Green mountain getaway

Andrew Coupland made a strong statement on Friday night—blocking shots and leading the rush into Kingston’s end of the ice.

Dukes head to Vermont

The hard decisions have been made. They may be revisited as the season goes along, but, for now, the Wellington Dukes have solidified their lineup—chosen who will stay and who will go.

Unlike most years past, Dukes fans will need their programs close at hand to get to know many of the young men wearing the red and gold this season. Dynamic young players such as Azzano, DeVito, Mascarin, Judson, Sager and Lafreniere. They will skate alongside fan favourites including Delaurentis, McKeown, Brown and Panetta.

With these choices made, the Dukes are hitting the road for the 2014 Woodchuck Classic tournament in Vermont. In four games over the next three days, the Dukes will test their mettle against some of the best teams in New England.

The team arrives in South Burlington later today, just in time to take on the New England Wolves of the Academy East Hockey League. Tomorrow, they face the Northern Maine Cyclones and New Hampshire Monarchs. On Friday, the Dukes tangle with the Junior Bruins Premier team from Boston.

The exercise in Vermont is about testing combinations, forming chemistry and detecting weaknesses. The Woodchuck Tournament is also an important showcase for young talent aspiring for a scholarship with a NCAA hockey program. The stands will be lined with school recruiters and scouts.

The Wellington Dukes also use the weekend as a team-building opportunity. After a couple of weeks of tough internal competition, with each player uncertain of his future, this time away presents a unique opportunity for the newly formed squad to relax together, compete together and begin to gel as a single, cohesive unit.

OPENING DAY
The Dukes open the regular season at home next Friday, September 12 against the Cobourg Cougars. The season is young, but already there is some hard feelings between these teams.

In preseason action last week in Cobourg, Dukes fans in attendance reported that on-ice officials were late in intervening in an exchange of differences between the Dukes’ Josh Supryka and Cobourg’s Rylee McKinnon. With his jersey pulled over his head, Supryka was vulnerable and the altercation should have been stopped—either by the officials, or the Cobourg player. But that didn’t happen. Not until a flurry of punches landed on the blinded forward.

Dukes fans will also remember a vicious head check on Erick Delaurentis by Cobourg’s Mason Marchment in Game 3 of the playoff round against Cobourg last March. The Dukes captain lay on the ice while play went on. No penalty. No suspension.

Both incidents will be fresh in the minds of Dukes’ fans when Cobourg returns to Wellington next Friday night.

PRESEASON CLOSER
The Dukes wrapped up preseason action last week, losing to Kingston in a game that swung wildly from one end of the rink to the other. Kingston opened up a 2-0 lead on sloppy play by Wellington in their own end. But late in the period, on their first power play of the game, the Dukes moved the puck around the Kingston zone like they were dealing blackjack.

Taking the pass deep in the zone, Luc Brown fired a hard wrist shot from a bad angle—finding space between the netminder and his net. But before the period was done, Kingston scored again to restore their two-goal lead.

Nick DeVito dangles around a Kingston defender.

In the second period the Dukes turned the tables, scoring goals from Marco Azzano and Nick DeVito. DeVito’s goal, in particular, was beauty. On the power play, with some room to move, DeVito danced out of the corner with the puck, dangled around two more defenders before depositing the puck behind a netminder who chased the bait the Dukes’ player presented, then took away.

Kingston regained the lead in the third period, but by then most players were distracted with nonhockey activities. Kingston was assessed 80 minutes in penalties, mostly the stupid kind—slashing, roughing after the whistle, abuse of official. The Dukes were penalized for 32 minutes.

Most folks went home looking forward to the regular season—hoping these teams have got the undisciplined proclivities out of their system.

There were a handful of standout performances on Friday night in an otherwise lacklustre defensive game.

Defender Andrew Coupland was all over the ice, blocking shots, protecting the puck in the corner, leading rushes deep into his opponent’s territory and consistently making smart decisions with the puck. Expect Coupland to be the quarterback on the Dukes’ blueline this season.

ABRAMS TO COACH TEAM CANADA EAST
Dukes coach and GM Marty Abrams has been selected as head coach of the Team Canada East in the World Junior A Challenge tournament in December. Canada East will be looking for their first gold medal in eight years of the tournament. The team has competed in the final game four times—but failed bring home gold.

Abrams has made four appearances at the World Junior A challenge in various roles.

He has more than 500 wins as head coach and general manager in Wellington, and led his team to the RBC Cup twice.