Winners of four in a row, the Dukes get ready to face two East division rivals

Forward Josh Supryka times his arrival at the North York goalmouth perfectly to tap in a pass from Luc Brown. It would turn out to be the game winner.

Don’t look now, but the Dukes have quietly assembled a tidy four-game winning streak—with decisive wins over North York and Orangeville during the weekend. This week, however, will present an important test of the Dukes’ rediscovered swagger as they face-off against tough divisional rivals Cobourg and Whitby.

The Dukes welcomed Will Cook into the lineup, alongside Joe McKeown and Abbott Girduckis. Cook earned three assists in his first two games as a Wellington Duke.

It was Luc Brown and Olivier Lafrenière, however, who stole the show in Friday night’s win against North York.

Lafrenière, the 16-year-old Ottawa 67s prospect, had just his fourth start on Friday, and his first at home. Lafreniere was rock solid—turning away 21 shots by North York’s snipers in the third period. Winning four of their five previous games, North York appeared surprised to be trailing 3-1 going into the third period.

After a scoreless first period, the Dukes scored early in the second when Marco Azzano found Luc Brown going hard to the net. Brown caught the pass on his back hand, swung 180 degrees to face the helpless netminder and buried the shot. Moments later, Andrew Coupland’s shot rebounded off the North York goalie. Abbott Girduckis picked up the loose puck and snapped it home, giving the Dukes a 2-0 lead.

North York picked up the pace, managing to beat Lafreniere, narrowing the Dukes’ lead to a goal. But before the Rangers could build any more momentum, Brown raced up his wing, on the power play, and found Josh Supryka in the North York goal mouth with a pass.

In the final period, the Rangers rolled its top two lines over and over again, looking to narrow the Dukes’ lead. Lafrenière repeatedly robbed the North York sharpshooters.

Then the Dukes were caught on a raggedy power play—never quite able to mount sustained pressure in the Rangers’ end. North York capitalized, notching a short-handed goal. But the Dukes snuffed out any thoughts of a North York comeback less than a minute later as Brown tapped in a Supryka pass—a mirror of the duo’s second period goal.

The Dukes travelled to Orangeville on Saturday. Like North York, Orangeville had seen their fortunes on the upswing in recent games, with wins against Georgetown and Kingston.

Indeed, the Flyers scored late in the first period to gain the lead. But it was short lived. The Dukes scored three unanswered goals in the span of eight minutes—Girduckis assisted on the first goal, by McKeown, and scored the next two on the power play.

The Dukes widened the lead in the third when Brown teed up a puck for Jacob Panetta on the point. Panetta’s shot sailed through traffic and into the Flyer net. Nick Devito gave the Dukes a 5-1 lead later in the period, converting a pass from Azzano.

Orangeville scored late in the third period and then pulled their netminder, hoping to erase a three-goal deficit. That plan failed. Devito and Azzano connected again—Azzano potting the empty net goal.

Will Cook sounds like a selling feature on an online dating site, but instead he is the Dukes’ latest addition to the team’s front end. Cook earned three points, all assists, in his first two games with the Dukes.

UP NEXT: COBOURG, NEWMARKET AND WHITBY
The next three games could really change the complexion of the Dukes’ season. To move up in the East, the Dukes have to win games against Cobourg and Whitby. So far, the Dukes have lost two against Cobourg and one against Whitby.

But the Dukes are a better team than their record. With Lafrenière’s win on Friday, it is clear that along with Taylor Welsh, Wellington can rely on two solid netminders. The additions of Justin Bean and Brody Morris gives the Dukes’ blueline more experience, skill and depth. In recent weeks, the Dukes offensive guns have been firing consistently—capitalizing on the opportunities their opponents present.

Still, the Cobourg Cougars will be a tough opponent as they visit the Essroc Centre on Friday night. They own the fourth-best winning percentage in the East Division and are ranked 16th overall in the nation.

On Sunday the Dukes welcome the Newmarket Hurricane to Wellington. Newmarket is struggling to break out of the middle of the pack of OJHL teams. Late last week, the Newmarket Hurricane sent their leading scorer, former Duke Nik Coric, to Whitby. Another former Dukes player, Cam Nicoll, currently stands third among Newmarket point-getters.

On Tuesday, the Dukes travel to Whitby to face Coric and the Fury. Whitby sits second in the East Division. The Fury have both depth up front and solid netminding— not to mention 21 points from Jeremy Wu on the blueline.

BY THE NUMBERS

By: David Brown

The Dukes have now completed exactly one-third of their regular season, having played 18 games of their 54-game schedule to date.

A poor start saw them win just one of their first six games. However, they have since gone eight and four to put them right at the .500 mark with a nine and nine record.

Speaking of records, the Dukes are trying to extend a couple:

This is their 26th season since taking over from the Belleville Bobcats in 1989, and they have managed to make the playoffs every single year. They have finished the last 17 seasons with a .500 or better regular season record. In fact, they have only had two sub .500 records in their 25-year history. Their last one was in 1996-97 when they finished at .450. The only other one was in 1991-92 with a .466 record.