Back to action

Wellington Duke Erick Delaurentis suited up for the OJHL East team during the Central Canada Cup All Star Challenge this past week.

Dukes begin final stretch on the road

The Wellington Dukes get back to action this weekend with a pair of games on the road.

With just 16 games to go in the regular season and the Dukes clinging to the seventh of eight playoff spots in the North East conference, the team will need a strong finish. That will require a healthy line up.

The Dukes suffered a December swoon after Captain Kaminsky was slowed by a nagging foot injury and the team’s leading scorer, Craig Campbell, was knocked out of the lineup due to an upper body injury.

Both are hoping to be ready for Friday—both will be needed. Cobourg Cougars will be chasing the Dukes until the finish. The Cougars have righted their ship after a bad start to the season— three of their players, forwards Justin Danforth and Connor Armour along with goaltender Nathan Perry demonstrated they are among the best players in the league in the Canada Cup Challenge last week. The Cougars were winners of four of their last five games before the Christmas break, including a 3-0 win over the Dukes.

Lindsay and Stouffville are in much the same boat as the Dukes—each team with a record hovering around .500.

The Dukes travel to both centres this weekend.

The Lindsay Muskies will be a confident squad on Friday as they prepare to welcome the Dukes. In the Dukes two previous matches against Lindsay the Dukes have come out on the short side, losing 6-1 and 3-0.

But the rest should help the Dukes. So too will the Canada Cup Challenge experience of players Mike Soucier, Kyle Paat, Erick Delaurentis and Parker Wood as well as Abbott Girduckis and Brody Morris.

The Dukes will have the added motivation of knowing the road to the playoffs starts in Lindsay on Friday night.

On Sunday the Dukes visit Stouffville. The Spirit signaled in mid-December it was looking past this season as it traded three of its best players, netminder Knick Dawe and forwards Alex Botten and Jacob Bauchmann to the Georgetown Raiders.

On Saturday Stouffville succumbed to the Newmarket Hurricanes, blown over by a 12-0 score.

How the Dukes perform this weekend should provide an indication of how the remainder of the season plays out for the hometown team in 2013.