ryan Schaap, who notched two goals, including the game-winner with less than two minutes to go, in a 5-3 win on the road.
Zander Latreille and Ben Vreugdenhil each grabbed a three-point game (goal and two assists), with Cory Jewitt and Jayden Levesque each notching a pair of assists.
Jacob Brown made 21 stops in the victory as Wellington outshot Aurora 49-24.
The back end of the two-game set started a little behind schedule with wicked winter weather slowing the Tigers bus trip down and a overage ceremony on the ice for the Dukes, but the home side showed no signs of rust.
The Dukes jumped ahead 4-1 after 20 minutes on goals from Vreugdenhil, Ethan Murray, Schaap, and Sacha Trudel and never turned back en route to a 7-3 victory at Lehigh Arena.
Latreille notched another goal and a helper, with Vreugdenhil finishing with two more goals and an assist, Schaap registering three points, Jewitt and Levesque adding two more in the assist column along with Jared McNeil, Murray drawing an assist to go with his marker and even goaltender Dario Cantini adding an assist from the crease.
The overage netminder from New Brunswick also made 18 stops for good measure in his final regular season game of his junior hockey career.
The Dukes posted a season-high in shots, 58-21.
Wellington finished the regular season with a 33-19-0-4 record and 70 points and will now wait to see if they get home ice advantage in Round 1 of the Buckland Cup Playoffs, pending a losing result from the Stouffville Spirit versus Milton on Saturday night.
Once the season ends, the Round 1 schedule between the Dukes and Spirit will be released on all Dukes social media channels.
