The Wellington Dukes will have to continue to battle if they want to repeat as Ontario Junior Hockey League Champions.
After a 6-0 drubbing at the hands of the Oakville Blades on the road in game one, the Dukes put up a tougher fight in game two, but fell 4-3 on a goal in the final 5:00.
Wellington opened the scoring on Jacob Vreugdenhil’s first career OJHL playoff goal, at 14:38 of the first period, as the 16 year-old finished off a pass from Tyson Gilmour to make it 1-0.
But Oakville countered a couple minutes later when Tanner McEachern’s shot bounced off the shoulder of Logan Bateman in the Wellington net and over the goal line.
The Blades would add one more in the final minute of the first, with Kyle Potts pouncing on a rebound during a goalmouth scramble.
It was 2-1 after the first.
Oakville would take a two-goal lead on a Peyton Reeves power play marker at 8:29 of the second, with Andrew Rinaldi answering for Wellington, on a power play tip of his own at 13:57, making it 3-2 after two.
The Dukes drew even with just under 6:00 left in the third following a Zach Uens keep in at the point.
The defender slid the puck down low to Ben Woodhouse, who fired a quick pass to Frankie Vitucci in front and he beat Will Barber high over the shoulder.
But the lead would only last a minute or so, with Wellington taking another penalty and Spencer Kersten burying a wrist shot from above the circles to win the game.
Dukes’ Assistant Coach Derek Smith tells Quinte News he was pleased with how his team responded after the rough outing in Game 1, despite the loss.
He adds that his banged up squad will have to reset itself and rest up, heading into Game 3 in Oakville, on Tuesday.
Game 4 will be back in Wellington on Thursday night at 7:30 p.m.
The winner of the series will punch a ticket to the Dudley Hewitt Cup tournament in Cochrane, Ontario.
You can click here to read the box score from Sunday night.
