Boys of winter
Schedule compresses Dukes’ training camp They arrive each summer. Flip flops on their feet. Dreams of skating in the storied Dukedome stirring in their heads. Sixteen or so years of hockey development has led them here. The weight of it all much more than the enormous equipment bags slung over their shoulders. It is time for […]
Four straight
Dukes battle to the end For the fourth season in a row, the Dukes have been ousted in the first round of the playoffs. Not since 2011, when the Dukes won the Buckland Cup and the Dudley Hewitt Cup, earning a berth in the RBC Cup national championship series in Alberta, have they emerged victorious […]
Unjust
Dukes better, faster, more physical, but trail series 2-0 The Dukes have come very close to upsetting the favoured Trenton Golden Hawks. Outworking. Outskating. Smarter. Faster. Yet after two games, it is Trenton with a pair of victories in the best-of-seven series. The Dukes have none. Not yet. It is a hole for sure. But the […]
Underdogs
Dukes ready to face Trenton in the first round of OJHL playoffs Few are giving the Wellington Dukes much of a chance against the Trenton Golden Hawks as the teams prepare for a best-of-seven playoff series starting this Friday in Trenton. But then nearly everyone willing to make a prediction is also allowing that, of all […]
Out of gas
Dukes drop three games, but have clinched a playoff spot Words ought to have meaning— even in the world of OJHL officiating. In the warmup before Monday’s game in Stouffville, a stray puck slid into the Dukes end. Forward Luc Brown lobbed it back. This, it turns out is a penalty. Not an ordinary penalty but […]
Powered up
Dukes ride four-game winning streak into the last week of the regular season Dukes fans have been waiting a long time for this team to catch fire. The wait is over—the Dukes are fully ignited. And not a moment too soon. A couple of weeks ago, the playoffs were a question mark. No longer. While they […]
Heart pounding
Dukes rally from loss to win two big games For the fans scattered among the many empty seats of the Essroc Centre on Sunday afternoon, this surely was among the most exciting hockey games seen in the building in a while. Not since the Dudley Hewitt Cup championship game have fans been so intensely behind their […]
Signs of life
Dukes rally to defeat Stouffville The 2015 Dukes have spent the season tripping back and forth over the .500 line. With a big win on Sunday, the Dukes edged closer to a winning record. The team currently has a .488 record—that is, it has won 48.8 per cent of its regular season games. But the […]
Shaking it off
The Dukes must look past a tough weekend The fire has dimmed to barely an ember now. Perhaps it is just the weariness of three road games in three days. Yet rarely have we seen this faraway expression in the eyes of the Dukes players. It’s a look that telegraphs a sense that they’ve exhausted all […]
In the hunt
Dukes in search of an identity The Wellington Dukes cling stubbornly to a playoff spot in the northeast conference after a win and a pair of losses over the last week. The difference this week is that they now share that spot with the Pickering Panthers and the Newmarket Hurricane. Only two will make it. […]