Right track

Brody Morris’s shot from the point found its way through a maze of bodies into the Milton net on Friday. The Dukes won the game 2-1.

A pair of wins put Dukes back in the playoff picture

The Wellington Dukes began the second half of the season with a convincing 7-2 win over the Burlington Cougars on Sunday. It was the team’s second win three days, after they edged past the Milton Icehawks 2-1 in a game that was closer than it should have been.

With these two wins, the Dukes moved past Newmarket in the North division, as measured by winning percentage. They must remain ahead of Newmarket and surpass Stoufville if they hope to join the playoff race next February.

The good news is the Dukes are healthy (mostly, as Brandon Kosik is expected to rejoin the Dukes’ lineup soon), are on a twogame winning streak, and will play in front of a hometown crowd for both games this weekend against Whitby and Oakville.

The better news is that the Dukes are beginning to see offensive production from beyond its top line. Ben Sokay scored twice on Sunday. So did Marco Azzano. In fact, Azzano, on the wing with Luc Brown, has racked up six points in his last five games. Brown has five points in his last five games. Griffin Mc- Carty has four points in his last four.

It is a start. Others need to step up. But the Dukes are at last spreading the offensive threat across several lines. They are up against a tough Whitby team on Friday night—they will need every bit of depth they can muster.

DUKES 2 – MILTON 1
It looked like another treacherous night at the Essroc Centre. The Milton IceHawks are a mediocre team in weak division. But one thing the IceHawks have is a good—and very big—netminder in Scott Smith. Smith is a rangy Peterborough Petes prospect who had been up with the OHL team for five games before being returned to Burlington late in November.

More worrying for Dukes fans was the fact that Milton was doing a good job of keeping Wellington, and the puck, to the outside. The Dukes managed just nine shots in a scoreless first period.

In the second period, Brody Morris scored on slapshot from the point while on the power play—it was Milton’s third infraction of the period. Yet the IceHawks continued their procession to the penalty box. Worryingly, the Dukes couldn’t make Milton pay for their sins.

Then, with a young Dukes defender in the box, Milton tied the score. Nervous tension seeped steadily into the Essoc Centre. But midway through the third, Azzano found a seam and split the defence before making a slick deke and sliding the puck in the net.

Marco Azzano has been named the Dukes player of the month for November. In 11 games Azzano had 14 points including nine goals

That was the game. But the officiating in the game requires a brief word. The IceHawks became ever more agressive as the game progressed. Despite handing Milton six minor penalties, the hacking and slashing only intensified. At one point late the third, a Milton forward skated across the ice, leapt forward and propelled himself like a cannonball toward the head of the Dukes defenceman. He did this as the official stood just feet away—his view unobstructed. No penalty.

Hockey is a physical game. But young men need to understand, need to be trained, that the goal of the game isn’t to injure or maim a fellow teenager. The on-ice official had a duty to underline this message. He failed.

DUKES 7 – BURLINGTON 2
The Burlington Cougars’ game plan, it seems, was to intimidate the Dukes in their own rink. The intent appeared to be to grind the Dukes top line—Joe McKeown, Abbott Girduckis and Will Cook—into the boards, ice or net. Suddenly McKeown was smacked hard to the ice. Another player might have skated to the bench and regrouped. Not the Dukes’ captain. McKeown grew more determined. He brushed off the snow, scooped up the loose puck and headed up ice. The puck moved easily to Girduckis. To Cook. Back to McKeown. Goal.

Before the period was over, Jacob Panetta had extended the Dukes lead to two goals on the powerplay. Azzano added another power play goal in the third. Killing a penalty—something the Dukes managed with efficiency on Sunday—McCarty hit McKeown with a break-out pass. McKeown deftly slid the puck between the Cougar netminder’s pads. A short-handed goal. It seemed the rout was on.

But a minute later, the Cougars caught the Dukes flatfooted and beat Taylor Welsh for the first time in the game. However, shortly after that, Sokay flashed some of that razzle-dazzle he’s shown from time to time, popping the puck top corner.

Sokay and Azzano scored one more each before the game was done.

Unlike the Maple Leafs, the Dukes never fail to salute their fans after a win.

UP NEXT: WHITBY AND OAKVILLE
The Dukes need a win against an East division rival. Friday may give them their best opportunity, as Wellington welcomes Whitby. Whitby has beaten the Dukes in two previous meetings this season, but the Fury are currently riding a three-game losing skid.

The Oakville Blades will remember the Dukes’ late charge when they visit the Essroc Arena on Sunday night. When Wellington was in Oakville in mid-November, the Dukes found themselves down 4-1 midway through the second period. But the Dukes became re-energized after Nick Devito scored later in that period. Wellington went on to dominate the third. Azzano scored late in the frame to draw close—but too late.

Dukes fans will be looking for that intensity from the opening whistle on Sunday.