Aftershock

Dukes lay an egg in Stouffville

Call it an untested new chemistry— or a transfusion that produced unexpected dizziness and confusion. Whatever it was, it resulted in the Dukes’ worst loss of the season on Saturday night in Stouffville.

NEW FACES
When the trading deadline buzzer sounded on Friday night the Dukes had traded away a pair of Zachs (Mascard and Carrier). They had acquired the playing rights to defenceman Carson Littlejohn and forwards Jayden Levesque (from Georgetown), Zennon Edwards (from Pickering) and Vince Albanese, who last played in Lindsay last season.

DUKES 0 – STOUFFVILLE 5
Of the newcomers, only Littlejohn and Levesque were dressed for the shellacking in Stouffville on Saturday. The visiting Dukes made a game of it for a period, emerging from the first with a draw—with no goals for either team and a similar number of shots on net. But something happened in the intermission.

The Spirit roared onto the ice in the second period to score four goals—the first two just 11 seconds apart. Then, a procession of Dukes to the penalty box. While Stouffville failed to take advantage— or perhaps more fairly, the Dukes defended the disadvantage well—Wellington struggled to gain any momentum in the period.

Stouffville scored on a power play in the third period to round out the drubbing. The Spirit outshot the Dukes 44-21 in the game. Wellington mustered just 13 shots on net in the final two periods on the road.

Jacob Brown received little help from his teammates in his third loss in 12 games with the Dukes.

UP NEXT: LINDSAY, HALIBURTON, MARKHAM
The good news is that the team has a few days of practice to work out the bugs. On Wednesday (tonight), the Dukes welcome Lindsay to Wellington. It will be the third meeting between the teams, with Wellington taking the two previous matches. On Saturday, the Dukes head up to Minden to take on the Haliburton County Huskies. The Dukes have won two previous games against the Huskies.

Next Tuesday, the Dukes travel to Markham. Wellington has won two of three games against the Royals this season.

For the next couple of weeks, you are in the capable hands of Kevin Scanlon for your Dukes reports. Enjoy.