November swoon

Dukes hope big win in Vaughan ends slump

Dukes forwards Cam Yuill and Zach Allen both attempt to deflect a point shot past Dixie Beehives goaltender Paul Favaro during play on Friday night at the DukeDome.

Maybe it’s November.

What else can explain the Wellington Dukes’ rocky performances since October 29? That was the night the Dukes lost their first regulation time game of the season. Since then the Dukes have lost two more games and appeared wobbly in    their win against the low-ranking Dixie Beehives. The team needed a big win on the road on Monday night to break the November funk. They got it.

It is all too reminiscent of last season’s November fade.

Last year the Dukes began the month with a wild 10-4 win over the Ajax Attack in an uncharacteristically wide-open game. Then the Dukes travelled to Burlington the next night and had their butts handed to them in a 10-4 shellacking. That game began what turned out to be a five-game skid—something that hadn’t been seen in Wellington in recent memory. That slide came to an end 20 days into the month as the Dukes squeaked by North York in a shootout.

They would emerge from November with a 5-5 record but it was, by a wide margin, the team’s poorest monthly performance last season.

The Dukes appeared to be on a similar slide this month. What is common between the two Novembers? Jordan Ruby for starters. Ruby was in PEI for the first part of November along with Coach Marty Abrams and defenceman David Pratt at the World Junior ‘A’ Challenge. This November Ruby has again been selected to Team Canada East and is currently playing in Penticton.

It is clear that Ryan McDonald isn’t Jordan Ruby, but it would be unfair to lay the team’s poor showing solely at the backup goalie’s feet. As a team the Dukes appear to be gripping their sticks a bit too tightly—unable to make or take passes that, when things are going well, they make with their eyes closed.

Drop passes are made to no one. Stretch passes arrive to the receiving forward at knee level. Clean passes get bobbled and lost in the neutral zone. Breakout passes land on the opponent’s stick as if that were the plan. It has all made for some uncharacteristically sloppy Dukes hockey.

It hasn’t helped that two of the team’s most creative forwards have been watching from the bleachers, as Darcy Greenaway and Zach Blake served one and two game suspensions, respectively.

“I prepare the team for this in the summertime,” said Marty Abrams coach and general manager. “They come in August—it is sunny and bright—there is the hockey school then the trip to Vermont. Everything is new.

“Then we get to November. We hit a roadblock—typically right after Halloween. The days are shorter. They leave the rink and it’s dark. You can almost feel it in the room.”

The glow of a new season has faded and the prospect of a deep playoff run is still months away. Yet these are the games that coaches often look back to when first place (and with it, home ice advantage in the playoffs) slips away, as it did last season. Had the Dukes been better by just one game in November the Dukes would have taken the East Division crown rather than settling for second.

No one is yet ready to panic, however. Even through this skid the Dukes are pounding opposing goalies with shots— averaging 41 shots on goal per game in their last five outings— their opponents managing just 30 shots per game. Yet the Dukes have lost three of their last six games—and looked unconvincing in two of the wins.

The November curse may have been broken in Vaughan, however. Vaughan is likely the best team in the South— though the record doesn’t reflect this as they’ve played as many as six fewer games than other teams in the division.

Dukes forward Simon Bessette.

The Dukes got down a goal early on Monday but marched back with four straight goals—from Sean Rudy, Cam Yuill, Zach Allan and Joe Zarbo. Each of the goal scorers added assists.

“I thought we played well for sixty minutes and finally got some breaks around the net,” said Abrams. “Vaughan have a real chance to contend for the championship in the South—they are skilled and fast. I really like this team.”

WHISTLING DIXIE

When Dixie arrived in Wellington last Friday the Beehives had just a single win in 18 tries. It should have been a huge bounce back for the Dukes. Yet midway through the second period the Dukes found themselves trailing Dixie 3-2.

The Dukes responded with four unanswered goals— one from Steve Evans, two from Brian Bunnett and one from Simon Bessette, his second of the game. Likely the most inspired goal came after the Beehives tied the score at one in the first period.

The Dukes’ Cam Yuill decided this just couldn’t stand. The strong forward pierced the far wing and carved to the net lifting a shot over the Dixie netminder. It was a single- minded effort to regain the lead—a feat he accomplished just 34 seconds after it had been taken away. The Dukes emerged with a 6-4 victory. The celebration, however, was muted.

NO BREAKS

On Sunday the Dukes appeared to have largely penned Trenton in their own zone, yet couldn’t emerge with the win.

Trenton jumped out front with a pair of goals barely a minute apart in the second period, after the Dukes failed to clear the puck from scrambles in Ryan McDonald’s crease.

The Dukes’ Darcy Murphy brought the Dukes back to within a goal of the Golden Hawks on the power play late in the period. But in the third period Trenton’s hulking defenceman Jeremie Gauthier fired two near identical blast that beat McDonald high.

Joe Zarbo scored late in the third, but it was too little, too late. The Dukes lost 4-2.

“I thought we played well in Trenton,” said Abrams, “we just didn’t get any breaks offensively.”

UP NEXT: VILLANOVA AND TRENTON

The Dukes travel to the York University arena in Toronto on Friday to take on the Villanova Knights. Late in September the Dukes defeated Villanova 5-1 when they last met. Villanova has won three of their last five games and sit atop the South Division. The Knights are a much better home team, winning eight of ten games at York compared to a 5-8 record on the road.

On Sunday the Dukes welcome the Trenton Golden Hawks to the DukeDome. The Dukes will be looking to avenge Sunday’s loss in Trenton. The game starts at 6:30.

WORLD JUNIOR ‘A’ CHALLENGE

Jordan Ruby’s Team Canada East lost to the United States on Monday night 6-1.

After a quiet first period the U.S. team erupted with four goals. Ruby went the distance in net for Team Canada East.