Bump in the road

Dukes’ first loss in three weeks doesn’t diminish a strong run

The Wellington Dukes have become a scoring powerhouse in recent weeks. In five games prior to Monday’s loss in Cobourg, the Dukes decimated their opponents by scoring 41 times—an average of eight goals a game— while allowing just six goals over the halfdozen matches. The Dukes’ prolific offence has accumulated the second-most goals in the OJHL, behind only the Burlington Cougars. In doing so, the Dukes have gone from honourable mention in the CJHL weekly national rankings a week ago to the 15th spot this week.

While rivals are making wholesale roster changes to improve their standing, Wellington is getting stronger every week. Players know their roles. They know what is required of them to win. And they put in the work to get it done for 60 minutes in every game.

COBOURG 5 – WELLINGTON 2
The Cobourg Cougars ended the Dukes’ winning streak on Monday. After giving up a power play goal late in the first, Wellington’s David Campbell responded with his own power play goal, tying the game.

A lacklustre second period sunk the Dukes as the Cougars scored twice. Defenceman Jacob Dietz extended his seven-game point streak by scoring early in the third. The Dukes might salvage this game yet.

Cobourg tightened up defensively, protecting their netminder. The Dukes pelted Cobourg’s Ryan Piros with shots. But very late in the game, Cobourg escaped the shelling and beat Jacob Osborne in the Dukes’ net to widen the lead by two goals. Krotiris added an empty-net goal handing the Dukes their first loss since mid-November.

WELLINGTON 4 – STOUFFVILLE 1
After soundly defeating the North York Rangers a second time in a week, the Dukes were home to host the Spirit of Stouffville last Friday night. Stouffville came to play. Fast. Hardworking. And defensively structured.

Yet, the confident Dukes squad controlled the play—territorially and as measured by scoring chances. It was, however, the Spirit who got on the board first. Halfway through the first frame, the Stouffville defender fired the puck from deep in his own end to the Dukes’ end. Icing. Except it wasn’t. In what turned out to be a set play, the Stouffville forward raced for the loose puck—beating the Dukes defender to the face-off dot—and erased the icing infraction.

Stouffville moved the puck around the perimeter of the Dukes’ zone before Odara Ewere stuffed the puck five-hole from close range. Jacob Osborne appeared to have stopped the puck but it dribbled through, giving the Spirit the lead.

And so the game was stuck. The Dukes were getting the better chances, but Stouffville was finding opportunities on the occasional transition. Until midway through the second frame. Jared Langdon combined with Corbin Roach to beat the nimble Spirit netminder. Less than a moment later, Edward Moskowitz scored, giving the Dukes the lead.

The defining moment came a bit later in the period. Killing a penalty, Graeme MacAuley took the puck out of the scrum deep in the Dukes’ zone. Over to Matheson Mason. The winger spotted Jacob Vreugdenhil streaking up the ice and hit him with a tape-to-tape pass. With two defenders between him and the net, Vreugdenhil found another gear, whizzing past the hapless Spirit. Alone on net. Shot. The short-handed goal was definitive.

The Spirit had come to Wellington eager to compete, but were never in the conversation.

Ryan Smith added another goal in the third. And with that, the Dukes logged their fifth win in as many games.

WELLINGTON 7 – BRANTFORD 2
Thirteen Dukes players scored at least one point as Wellington romped over Brantford on Sunday afternoon. David Campbell had a pair of goals. Jacob Dietz scored his third of the season and added a pair of assists. In his last five games, the Dukes defenceman has notched 10 points. Edward Moskowitz had three assists. Defenceman Ethan Sullivan had a pair of helpers.

Ethan Morrow went the distance in net, turning away all but two of Brantford’s 21 shots on net.

The Dukes, meanwhile, hammered the Brantford netminder with 65 shots.

LINEUP
The Dukes acquired the playing rights to defenceman Nolan Mozer last week from the Nepean Raiders of the Central Canadian league. Last season, the six-foot, 20-year-old blueliner earned 17 points in 36 games in Nepean.

UP NEXT: TORONTO JCS, MISSISSAUGA AND PICKERING
Dukes fans have had Friday’s date with the Toronto Junior Canadiens circled on their calendar for a few weeks now. The Junior Canadiens are a powerful squad and sit atop the South/East Conference, having lost just four games in 30 starts. Toronto also has the best winning percentage in the league and sits fourth on the CJHL weekly national rankings. The Junior Canadiens edged the Dukes 5-4 in double overtime last month. The Dukes must wrangle with Toronto three more times after Friday—it will be critical to set the right tone.

The Dukes head to Mississauga on Saturday night. The Chargers are a woeful squad sitting in the basement of the South/East conference. The trick for the Dukes is to take the challenge of back-to-back games seriously. Few penalties. No injuries.

On Tuesday, the Dukes slide down to Pickering. The OJHL representatives to the Centennial Cup last spring are, this season, more a middle-of-the-pack outfit in the North/West Conference. Pickering has just two wins in their previous six games. This is the only regularseason match between Wellington and Pickering.