Additions

Dukes welcome new and old teammates. Respond with three wins—two shutouts

Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue. It was a week when the state of the Wellington Dukes shifted profoundly.

Something old: Ryan Smith returned to the Dukes lineup last week. Smith scored nine points in eight games to start the season, but was sidelined in early October. Smith rejoined his team and scored on Sunday, picking up where he left off last month.

Something new: Matheson Mason joined the Dukes from the Aurora Tigers in a trade for Alex Case and Erik McNeil. Mason had 14 points in 17 games with Aurora. Mason made an immediate impact with his new team setting up Corbin Roach’s goal and capping a 3-0 shutout against the Toronto Patriots on Sunday.

Something borrowed: Barret Joynt returned from the Salmon Arm Silverbacks last week. Joynt spent three seasons with the Dukes before heading out to BC in the off-season. He had 41 points, including 22 goals in 54 games last season. On Friday night—back in the Dukes’ jersey—Joynt scored shorthanded in what turned out to be the game-winning goal against the Muskies.

Something blue: Opposing goal scorers. Back-to-back shutouts on Sunday and Monday revealed an overlooked strength of this Dukes team—the goaltending tandem of Jacob Osborne and Ethan Morrow. It also signalled a more defensively responsible team effort.

Taken together, the moves make a good Wellington Dukes team better. Yet there are good teams ahead in the SouthEast Conference. This next run to the Christmas break will be a barometer of the shifting winds.

WELLINGTON 3 – TORONTO PATRIOTS 0
The Dukes—and netminder Jacob Osborne— erected a wall the Patriots could not surmount on Sunday. After being mauled by the Dukes earlier in October, Toronto was a more defensive-focused squad. Wellington responded in kind. Each team managed just 12 shots on net. But it was the Dukes who made their shots count. Julian Jacob scored on the power play in the first period. Ryan Smith tallied on the power play in the second. An even-strength goal in the third.

That was it. A neat and tidy victory. On the road.

WELLINGTON 3 – COUGARS 0
Using the blueprint from Sunday’s game, the Dukes stifled all attempts by Cobourg to gain the Dukes’ zone at speed—allowing just 21 shots on Ethan Morrow. When given the man-advantage, Wellington capitalized. David Campbell scored a pair of power play goals in the first period. The Dukes have the third best power play (26.6 per cent) in the league.

Barrett Joynt scored his second goal in two games back in Wellington. The Cougars had nothing left, while the Dukes squelched any Cougar ambitions. Two impressive shutout wins for the Dukes.

WELLINGTON 7 – LINDSAY
It was a defensive struggle in Lindsay for the first half of the game on Friday—each team trading a goal (Will Mitchell notching his third of the season.) But as the second period was grinding on, Barrett Joynt buried his shorthanded attempt, giving the Dukes the lead. That goal changed the game dynamic. Before the period was finished, David Campbell had tallied a power play goal.

In the third, the Dukes came out on fire, scoring three goals in a minute—chasing Lindsay netminder Noah Metivier in favour of backup Phillipe de Champlain. Dukes’ goal scorers in that span were Jacob Vreugdenhil, Connor Hunt and Connor Paranuzzi—the sixteen-year-old’s first OJHL goal.

The Muskies steadied the ship and even added a goal after the goalie change. But Dukes Captain Jacob Vreugdenhil scored a power play goal shortly afterward. That was all the Muskies had. The Dukes skated to a convincing 7-2 win.

UP NEXT: NORTH YORK AND MISSISSAUGA
The Dukes face a pair of lower-ranked SouthEast teams this week in Wellington.

On Friday, North York is in the village, having lost three of their past five games. The Rangers are, however, a team that plays better on the road than in their thinly attended games at Herbert Carnegie rink at Finch and Bathurst. North York will feed off the Wellington crowd.

The Mississauga Chargers are in Wellington on Sunday. The Chargers have won just three games this season. But the Dukes needed a second overtime-period goal to squeak by Mississauga last month.

Both GTA teams should provide a test of the newlook Dukes.