(Jacob Vreugdenhil in action for the Wellington Dukes. Photo by Ed McPherson/OJHL Images)
Story by Jeff Gard/Total Sports Quinte
A hat trick by captain Emmet Pierce paced the Wellington Dukes to a 5-2 victory over the visiting Lindsay Muskies in Ontario Junior Hockey League action Sunday at Lehigh Arena.
Pierce opened the scoring at the 8:17 mark and the Dukes took a 3-1 lead out of the first period on goals by David Campbell at 11:34 and Jacob Vreugdenhil, on a power play, at 19:20.
The Dukes and Muskies traded second-period goals 1:15 apart as Pierce and William Everson both tallied their second markers of the game.
Pierce notched another power-play goal at 7:49 for the Dukes, which were 2-for-5 during man-advantage opportunities. Everson, who scored Lindsay’s first goal midway through the first, struck again at the 9:04 mark of the second.
Wellington maintained the two-goal advantage until late in the third when Pierce completed his hat trick. He scored into an empty net with nine seconds left and Muskies goaltender Ethan Fraser of Belleville on the bench.
Fraser stopped 36 of the 40 shots he faced in a losing cause for Lindsay, which suffered its eighth straight loss while Ethan Morrow, who made 24 saves, backstopped the Dukes to their third straight win.
“It was a good team effort. We had the mentality going into the game to win each shift,” Pierce said. “Everyone battled for a full 60 minutes and that why we came out on top. Now we’re gonna keep rolling.”
The Dukes (11-8-0-2) and Muskies (9-11-0-3) will meet again Friday night in Lindsay at 7:30.
Wellington’s next home game is Sunday afternoon, 2:30 p.m., against the Haliburton County Huskies (12-6-0-1).