One of the newest Trenton Golden Hawks made an impact on the scoresheet in a Battle of Quinte victory on Friday night.
Joshua Penney scored twice in the Hawks 6-4 victory over the Wellington Dukes at the Duncan McDonald Community Gardens.
The sharp hand of Jack Ziliotto got the scoring started for Trenton, as he connected on a Jamie Darlison centering pass on the powerplay for his 25th of the season at 4:13.
The opening period featured a save by Hayden Jeffery on Liam Campbell on a Wellington penalty shot as part of 16 in a busy and productive first for the Trenton goaltender.
Penney, in his first game with Trenton following a trade from the CCHL’s Rockland Nationals, upped his new team’s lead to 2-0 on a powerplay at 3:44 from Candon O’Neill.
The Dukes solved Jeffery at the 5:31 juncture of the period, when Will Mitchell made a slick move to avoid a check, then slipped the puck off to Brad Wilson for a snapshot into the open corner to secure his first OJHL goal.
The affiliated player, who has posted PJHL’s Amherstview Jets also was helped on the marker by Zach Mascard.
The deficit regrew again not much longer after for the Dukes though, thanks to another tally from Penney on a deflection from an O’Neill point shot and a Lucas Digiantommaso deke as the Golden Hawks.
The Dukes got a fortunate break while shorthanded when Jeffery and a defenceman were caught in between and broke down communication lines, leading to a cough-up and a Liam Campbell tap-in tally into a vacant Trenton net to make it 4-2.
That setback didn’t bother the Hawks too much in the third, as Digiantommaso lasered his second of the night and sixth of the OJHL season past Smith’s glove to reinstate the three-goal lead.
The pesky Dukes refused to quit against their local archrivals though and worked the deficit back to two on a powerplay marker from Sacha Trudel.
The Wellington captain’s 12th of the year was assisted by Zack Carrier and newcomer Aiden Lee (first point as a Duke).
Campbell then took a lead feed from Carter Hartwick and outsmarted Jeffery on a partial break before lifted a backhander home to make it 5-4 with about four minutes to go in regulation and give Wellington a flicker of hope.
That light would officially go out with a Joey Brehmer empty-netter from centre ice in the final minute to send the Hawks crowd home happy.
The final shots favoured the Dukes 36-34. Jeffery made 32 saves in the victory while Smith made 28 for the Dukes.
The Hawks improve to 27-7-0-2 with 56 points heading into a 12:30 road start in Cobourg on Sunday.
The Dukes are now 17-13-2-4 with 40 points, sitting in seventh place in the East as they visit the Markham Royals at 1:30 p.m. Sunday.
