The Wellington Dukes rode a strong start to another home victory on Friday night, led by a few new faces.
The Dukes rattled off three first period goals and hung on for a 6-4 win over the Pickering Panthers at the Duke Dome.
The first period barrage was driven by a pair of Marco Wolf tallies, his first two as a Duke.
The Pinckney, Michigan native, who notched 55 points in just 25 games last season with Howell High School, buried his two from close range within a span of almost five minutes.
Landon Marleau then rolled into Panther territory and spiked a shot upstairs on Jacob Gibbons in the Pickering crease to up the lead to 3-0, before Ethan Dean got one back on the powerplay in the waning seconds.
Wellington kept the heat on the ‘Cats in the second, with the young line of affiliated players Isaih More, Cameron Shaw and Oliver Coyle coming through at the 7:13 mark.
Shaw laid on the forechecking pressure which forced a cough-up, leading More to spank a centering pass through Gibbons for his milestone first OJHL goal.
Shaw earned his first OJHL point as well on the marker.
Justin Doak’s seeing eye shot, set up by More and Coyle, found its way through traffic in the final seconds to increase the lead to 5-1.
Jeremiah D’Ornellas scored twice in the third and Emanuel Ganz slapped one through Riley, but the Panthers were done in by a second Marleau goal where he broke through the middle and popped his team and league-leading 12th of the season home.
Wolf finished with an outstanding four-point night and Marleau, Zach Mascard and More all chipped in with multiple points and Riley made 32 saves as the Dukes outshot Pickering 38-36.
The Dukes will now venture out on the road looking to add to their 8-3-1-1 record in Aurora on Saturday at 7 p.m.
