All cylinders

The Dukes on the verge of completing sweep of quarter-finals

The Cobourg Cougars had tried everything, but nothing worked. Of the 16 shots on net the Cougars mustered in game one, nearly all were fired from the blueline or beyond. Matt Dunsmoor will stop every one from that distance all day long if he can see it. And he did.

So the Cougars shifted tactics on Sunday in game two. They weren’t going to beat the Dukes with speed, skill or hard work. Wellington was better in every department. So Cobourg turned to violence. Not the criminal kind, rather the kind of hockey violence that treads right up to the line.

Lumber on flesh. Fists in the face. Spearing. Yanking of the facemask with a Dukes head still ensconced.

The Dukes’ Ben Woodhouse (left) verifies the puck is behind Cobourg netminder Dershahn Stewart on Friday. Woodhouse, with a pass from behind the net, fed James White streaking through the slot. A backhand shot through Stewart’s pads proved to be the game-winner as the Dukes took game one 3-0.

To be clear, the Dukes aren’t innocents. The game is physical. And Wellington gives as well it gets. But this wasn’t the Duke’s game plan. This one belonged to the Cobourg Cougars.

And the sad fact is that refereeing at this level is simply not strong enough to manage games when the sole aim of one team is to tenderize the other—when the game is no longer hockey, but some low-level backalley mugging.

So the Dukes retaliated. The Cougars’ game plan worked. Not enough to change the outcome—but enough to allow Cobourg to get on the scoreboard and even take the lead for a few moments.

Otherwise, this series isn’t even close.

The Wellington Dukes dominated every aspect of the game of hockey in the first couple of games of the first-round series against the Cobourg Cougars. The Cougars have an incredible netminder in Dershahn Stewart and plenty of desire. After that, the adjectives turn negative.

The Dukes simply overwhelmed Cobourg. Fully 15 Dukes players earned at least a point in the first two games of the series. Wave after wave, the Dukes pushed the Cougars into a defensive crouch. And on the rare opportunities they escaped, the Cougars found the Dukes right on their tail, threatening to take the puck away, forcing the Cougars to dump the puck or shoot the puck on net from the neutral zone. A giveaway there at mid-ice would surely result in their netminder needing to come up with another spectacular save.

And so it was that the Dukes played a patient but persistent attacking game. Moving the puck with ease. The first period ended without a score—but the Dukes vastly outshot and outchanced the visiting Cougars. It wasn’t until well into the second that defenceman Quinn Hanna and forward James White worked to keep the play in the Cobourg zone. A hard-nosed battle at the blueline. White emerged with the puck. Shot to Ben Woodhouse beside the Cobourg goal. Back hand pass to the slot. Onto White’s stick. Shot. It would prove to be the game-winner.

In the third, the Dukes played a more careful game—keeping the play in the Cobourg zone, but also ensuring there weren’t any escape holes. They were content to pick their moments. The Dukes gained the zone. Working the puck back to Breckles on the point. James White creating a screen. Breckles’ wrister found the top corner. Goal. Snipe. White wasn’t credited with an assist, but the 6’-4” forward earned this goal as much as the shooter.

Later in the period, White navigated the neutral zone with the puck, down the wing deep into the Cougar zone. Backpass into the near slot. Jake Gagnon wound up and fired. Point blank. Stewart made yet another astonishing save. But Brodie McDougall was ready for the rebound.

A tap through a sliver of space between the netminder and his post.

Despite gifting the Cougars with four power plays, the Dukes easily fended off the challenge. Indeed some of the best scoring chances in these odd-man advantages came from Wellington shooters.

It was that kind of game.

GAME 2
This match might have played out the same way. And for a while, it seemed it would. No scoring in the first period. Only seven shots on Matt Dunsmoor—all but one from outside the blueline. So with nothing working, the Cougars sought to grind their way to success. Literally, grinding bone with sticks. The Dukes objected. This led to a long procession of penalties—13 in the first period alone.

Early in the second, the Cougars came close to scoring their first goal of the series. The Dukes charged back up the ice. Gained the zone. Back to defenceman Brett Humberstone. He swung to the middle of the ice. Found a lane. Low shot. Buried. The Dukes were in front. A few moments later defenceman Ben Addison put the puck on net. Ryan Smith in tight. Slides the puck to White. Goal.

Then the referees inserted themselves into the game. They had seemingly advised both teams in the first frame that they would have zero-tolerance the remainder of the game. Except the enforcement seemed lopsided. Five successive Dukes penalties spanning the last minute of the second into the first half of the third frame.

Midway through the third the Cougars finally beat Matt Dunsmoor, as James White was forced to defend without a stick—it lay in pieces on the ice, the result of a slash. It would be Cobourg’s only even-strength goal. Moments later, with both Quinn Hanna and Daniel Panetta in the penalty box, Cobourg, five-on-three, scored again. Forty-six seconds later, another Cobourg power play goal. And for the first time, they had the lead.

Whatever point the referees were looking to make, it was lost on the hometown crowd. Of the 28 penalties handed out in the game, none were for instigating.

The Dukes turned up the heat. A Cobourg penalty. The Dukes set up in the Cougar zone. Quinn Hanna mid-slot. Brodie McDougall pass. Shot through some traffic. Goal. The game was tied again.

In overtime, the game was played almost entirely in the Cougars’ zone. Wave after wave the Dukes attacked. Early in the period, Ben Woodhouse split the defence. Alone. Brilliant save by Stewart.

Later, Ryan Smith was sprung loose with a long two-line pass. Another astonishing stop by Stewart. But the Cougars were running out of lives. Quinn Hanna found sniper Jake Gagnon below the face-off dot on his wing. Gagnon was presented with a narrow-angle glimpse. But he threaded the needle. Mercy to the Cobourg Cougars.

GAME 3
The Cougars gave a more spirited showing in front of their hometown fans on Monday—at least in the early going. In fact, Cobourg’s Mac Lowry forced a turnover in the Dukes’ zone just 100 seconds into the game and converted it into a Cougar lead. But Wellington was just warming up. Ben Woodhouse finished a fine passing play to tie the game a few moments later. More penalties. A pair of power play goals—one on each side. Gagnon for the Dukes. A moment later Wellington set up shop in the Cougars’ zone. Dawson Ellis working the blue paint. Woodhouse found him with a pass. A nearvertical shot. Buried. The Dukes finished the first period with a 3-2 lead.

Early in the second Dylan Massie got several whacks at a rebound from Jacob Breckles shot. The third one was the charm. Then the knife. Under two minutes into the third and the Cougars’ season in jeopardy, Daniel Panetta—as he does so well—hounded the Cougar defenceman on the Dukes blueline relentlessly until he coughed up the puck. A lone break. Down the wing. A rifle shot. Goal.

This game—if not the series—was over.

The Cougars scored another later in the period— more an emblem of pride than a serious threat to the outcome of this game.

UP NEXT: GAME 4
The Dukes can wrap up the series in Cobourg on Thursday. Game time is 8 p.m.

In the other East Division series, Trenton leads Whitby two games to none.