Josh Gervais's feet are always moving when the young forward is on the ice. Here, he battles through a Trenton defender to get a shot on net.

An old face returns to the Dukes

Fifty-nine minutes into the game on Sunday, the Wellington Dukes had never played with the lead—had not tasted it. Playing tough against the leagueleading Trenton Golden Hawks the Dukes either trailed or were tied on the scoresheet— 0-0, 1-1, 2-2.

But never did their confidence flag.

“Even when we fell behind we believed were still in the game,” said Simon Bessette, the Dukes captain, “we kept telling ourselves on the bench ‘we’re just one shot away’. We were confident our ‘A’ game was better than their ‘A’ game—all we had to do was bring it.”

And so it was, with less than a minute left in the game and the score knotted at two, Darcy Murphy scooped up the loose puck around the Trenton net (it matters not where he shoots from, he hits the net) and fired it over the flailing netminder. The Dukes had the lead for the first time in the game—and they weren’t letting go.

Bracing for the extra man onslaught Jerome Dupont would throw at the Dukes in the remaining seconds of the game, Bessette stood tall on the blueline, forcing a turnover in the neutral zone. He fed the puck to Guillaume Naud who carried deep and eventually found Jan Kaminsky at the front of the empty Trenton net. Kaminsky buried the insurance marker and the Dukes celebrated in front of a jubilant hometown crowd.

“That was the kind of game we deserved to win,” said Bessette. “We played hard all 60 minutes. When the bounce came our way in the last minute it was because we competed hard for the previous 59 minutes.”

Tyler Marble has a strong 2.25 goals against average and a .936 save percentage in for games with the Dukes. With the departure of Michael Doan to Huntsville the Dukes will rely heavily on Marble and Charlie Graham.

Tyler Marble went the distance for the Dukes—earning the win. Bessette scored twice in the game—tying the score twice when Trenton had taken the lead.

Elliott Richardson, questioned at times for his defensive commitment, erased any doubts about his commitment, if not his judgement, in the third period. With the Golden Hawks top line buzzing around the net and the Duke defenders running a bit ragged, Trenton’s sniper Josh Ocampo faked short side and then circled the net for a wraparound attempt. Richardson dove facefirst toward the oncoming puck to make the play. The puck missed his face and the play was disrupted. The Dukes managed to get the puck out of their zone and Richardson skated to the bench.

Richardson is currently ranked second in the league for points from a defenceman.

PRATT RETURNS
Richardson and the Dukes were joined on Sunday night by David Pratt who has returned to the team. Pratt spent three years as a Dukes defender before accepting a scholarship at Clarkson University last season.

But a change of coaching staff at Clarkson this season put Pratt’s hockey future in doubt.

“I just didn’t have the confidence level at Clarkson anymore,” said Pratt in an exclusive interview with the Times. “Coach Casey Jones and I both agreed that maybe I should be looking elsewhere. A day later Marty Abrams was calling to say I had a home to play hockey in Wellington.”

Pratt will finish his academic semester at Clarkson playing with the Dukes on weekends until the end of the new year. After that he wants to focus on hockey. “It has been a long time since I played hockey just for the fun of it. I am looking forward to playing the game I love.”

He will continue to take online courses and take some time to consider his next move—which might mean a Canadian university or another U.S. school. He is 20 years old and not in a rush to sort it all out right now.

Despite not playing hockey regularly for several months, Pratt looked good on the Dukes’ defence in the 4-2 win over Trenton. He played a lot of minutes, with some time on the penalty-kill and the power play.

David Pratt was back in a Dukes uniform on Sunday.

“I felt good in the game but afterwards I was pretty tired,” said Pratt.

As he skated to the blueline at the introduction of the game, the crowd roared its welcome to the rugged and highly skilled player.

“It was great to hear that I had the support back in Wellington,” said Pratt, “coming back to the place I love playing. I tried hiding it but I was pretty happy when I made it out to the blueline and hearing the crowd.”

Dukes Captain Simon Bessette was a teammate of Pratt’s when both played for Team Canada East in the 2009 World Junior ‘A’ Challenge in Summerside, PEI.

He is a great ‘D’,” said Bessette. “After just two practices you could tell this guy is going to be a big part of our defensive squad. He will help us a lot both defensively and offensively. He is a veteran and has a lot of high level experience under his belt.”

LINEUP MOVES
Making room for Pratt, gritty defenceman Donavan Gardiner was traded to Hamilton for forward Adam Ritchie. In earlier moves Braden Kavaratzis was traded to Georgetown while defenceman Wil Healey has been assigned to the Picton Pirates.

Netminder Michael Doan has been sent to the Huntsville Otters.

UP NEXT: COBOURG, TORONTO AND WHITBY
After another week’s layoff the Dukes will face three games in three nights. On Friday the Dukes will host the second- place Cobourg team for the first time since the season opener in September. The Dukes have lost both games against this powerful offence.

“It will be tough on Friday,” said Bessette, “but our team is better than it was when Cobourg was last here in September. We will be ready.”

After Friday the Dukes’ next four games are on the road; all but one of these is against divisional rivals.

“It is an important part of the schedule,” said Bessette. “These are points we must win.

“It’s always hard on the road—but we will be ready. They aren’t going to let us win. The fans saw playoff intensity—we will need this for the next few games to move up in the standings.”

Where are they now?

The Wellington Dukes trace their hockey roots to the former Belleville Bobcats franchise, purchased in 1989 by 10-year operators of a successful Wellington Junior ‘C’ representative who moved the acquired squad to the tiny Village. This is the eighth in a series of tracking down former Duke Players.

NAME: TREVOR KELL
The 2012 Dudley Hewitt Cup will be held in Thunder Bay, Ontario and their minor hockey league system has developed a number of future Dukes over the years, with Trevor being another one. He arrived in Wellington in 2002 as a 16-year-old forward and quickly established himself as a supreme penalty killer as well as the ability to pot the odd goal. In fact he scored the winning goal against the Trenton Sting in game six of the East Division Finals, which saw the Dukes win the series in seven games and proceed to knock off the Markham Waxers and the Aurora Tigers for their first Dudley Hewitt appearance in 2003, not far from his hometown, Fort Frances.

Trevor then moved on to the Ontario Hockey League London Knights, where he won a Memorial Cup and was drafted by the NHL Chicago Blackhawks. After spending four years in the OHL he then turned pro and spent the next four seasons in the American Hockey League and East Coast Hockey League.

Trevor turned 25 years old this past summer and signed a contract with Fassa Hockey Club, a team in the Professional Italian Hockey League.

DID YOU KNOW?
One of Trevor’s teammates with his current Italian squad is another former Duke, Matt Piva.