Wanting More

Despite inconsistency, Wellington moves up Eastern Conference ladder

On the whole, Wellington Dukes Head Coach and General Manager Jacob Panetta was satisfied with his team’s result this past weekend. The Dukes (6-2-2) took three of a possible four points, shading the visiting St. Mike’s Buzzers Friday night in a shootout before earning a point in a regulation tie Sunday against the host Markham Royals.

Not a bad bit of work considering the Buzzers are neck-and-neck with Wellington in the Ontario Junior Hockey League’s Eastern Conference standings while the Royals are trying to run away and hide with the regular season title. Through 14 games, the Royals have yet to taste defeat in 2026-27. Both Wellington and Cobourg have come closest to toppling the Royals, both earning points in overtime losses.

So, all things considered, a solid weekend for Wellington overall as they head into the 2026 OJHL Governors’ Showcase this week. They are second in the East with 14 points through 10 games. A very promising start through just less than a quarter of the OJHL’s regular season.

But that didn’t stop the Wellington bench boss from being critical with his team’s performance in Friday’s win while praising the club’s effort in Sunday’s loss. So much for not critiquing wins.

“Overall I thought our play was pretty sloppy Friday night and there wasn’t much urgency against a team we are battling against for points,” Panetta told the Times. “We brought the players in on Saturday, went over some video and broke some things down with each player.”

On Sunday, a refreshed Dukes squad and new puck stopper took the ice at the Honey and Barry Memorial Arena and nearly engineered an upset of the host Royals.

“Our compete level was so much better on Sunday. The players really responded to the coaching staff’s challenge and I thought we played a pretty complete game overall,” he added.

DETERMINED EFFORT
Wellington broke the draw late in the first when Austin Ottenhof fed Kasen Beitz for the Chesley, ON native’s third of the campaign. For Ottenhof, it was the rookie’s second assist in as many games as the Odessa, ON native made his season debut this weekend after a lengthy stint in the IR.

But just 61 seconds after Wellington opened the scoring, Markham’s Hughston Hurt hurt the Dukes with his second of the season with just 1:54 left in the opening stanza.

Markham had the only tally in the second as Athan Miwa connected for a power play tally.

With his tenth goal in as many games, Landon Marleau squared the affair at 2:10 into the third thanks to a heads-up feed from Zach Mascard. Jayden Levesque, making his first appearance in the Wellington lineup since Oct. 18 also picked up a point on the scoring play.

The real story of this game was the Wellington debut of Mason Raycroft. The offspring of former Duke and longtime NHLer Andrew Raycroft was finally able to join Wellington’s ranks after a lengthy paper chase involving USA Hockey, Hockey Canada and other intermediaries.

“Mason was outstanding in the third, especially when Markham was pushing to go ahead with less than ten minutes left. He came across the crease a couple of times and pulled some pucks out of the air,” Panetta said. “It’s been a long road to get him in the lineup but it was well worth the wait.”

Raycroft made 30 stops in his OJHL debut. Miwa set up Yehor Staiko for the game winner at 2:17 of overtime.

TOO CLOSE FOR COMFORT

On Friday, Wellington and St. Mikes played stride-forstride for 65 minutes-although there were times when the Dukes were skating full bore without knowing which direction they should be heading. It was a Ted Knight special at the Dukedome as Wellington barely managed to wrestle victory from the hungry jaws of defeat.

After St. Mikes drew first blood. Levesque found Marleau halfway through the first to leave the teams even at 1-1.

The Dukes forged ahead early in the second when Ottenhof and Levesque teamed up to feed Beitz for the period’s only tally.

The Buzzers bounced back late in the third with an equalizer on the power play.

With nothing decided in overtime, the game devolved into a shootout where Marleau led off with a goal and Dryden Riley stopped all three St. Mikes shooters to pad the extra point.

The Dukes drew a pair of toughies in Niagara Falls this week, playing the Leamington Flyers and the Western Conference leading Collingwood Blues. There’s only three regulation losses over 21 games between the two outfits. Wellington is at home on Friday against Pickering and then make their first stop in Aurora to battle the Tigers on Saturday.

HEADS UP AT HEIDELBERG
While the international news was positive for Raycroft, Jacob Vellucci’s paperwork was denied by Hockey Canada and the 17-year-old forward is headed back stateside to figure out his next hockey port of call.

Speaking of dual citizens, former Duke Declan Carlile picked up his first NHL goal on the weekend against Montreal. The rearguard from Flint, MI spent the 2017- 18 season in Wellington and was a critical piece to the local’s run to the RBC Cup Final…Another Dukes alum, lefty goalie Jack Lisson, picked up a shutout in his first NCAA start for Canisius College over the weekend…Jordy Mayo was expected to be back in Wellington’s lineup last night as was newcomer Marco Wolf, a point-producing pivot out of Pinckney, MI.