Mired
Dukes lose another, caught in their own zone The loss on Sunday stung more than others. The Lindsay Muskies wanted it more. They worked harder. Fought harder. For sixty minutes. The Dukes had moments. Flashes of effort. Glimpses of the level of intensity required to win in the OJHL. But not enough of them. Moving the puck out from their own zone remains an adventure. It means the Dukes must rely on netminder Royden Smith to put the lid on opponents who set up shop in the Wellington end and won’t leave until they’ve snagged a scoring chance, or three. […]
Dark October
Dukes’ struggles on full display The Dukes will be glad to see the back of October. The month has been brutal for the team as it won just a single game—of 12 games played. Wellington lost five games in overtime last month. It’s time to put the ghosts, goblins and memories of October behind us. PICKERING 6 – WELLINGTON 5 2OT Monday night is a strange night for hockey. Particularly in Wellington. Outside of playoffs, I can’t remember the last time a visiting team arrived for a game on Monday. It showed in the sparse attendance. (Game 3 of the […]
Inflection
Have the Dukes turned a corner on a bad October? Maybe. Maybe the Dukes have stabilized after a rocky couple of weeks. While the weekend delivered just a single point, the team looked like a team for the first time in a stretch. It was a week the team parted ways with a fan favourite, Kyle Kavc, but introduced two new players and welcomed back a grizzled veteran. Will Mitchell returned to Wellington wearing the familiar #19 jersey on Friday night. It is the 20-year-old’s third turn with the Dukes. Liam Campbell scored in his first game with the Dukes. […]
Rough October
Losing streak erases gains made in September It was a tough week to be a Dukes fan. Worse for a Dukes’ goalie. By Sunday night, Wellington had played four games in six days. The Dukes had scored at least four goals in each game—but lost all of them. By Monday, the losing streak reached five games. Neither was Wellington playing the league’s elite. Lindsay and St. Mikes are middle- of-the-pack squads. Aurora has a sub .500 record, and North York hadn’t won a game all season—until Wellington came to town. It should not have played out this way. The Dukes […]
Just enough
Dukes must find another gear, sooner Has the Dukes’ success early this season lulled this upstart team into complacency? A misplaced sense that every game would be within reach by the third, at which time, the Dukes’ stars would turn up the gas and overpower their opponents on the way to yet another victory? Comfort can be a killer in sports. WELLINGTON 2 – HALIBURTON 0 The Dukes sleepwalked through much of the game at home last week against the Haliburton County Huskies. The Huskies are struggling this season, though the team still has weapons it can use to do […]
Rolling
Dukes hit a bump, but keep on winning The Dukes continue to roll along on their winning ways, taking two of three games on the weekend and extending their early-season record to five wins and a loss. Even the loss, to Stouffville on Friday, was a highly contested performance— but for a pile of penalties might have produced a different outcome. The Dukes sit atop the East Conference as measured by winning percentage and the team is tied for third overall in the OJHL. STOUFFVILLE 6 – WELLINGTON 4 Penalties defined this game. Stouffville power plays shaped its outcome and […]
Fabulous beginning
Dukes overturn OJHL champions in season opener After an offseason of turmoil, it was a home-opening game that few expected. Much better than could have been hoped for. A large crowd greeted the Dukes as they skated on the ice for the first time. The new coaching team of Jacob Panetta and Darcy Murphy took their place behind the bench. Both had been stars on this team more than a decade ago—familiar to many of the Dukes’ faithful. In the stands were alum—Curtis Leonard, Luc Brown, Jacob Hethrington and Brody Morris—who had come to lend their support to Panetta and […]
Hockey time
Dukes begin a new campaign with question marks The Wellington Dukes are back. The team returned to the ice on Saturday in a woolly exhibition game at home. The Dukes hosted the Trenton Golden Hawks in a match that saw the lead go back and forth—as both teams scrambled to find recognizable form. Trenton held the upper hand through the first period, tallying a couple of goals along the way. But the Dukes rebounded with a goal later in the frame and two unanswered goals in the second. The large hometown crowd was thrilled. The Dukes had a chance to […]
Righting the ship
Dukes GM stresses transparency, culture and community in his debut In his three years as a Wellington Duke, Jacob Panetta anchored a hard and fast defence. He will need all of his toughness, determination and speedy decision-making as a playmaker in his new leadership role with the team. The Dukes are a storied name in junior hockey in Canada. The team has earned a berth in the playoffs in each of its 37 years in the league. The Dukes have vied for the national championship twice. It competes against hockey centres many times the size of the village. The Dukes […]