For a junior hockey team in contention, gaining three of a possible four points over a two game set against upper echelon competition is nothing to sneeze at.

But this corner is willing to bet five litres of Fosterholm Farms maple syrup there will be utterances of four letter words and sad sack sighs when the topic of Trenton and their Dec. 6 comeback on host Wellington is broached around the Dukes dressing room.

With under two minutes to play and up a pair of goals on the top Jr. A team in the country (according to some contrived Canadian Junior Hockey League formula), the Dukes managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory and fell 6-5 in double overtime to their arch rivals. Instead of skating off into the night with a full complement of points against the Conference leaders, Wellington gave Trenton one point due to a regulation tie and then a critical second on the overtime winner.

Two days later, the locals were able to stave off the Haliburton Huskies 2-1 and maintain second place in the Ontario Junior Hockey League’s Eastern Conference. A must-have win in early December if there ever was one.

But if Wellington (22-10-1, 45 points) had designs on somehow vaulting past Trenton over the balance of the 2024-25 regular season, they probably left with the celebrating Golden Hawks and their cackling fan base who exited Lehigh Arena into a frigid Friday night with wide smiles and knowing grins.

Saving Grace

On Sunday, the Wellington storyline involved efficient and opportunistic scoring by the Dukes and solid play by netminder Jacob Brown.

Haliburton outshot the Dukes 31-15 in the contest but it was Mr. Brown saving Wellington’s bacon time and again over the 60 minute span of play.

The contest was barely five minutes old when Wellington cracked the score sheet. Ryan Castle found Cory Jewitt who popped his 15^th of the year at 5:23 of the opening period.

Mr. Brown had plenty to work with in between Mr. Jewitt’s ice breaker and the final ten seconds of the second where Sacha Trudel beat the buzzer, redirecting a Kyle Kavc pass at 19:57.

In the third, Wellington matched their shooting output of the previous period with four as the Dukes could barely break past the Huskies defence.

Nathan Poole finally solved Mr. Brown with under three minutes to play but Wellington were able to steer the good ship Dukes into safe harbour and escape with a 2-1 win.

#@$%!

On Friday, everything seemed to be going Wellington’s way in the third period. Until it wasn’t.

The Dukes bounced back in the final stanza after a phantom penalty and a washed out goal by Ryan Schaap that should have counted but didn’t conspired to put Wellington down 3-2 going into the third period.

But in the final frame, Wellington took the game to Trenton, outshooting the Golden Hawks 10-5 over the final 20 minutes.

With help from Mr. Jewitt, Mr. Kavc blasted a puck past Trenton’s Brady Spry at 5:59 of the third off a set offensive zone faceoff play to tie the game at 3-3.

Wellington didn’t wait long to jump ahead of the Golden Hawks and just 16 seconds later, rookie Ethan Murray’s seeing eye volley slipped between the legs of Mr. Spry to give the hosts their first lead since the late stages of the first.

Wellington’s Jared McNeil looked to have slated the game away inside five minutes left in the third with his 14^th goal of the season that made it 5-3.

A few Trenton fans headed to the exit to warm up their conveyances for the long trip back to Quinte West but the Golden Hawks became the David Fournier show in the closing minutes of the contest.

One of the scant Trenton skaters without a Wellington Dukes pedigree couldn’t be contained by the hosts as Mr. Spry headed to the bench for an extra skater.

Mr. Fournier would feed former Duke Cooper Matthews at 18:17 to get the visitors to within a goal.

Just 41 seconds later, it was one-time Wellington skater Corbin Roach setting up Mr. Fournier of an equalizer as Golden Hawks fans that were circling the arena parking lot came flooding back into the building, suddenly exuberant for their chances in overtime.

After a scoreless four-on-four session, Mr. Fournier had the dagger 1:54 into the second overtime, going forehand-backhand on Wellington goaltender Dario Cantini for the game winner. A shocked Wellington faithful shuffled out of the arena trying to dissect which sequence was the Genesis moment of their favourite team’s downfall. Which former Duke they once cheered for was now the most reviled of the bunch.

Wellington hosts Cobourg Friday and then travels to Milton Sunday.