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Together again, the Dukes aim to start the new year with all guns blazing

The Wellington Dukes get back into action with two games at home this weekend—Trenton on Friday night and Lindsay on Sunday afternoon. With just 17 games left in the regular season, the Dukes have a solid grip on the number one spot in the OJHL’s East Division. But the race will surely become more intense in this final stretch.

They will have had nearly three full weeks since they left a stinking mess in Lindsay. That night the Dukes spotted three goals to the second poorest performing team in the league three before the game was at the halfway mark. Captain Colin Doyle had returned to the lineup after a stint with Team Canada East. Power forward Ben Evans and defenceman Mason Snell were back, too.

Defencemen Jacob Panetta (Colgate University) and Justin Bean (York University) were united again on the Dukes blueline during the Alumni game on December 23.

It was, however, the lowly Muskies that had the lead and the momentum through much of this game. But then Mitch Martan scored. The Dukes were on the board. Suddenly everyone sensed that a two-goal lead would not suffice for the porous Muskies. But Lindsay tallied a few moments later, providing little breathing room. Then the Dukes came back hard. Three straight goals. Doyle. Uba. Graeme McCrory tied the score at four goals apiece midway through the third. Full credit to the Lindsay team. They might have wilted after giving up a three-goal lead—twice. They didn’t. And with less than four minutes left, Lindsay scored, earning the win.

For the Dukes, it was a frustrating way to end 2017. Particularly after the game against Newmarket the following Friday was postponed due to the snow storm.

So, task one in 2018 is to shake off the foul odour they left in Lindsay. They get two opportunities this weekend.

UP NEXT: TRENTON AND LINDSAY
Wellington welcomes the Trenton Golden Hawks on Friday for the third of four matches this season. Marty Abram’s Golden Hawks are a .500 team so far this season, losing as many games as they win. Trenton’s team is older and bigger, but slow. In the first matchup in October, Trenton used this physicality to subdue the Dukes’ superior speed, winning that game 5-3. In November after Trenton took an early one-goal lead, the Dukes swarmed the slow-footed Golden Hawks—scoring four unanswered goals. They went on to win the game 6-3.

But here is the thing about bigger and older. If the Golden Hawks show up to play, if they push themselves a bit harder, for 60 minutes—they pose a formidable opponent. And Dukes fans know that Abrams will be motivated to take a win home from the Wellington rink.

But the Dukes know that speed kills Trenton. The first big test of 2018 arrives Friday night.

Then on Sunday the Dukes must contend, once again, with the pesky Lindsay Muskies. Chuffed with their victory over the Dukes late in December, the Muskies will be keen to topple the East Division leaders again.

Chris Brown’s last game with the Dukes was in March 2009. The Dukes and the Oakville Blades battled fiercely in the Conference playdown that year—back and forth to game seven. The Dukes lost that game, despite a large contingent of Dukes fans packed into the Oakville arena. Tears streamed down the captain’s face as the team’s shook hands. He had taken them so far, so very close.

The Wellington Dukes and their fans will be eager to set the universe right on Sunday afternoon.

WELCOME BACK
Snow covered highways and bouts of freezing rain kept many away from a fun-filled Alumni Weekend just before the Christmas Break. But despite the wintry conditions more than a dozen former Dukes players suited up for the inaugural Alumni game.

They represented a broad span of the Wellington Dukes history, back to the storied 2002/2003 team that went to the RBC championship series in Charlottetown through to the 2011 run to the national championship in Camrose, and including more recent graduates.

The event presented a great opportunity for these much-appreciated players to re-unite with old teammates, billet families and fans. There is such strong and rich tradition of junior hockey achievement and community participation, the Alumni Weekend seems destined to become a welcome holiday cornerstone classic for the Wellington Dukes.