A tough result for the Wellington Dukes as they started the final stretch drive toward their 37th Buckland Cup postseason.
The St. Michael’s Buzzers overcame an early goal and rolled to a 4-1 victory on Thursday night, despite Wellington outshooting them 34-22.
Sacha Trudel opened the scoring by cleaning up a saved shot off Zack Carrier’s stick and sliding it around Jonathan Frattaroli for his 16th of the season.
Tristan Williams added the second assist.
The Buzzers slowly pulled momentum back with a late marker.
Tyler Clark shoved home a loose puck in front of Dryden Riley to tie the game at the 16:08 mark of the first.
St Mike’s took hold of the lead halfway through the second on two goals in 53 seconds via Jackson Irvine and Josh Caloiero and never relinquished it.
A timeout burned by the Dukes helped tame the game down, but Wellington couldn’t solve Frattaroli the rest of the night, in spite of 17 shots in the third period alone.
An empty-netter in the final minute from Julian Campoli put the finishing touches on a much-needed win for the Buzzers as they tried to keep their hopes of reaching sixth place in the OJHL’s East Conference alive.
Riley stopped 18 in the defeat, as St. Mike’s moved within five points of Wellington in the standings, with the Dukes still holding a game in hand.
The Dukes will get thrown back through the ringer Friday night with the #1 team in the OJHL, the Toronto Patriots in town for a 7:30 p.m. puck drop.
