Story by Brock Ormond
Photo: Ed McPherson/OJHL Images
The Wellington Dukes are one for one at the OJHL Governor’s Showcase in Buffalo.
Connor Hunt notched a pair of goals and Logan Goodwin bulged the twine for the first time in a Dukes uniform as part of a 5-3 victory over the Toronto Jr. Canadiens on Tuesday night.
The score was even after 20 minutes of play on Hunt’s first and Chris Soares’ tally for Toronto and it stayed that way through much of the middle frame thanks to solid goaltending from Jack Lisson of Wellington and the Jr. Canadiens’ Sergei Litvinov.
Toward the end of the second, Wellington began to break away when Zander Latreille buried his third of the season on a rebound with 1:34 to go, then Hunt outpaced a Jr. Canadiens defenceman for a loose puck and deked out Litvinov for his second tally of the night and fifth of the season with only 11 seconds remaining.
Ethan Quick converted Austin Montgomery-Parsons’ nifty backhand feed through Litvinov’s pads at 7:24 for his first goal in his return to Wellington to up the Dukes lead to 4-1.
Not long after Luc Malkhassian’s tally cut the Dukes lead in half, Goodwin launched a long wrister from the point off a faceoff that fooled a screened Litvinov to restore Wellington’s three goal advantage.
Brenden Anderson notched one late, but Toronto wasn’t able to get any closer.
Montgomery-Parsons (2), Cory Jewitt (2), Matt Whelton, Will Mitchell, Justin Pare, and Colin Smith registered assists and Lisson turned aside 18 Jr. Canadiens volleys in helping Wellington improve to 5-1-0-2 on the season.
Next for the Dukes is a much-anticipated matchup against the arch-rival Trenton Golden Hawks at 7:30 p.m. at the LECOM Harborcenter.
