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Best in the OJHL
It’s done. The Wellington Dukes are the best of the Ontario Junior Hockey League. It wasn’t easy. Nothing has come easy for this Dukes team—making victory even sweeter.
Like the game before the Dukes started in a hole. A bounce off a Dukes defender’s skate changed direction the Oakville shot on net slipping past Jordan Ruby in net. The goal gave the visiting Blades a 1-0 lead that endure through the first period. But the capacity crowd at the Essroc Arena in Wellington only grew louder in their encouragement.
Just a minute into the first period Darcy Murphy finished an inspired rush by Joe Zarbo and Sean Rudy—tying the score at one. The crowd roared its approval.
The Blades were taken aback—but didn’t wilt as they had in previous games. The pushed harder than in any other game in this series.
But before the second period was through Joe Zarbo and Sean Rudy combined for a second goal. The Dukes had the lead for the first time in the game.
The Dukes continued to play safe hockey—clogging up the middle, working hard to clear the zone and seizing opportunities only when they presented themselves clearly.
In the third period, a desperate Oakville squad pressed deeper into the Dukes zone. Just as an astonishing rich 50-50 winning ticket was announced. The Blades slipped the puck past Ruby. It seems everyone was looking at their ticket.
Then the pushback.
The Dukes had the superior legs in this series—it was only a matter of how hard they would use them. Just a few minutes passed before the Blades buckled under the pressure as Jan Kaminsky fired what would turn out to be the game and Buckland Cup winner.
This set up a frantic end.
With just three minutes left Joe Zarbo was penalized for hooking. Oakville threw everything they could at the Dukes. At one point it appeared they might have tied the game but Ruby magically kept the puck out of the net.
With a minute left Oakville pulled their netminder looking for the equalizer. Out of the penalty box, Zarbo had two opportunities to salt the game away. The first attempt sailed wide. The second landed dead centre. The game and series were over.
I was asked by a client to purchase tickets for ( what turned out to be the series clinching) game last Tuesday. Imagine, 6 people who had never been to The ESSROC Center or a Dukes game before. This is a ” Hockey Family”. A daughter played NCAA womens hockey on a scholarship a few years back. Two thoughts dominated our conversation as the game went on. First, what a wonderful venue The ESSROC was for an event such as this! They wanted to know, “who designed it”? ” how did all the wonderful features come about in one building “?. It was my pleasure to tell them that Council had the wisdom to appoint a Site and Design Committee that was Chaired by the guy selling 50/50 tickets. Hugh Parliament is his name. He along with a lot of just ordinary citizens, who love hockey, figure skating, and most of all this Community were responsible for the building we were sitting in .Of course I told them Task Force Engineering brought it all together.
The second topic was the play of # 11 Sean Rudy, the Dukes Captain. They couldn’t say enough about how Sean was leading his team, playing his heart out on every shift that night. I have to agree he was a ‘ force’ on Tuesday night. He didn’t take an’ easy shift’ that night, nor did his teammates. Best of Luck to The Wellington Dukes in Huntsville at The Dudley Hewitt Cup next week!