Junior Tigers earn 7-5 road win over the Wellington Dukes

October 16, 2025 · 0 Comments

The Tigers established a commanding 5-0 lead midway through the second period and hung on for a 7-5 road win over the Wellington Dukes on Sunday afternoon.

Buoyed by their impressive home victory over Leamington on Friday, the Tigers came out firing at Lehigh Arena and reversed five seasons’ worth of frustration versus Wellington. The Aurora Juniors had won only once in their last nine contests versus the Prince Edward County-based Dukes.

Tigers’ leading scorer Cayden Smith and recent acquisition Charlie Hotles paced Aurora’s offense with two goals each.

Gianfranco Rosella, Thomas Leone, and Jonathan Scott scored one goal each. RIT D1 commit Luke Howard earned three assists.

Hotles’s game-winning goal at 2:22 of the third period gave the Tigers a 6-1 lead and Smith provided an insurance marker at 15:48 to stave off a four-goal outburst in the final frame by the Dukes.

Smith and Hotles were selected First and Third Stars of the Game, respectively, by OJHL staff.

By Jim Stewart