Doldrums

Dukes losing games to teams who want to win more than they do

The Wellington Dukes are nearing the midway point in their season with one more loss than wins. That this team is playing at under .500 shouldn’t be that surprising given their age and size relative to other OJHL competitors. Rather it is how they lose that is the most perplexing.

Frank Vitucci jumps into the gritty zone behind the Cougars’ net in Sunday’s loss to Burlington.

The Dukes make poor teams look good. Visitors look more eager to win. More motivated to win the battles for the puck. Better. They aren’t. And the Dukes do show flashes of superiority. But it is unsustained. Uneven. A whisper more than a statement.

This generalization is, of course, unfair to make about an entire team. There are individuals burrowing into every shift, racing up and down the ice, eager to make something happen. But it is uneven, so the effort sputters. Often without a shot fired.

Former Dukes coach Tod Lavender used to lament November. He said team motivation was at its lowest ebb in this grey month. The glow of a new season is a distant memory. The Christmas break still weeks away. The playoff run, while taking shape under our noses, is too abstract in November.

It seems a sense of listless melancholy has gripped this team. Playing at tempo when there is something to prove—but gearing down for the lower-ranked teams. Whatever the reason, the Dukes have lost their last three games. This on the heels of strong road wins in Lindsay and Trenton. Drifting sideways.

LINDSAY 5 – DUKES 4
So it was that the Dukes found themselves in Lindsay on Friday— the third meeting between these teams in as many weeks. It should have been a workman like game: Check in, work hard, take advantage of the opportunities, and take home two points. Except nothing went as scripted.

With the game barely 10 minutes old and the Dukes trailing 3-0, Wellington netminder Dannick Francoeur got the early hook. Olivier Lafreniere came in to stabilize the team. It worked. To a point. Andrew Rinaldi tipped in a rebound from Tim Fallowfield’s point shot in the second. But 32 seconds later Kalvyn Watson carved a path through the Dukes line before beating Lafreniere. Elijah Gonsalves tallied at the end of the second and Tyson Gilmour scored early in the third to bring the Dukes within a goal of tying the game.

But in yet another case of not responding to the ensuing pushback, the Dukes gave up another goal, 32 seconds later. Oomph.

Gilmour, Gonsalves and Rinaldi scored again later in the third. But then they frittered away the remaining minutes of the period with penalties.

Lindsay prevailed 5-4.

BURLINGTON 4 – DUKES 1
Perhaps the most dispiriting thing about the Dukes’ loss against Burlington on Sunday afternoon, came just with just over a minute remaining in the game. The Dukes’ top line of Gilmour, Rinaldi and Gonsalves had been absent most of the game. Chasing the game, losing races and playing like it’s November.

But with the loss well in hand, Gilmour et al. suddenly found the determination, that had been so lacking earlier in this match. Bingo bango, the puck was in the Burlington net.

So, the Dukes top line could beat Burlington’s netminder Matt Dunsmoor. Until then they hadn’t felt the urgency, or particular desire to do so. And they lost 4-1 to another below-.500 team. This time at home.

The puck flies just out of Olivier Lafreniere’s reach. The Dukes netminder was solid, but the Dukes’ guns were silent.

Lafreniere, it must be said, was solid in the Dukes net. Keeping his team in the game even as the shots piled up. Wellington’s rushes seemed to fray on the edges. Without a shot. And in a heartbeat, the puck was soon headed back toward Lafreniere.

Even with three power play opportunities in the second period, the Dukes mustered just five shots on Burlington’s Dunsmoor.

The Dukes had nearly killed a penalty in the first, when Burlington tallied with a low hard shot through traffic. The Cougars scored late in the second period, yet it felt as though the Dukes were still very much in the game. But seconds later, Burlington scored its third unanswered goal. Inexplicable goal.

The Dukes defence after Hanna and Fallowfield and perhaps Addison, are more promise than effective at this point. Uens remains on the sidelines due to injury. As a group they remain prone to confusion, to the desperate exit pass that is easily intercepted. Despite amazing mobility and speed, this corps seems easily exploited at times. They lack the steadying influence of the quiet stay at home defender. But that is thing with promise, perhaps it is here, but not yet apparent.

UP NEXT: TRENTON AND COBOURG
The Dukes’ odd schedule keeps them on the road for the next two weeks. On Friday they return to Trenton to face the Goldenhawks for the third time this season. The Dukes defeated the Goldenhawks in Trenton 5-2 late in October and played to a 3-3 draw in September. Trenton and Wellington have gone in different directions in the last two weeks, with the Goldenhawks winning three of their last four games, tying the fourth.

Cobourg remains atop the East Division, with Whitby close on their heels. The Dukes visit Cobourg on Monday night. Wellington was last there just over a week ago, a perfectly winnable game that simply got away from the Dukes. The key to a Dukes’ victory in Cobourg is starting on time.