Bumping along
A win and overtime loss against teams the Dukes needed to beat As long as the score stayed close, Aurora remained civil. When it became clear they would lose—in Wellington— a fact that became evident in the latter stages of the second period—the Tigers looked for redemption in other more illmannered ways. After losing two […]
Near misses
Two losses spoil a strong effort Connor Ryckman was brilliant. That must be said before anything else. The netminder was at times simply astonishing on Friday night—stopping nearly everything thrown at him. Even as the puck bounced off his chest and seemed destined to fall into the net behind him, Ryckman snapped his glove behind […]
Back in the hunt
Two wins get the Dukes on track Cobourg has lost just two games in 15 starts this season. Both losses have been delivered by the Wellington Dukes. Cobourg will host the RBC Cup in May and has assembled a team it believes will take them to the national tournament on merit rather than by default. […]
Sideways
Dukes hit rough patch After a powerful start in September, the Wellington Dukes are skidding sideways in October—in a division that punishes anything but top performance each and every game. So it is that the Dukes find themselves on Monday morning, second from the bottom of the East Division after flirting with the league leaders […]
Slip
The Dukes look to reboot with games against Newmarket and Pickering The East is a tough division. Its lowest ranked team, the Kingston Voyageurs, would occupy the middle of the pack or better in any other OJHL division. All five teams in the East own a winning record so far in the 2016/17 season. It’s not the […]
On top
Dukes share OJHL lead after ten games Ten games into the 2016/17 regular season and the Wellington Dukes share the OJHL points lead with Trenton. Meanwhile, Dukes forwards Brayden Stortz and Nic Mucci lead the league with 29 and 22 points respectively, and netminder Connor Ryckman has stopped 308 shots and sits third among all OJHL […]
Emergence
Lesser-known Dukes begin to shine The Wellington Dukes are in Buffalo this week participating in the Governors’ Showcase tournament—an opportunity for scouts and recruiters to examine the current crop of OJHL talent in one rink. It is a chance, too, for unheralded players to shine and perhaps catch the attention of a school or hockey […]
Winning ways
Dukes unbeaten in four games The Wellington Dukes had no business in Friday’s game against Cobourg. The Cougars will host the RBC Cup in the spring and as such the team is older, bigger and packed with talent. And through the first period, it looked as though the Dukes might not make it out of […]
Self-adjusting
Dukes begin to gel on the fly over the weekend It wasn’t the smoothest of starts to a new season. A little wobbly at first. But over two games against the Aurora Tigers on the weekend, the Dukes grew. And became steadier. More sure of their capabilities. The Dukes won both games—at home and on the […]
New beginnings
Dukes season opener this Friday in Wellington Wellington has long been regarded as a prolific developer of young hockey players with big ambitions, never more so than today. Of the two dozen active players who finished the season with the Dukes last year, more than half have graduated to play at a higher level this fall. […]