Final stretch

Dukes face Pickering in a potential preview of the playoffs

After a layoff of 11 days, the Wellington Dukes get back to competition on Friday—the first of five games to be played in just over a week. The final four games will be on the road. It’s one way to finish the regular season. Not the preferred way—but perhaps a few games away from Wellington will do the team good.

The good news is that the Dukes have clinched a playoff spot. The top spot in East Division remains the Dukes’ to lose—the NorthEast Championship, however, once a strong bet, seems to have slipped from Wellington’s grasp.

Captain Colin Doyle (foreground) fires home a one-time shot, beating Pickering netminder Adam Wisco in late October. The Dukes won this game 6-1. But Pickering has greatly improved since then.

Still, the Dukes must win some games next week. If for no other reason than to demonstrate they are that same team the surged to the top of the OJHL last fall.

TEST
The team has a big test on Friday as Wellington hosts the Pickering Panthers. Pickering may well be the Dukes’ first-round opponent when the playoffs begin on February 28.

The Dukes won all three previous matches against the Panthers—but that was early in the season. The last time these teams met was in October. Teddy McGeen scored in overtime to secure the win.

Pickering is a better team than it was in October. The Panthers added some strong pieces to their lineup in November, including Andrew Hughes from Stouffville and Brock Traill from Lindsay. These two forwards have tallied the second and third most amount of points respectively for the Panthers.

Pickering has been on fire since the New Year. In 10 games prior to Friday’s match in Wellington, Pickering won eight, losing one in overtime and the other by a single goal. They have picked the right time to get hot.

Pickering has also been strong defensively— only once in their last 10 games have they allowed opposing teams to score more than two goals. Lately the Panthers have been turning more frequently to their 16-year-old netminder, Ethan Langevin. He has four wins in his last five starts—his only loss, an overtime decision against Cobourg on Monday. The youngster has amassed a 2.53 goals against average and a .914 save percentage in 25 games, ranking him just ahead of the Dukes’ Jonah Capriotti, currently tenth overall, among all OJHL goalies.

Wellington has much to prove on Friday night.

HITTING THE ROAD
Then the Dukes head out of town for their final four games of the season.

On Saturday, the Dukes head to Stouffville. The Spirit won’t make the playoffs and have been circling the bowl for a few weeks now. The team hasn’t won a game in 2018—averaging just a goal a game in this span.

Yet this could be a dangerous game. Teams going nowhere tend not to worry about penalties. Or suspensions. Some players in their final week of junior hockey find redemption in dialing up the big hits or dropping the gloves. A legacy of sorts.

The Dukes are counting on Nelson Powers to use his size and strength at both ends of the ice in March.

The Dukes have had their own issues with discipline lately. Friday’s game will be the first since the third week in January that the Dukes presented a roster without a suspended player. This weekend will provide a test of how effectively the team has addressed the issue.

On Monday the Dukes head to Whitby— another team that won’t see the playoffs this season. The Dukes encountered little resistance the last time they faced the Fury a week ago last Sunday. Daniel Panetta led his team with a pair of goals as the Dukes sailed past Whitby 6- 0 in that game.

Then on Thursday, the Dukes travel to Kingston. A couple of slips on the weekend could make this an acutely important game. The Voyageurs are currently six points back of the Dukes, still solidly in first place in the East. But Kingston has lost just one game in its last seven. They haven’t yet given up hope of pushing past Wellington at the wire.

The Dukes can make this game moot if they win all three between now and then. It is in their power.

Then next Friday, February 23, the Dukes travel to Trenton for the final game of the season. Marty Abrams’ team has struggled this season, but has earned the final playoff spot in the North East division. The Golden Hawks could make a move up the ranks in the final games of the season, but nothing in their recent record points to the consistency such a surge would require.

Trenton’s size and scoring ability, however, makes this team a tough first-round opponent. It is not at all clear Abrams’ team has the team defence to go deep into the playoffs.

So that is it. Dukes fans get their last look at their team at home before the playoffs this Friday night. Regular season games don’t come much bigger.

Game starts at 7:30.