Constructive
The Dukes are adding pieces to an already strong team It was a building week for the Wellington Dukes. A pair of wins. A pair of defencemen to stiffen the Dukes’ blueline. A constructive week. DUKES 11 – PATRIOTS 3 The Toronto Patriots put up little opposition on their visit to Wellington on Friday. They […]
Fair to middling
A pair of losses drops the Dukes to the middle of the pack Eight games into the regular season, the Wellington Dukes have four wins and four losses. They sit smack dab in the middle of the eleventeam South East conference. Not bad. But not good either. Average. But average is hardly what athletes strive […]
Doppelganger
Dukes tangle with a St. Mike’s team that looks much like themselves Contrary to our errant reporting last week, the Dukes played just a single game on the weekend. But as predicted, they faced a stiff opponent in the St. Michael’s Buzzers. St. Mikes had started slowly this season, but in the Governor’s Showcase last […]
Streaks of brilliance
Dappled by splashes of ordinary Consistency is a fleeting commodity early in the OJHL season. Moments of brilliance are overtaken by seeming indifference. A penalty, intermission or a great check or save can swing the direction of the game in a heartbeat. On the ice, players are still working out timing. Still getting to know […]
Massive promise
Composure is still a work in progress Judgements made in week one can prove fragile. Players are still trying to make their mark, to understand their role. The team has yet to form an identity. So it can be a trap to make grand observations based on the first week of the regular season. However, […]
Exorcising demons
Time to bring on the regular season The final match of the Dukes’ exhibition action offered a tidy sampler: some great action, high-speed transitions, some brilliant individual efforts, along with a hefty supply of mistakes, misplays and missed opportunities. It is pre-season. Now it gets real. Georgetown is a worthy adversary. The Raiders have been […]
Back to normal
Dukes prepare for a new season It felt odd to be back in the rink—to size up the current iteration of the Wellington Dukes. It is always slightly dissonant heading into the arena when it’s 30 degrees outside. But this oddness was accentuated by the fact that it felt normal. After two years of Covid-disrupted […]
Done
Dukes exit playoffs in the first round So it’s over. Victims of a brutal playoff structure, the Dukes lost two games, so they are out. The season is done. The best-of-three format was always going to make it a crapshoot. There is no leeway. No forgiveness. A stumble—or in the Dukes’ case, a slightly hungrier […]
East Division Champs
Dukes to face Cobourg in a best-of-three playoff series Consider the Lindsay Muskies this morning. The Kawartha junior hockey franchise had struggled over the past decade, but not this season. The 2021-22 iteration of the Muskies was a solid team. They beat the Dukes and the Trenton Golden Hawks three times each. They kept games […]
Nail-biting finish
Dukes head into the final weekend in first place Nothing is certain. Nothing is nailed down. With just two games remaining in the regular season, the race is so close that any of three teams, Wellington, Trenton or Haliburton County, may emerge as the East Division regular-season champion. While a tight race, it is still […]