The Wellington Dukes dug deep for a gutsy 3-2 win over the Newmarket Hurricanes to close out the home portion of their schedule.
Wellington was outshot 47-32, but Colby Booth-Housego stood taller than his 5-9, 160 lbs frame with 45 stops in the club’s fourth straight victory.
The 19-year-old from Kitchener, Ont. paved the way in the early goings, denying some dangerous looks from the ‘Canes and setting the table for a last minute goal from Sacha Trudel.
The powerplay marker on a rebound off a failed shot by Kyle Grasby was the Dukes captain’s 11th of the season and was also assisted by Zach Mascard.
The two scores in the second period came within 13 seconds of each other, with Simon Wang beating Booth-Housego under the glove on a crisp cross-ice feed from Nathan Phillips, before Zack Carrier hit back with a high shot over Hayden Duncan for his team-leading 19th of the season.
Trudel and Will Mitchell drew assists for forcing the turnover in the Newmarket zone.
The third period had a mix of everything, including a couple of goal reviews and both team’s top point-getters, Phillips and Carrier getting ejected on five-minute major penalties.
After having a goal wiped off the board moments before, Kristian Lamanna buried a one on a man advantage less than two minutes into the frame before Phillips hit Grasby up high to trigger the major penalty.
Cole Ellis ripped a laser from the blueline past Duncan on the ensuing powerplay for his fifth of the year and the eventual game-winner from Carrier and Mascard.
Newmarket came up with a flood of chances on its long powerplay as part of a 23-shot period, but Booth-Housego didn’t budge and the Dukes defence proved stout in preserving the victory.
The Dukes improve to 16-11-2-4 on the season and close the gap to two points between them and the Hurricanes with the win.
Wellington will wrap up 2025 with a 12:30 road game in Cobourg on Sunday.
