Playoff bound

Olivier Lafrenière has been in top form all season long. The Ottawa 67s’ loss has been an incredible win for the Wellington Dukes.

Dukes headed to the post-season

The Wellington Dukes have played some intense high-speed hockey this season. But not lately. The Dukes have been leaning heavily on their netminder in recent weeks. Whether hobbled with injuries—and they are piling up—or just feeling the strain of a long season—the Dukes have been playing the game at a lower gear than we’ve seen since November— particularly in their own end of the ice.

The good news is that Olivier Lafrenière has been brilliant—bailing out his teammates long enough for them to get their feet moving and take the play to their opponents. The Dukes emerged from the weekend with two important wins—downing both Markham and Aurora, both potential first-round playoff opponents, though Aurora is the more likely contender for that role. But it is their netminder who delivered these points.

Twice in the opening minutes of Sunday’s game against the Tigers, Dukes’ defencemen coughed up the puck in their end. Needlessly. The Dukes might have easily been down a pair of goals before the game was two minutes old. Lafrenière fixed both messes. No damage was done.

It should have been a wake-up call, however. Yet the Dukes left their team shorthanded three times in the first period, penalized for hooking, slashing and interference. The kinds of penalties teams get when their feet aren’t moving.

The playoffs are right around the corner—just three regular season games left. The Dukes will surely regain their intensity and speed. Otherwise, the run will be short. Their netminder can carry them only so far.

With three games left in the season Luc Brown leads the OJHL in goals and overall points. He is just six points shy of Chris Auger’s total—the Dukes’ current all-time record holder with 92 points set in 2005/06.

DUKES 6 – MARKHAM 3
A week earlier, the Dukes had come out on the short side of a woolly game against Markham in which 13 goals had been scored between the two teams. It was a slightly more disciplined Dukes team that welcomed the Royals back to Wellington on Friday night.

The evening before, the Dukes had been edged 3-2 in Kingston.

On Friday night, the Dukes struck on their first and only power play opportunity in the first period— Ben Sokay from Luc Brown and Justin Bean. But early in the second period, former Dukes player Marco Azzano retaliated with a power play goal.

Wellington regained its composure—three unanswered goals from Bean, Nic Mucci and Dylan Mascarin. Early in the third, Markham turned up the intensity and scored twice—drawing within a goal of the Dukes. But when another former Dukes player, Trevor Abbott, was penalized for tripping, Mascarin scored on the ensuing power play. His second goal of the game. Matt Adams added an empty-net goal.

Brown finished the game with four assists. Bean had a goal and a pair of helpers.

DUKES 6 – AURORA 1
This game belonged to Lafrenière, particularly early on. Feeding off the netminder’s efforts, Ben Sokay made a spectacular rush up the right wing—around defenders—winning battles along the wall. Sensing his linemate was going to win the battle, Brown moved to the side of the goal. Sokay’s laserguided pass saucered onto Brown’s stick and into the goal.

Their next shift, Sokay, Brown and Mascarin weaved through the defending Royals like the County Spinners on amphetamines.

Sokay moved to the slot—found a lane and fired past the helpless Royals netminder.

On the Dukes’ second penalty kill, the Royals’ blueline shot pinballed along the ice, changing directions several times before dribbling around Lafrenière. He was stopping all but the impossible shots on Sunday.

Mucci scored on a goal-mouth scramble in the second period.

In the third, the Dukes took control—and the Royals withered.

The Dukes scored three more—from Tyler Burnie from a brilliant cross-ice pass from Mucci, a sweet backhander from Shaw Boomhower and finally Brown, gathering up a rebound and scoring his 39th goal of the season.

Ben Sokay scored once and set up two others on Sunday, including a near-perfect pass to Luc Brown perched at the far corner of Aurora’s net.

CLOSING IN
Brown continues to lead the OJHL in points and goals scored. With 86, he has a shot at the alltime Dukes points lead—a record currently held by Chris Auger with 92 points in the 2005/06 season. Brown has just three more games left to catch Auger—but he has averaged more than two points per game in his last five outings.

LINE UP
Defenceman AJ Klein remains on the sidelines, but is listed as day-to-day. Jake Falcao could be back in the first round after suffering a lower body injury against Markham a week ago. No date has been set for Colin Doyle’s return, though the rugged two-way forward has been skating in recent days after suffering a broken ankle.

UP NEXT: STOUFFVILLE AND TRENTON
Stouffville is fighting for their playoff lives. The Spirit are locked with Cobourg, Newmarket, and Whitby in the hunt for a playoff berth. One of these teams won’t make it. Stouffville is determined to be one of the teams that does.

The Spirit have won their last six games.

Meanwhile, the Dukes have clinched a playoff berth, but could yet finish in the Southeast conference anywhere from third place to last—in these volatile last few games.

Stouffville is not a team to be trifled with on Friday. On Sunday night, the Dukes welcome Trenton to Wellington. The Dukes have won two of three games against the Golden Hawks this season. Trenton will be looking to balance the ledger on Sunday night.