Conference champions

Dukes outlast North York Rangers, head on to Buckland Cup

The improbable continues to be revealed as possible by the Wellington Dukes. On Sunday, they came from behind to defeat the North York Rangers in Game 7. In doing so, becoming Conference Champions for the second consecutive season.

Now the Dukes will take on the Oakville Blades in the league finals, for the Buckland Cup.

There are not many Dukes fans who would have predicted in January that their team would be playing hockey in April. During the regular season, while they showed flashes of brilliance, they were a .500 team.

Yet, here they are, through three grinding hard-fought, tough, physical series. Champions. It is a remarkable accomplishment.

Tough at both ends of the rink, centreman Tyson Gilmour (19), supports his netminder, Logan Bateman, in Game 6 against the North York Rangers.

CHARACTER WINS
Much of the team’s success is due to the heart and character of players including Anthony Rinaldi, Dawson Ellis, Daniel Panetta and Zach Uens. They have been here before. They know what it takes to win playoff hockey. The determination. The grit. The work ethic.

Tyson Gilmour has been here too, albeit with another team. New additions Ben Woodhouse, Elijah Gonsalves, Quinn Hanna. Brett Humberstone and Tim Fallowfield have assumed the warrior ethic. Play hard. Play smart. And bounce back doubly fast when knocked to the ice, or after a mistake.

THE MOMENT
The turning point in Sunday’s win occured when Dawson Ellis scored the second goal of the game—the game tying goal. Stuffing the puck through the netminder’s pads. The referee closest to the net signalled goal. But a huddle with the other ref and linesman, after the original call was overruled. No goal. The net was off its moorings, they said. The Rangers net had had a habit of coming loose during heavy pressure throughout the series. It seemed a terrible call.

But from the second the puck dropped on the following face-off, the Dukes were determined to rectify the matter. Rinaldi won the battle along the wall. Shot. Gonsalves was there to slide it home. Mere seconds had elapsed from the calledback goal until it was made right.

By then the Dukes were taking the game to the Rangers. Not overwhelmingly—North York earned chances—but the Dukes were checking ferociously. Mindfully. Responsibly. Moments later the Dukes were on the power play—their third of the game. It was a wobbly start, but eventually Wellington were ensconced in the Rangers’ end. Passing well. Looking to create a lane. Woodhouse pushed the puck to Brett Humberstone at the top of the slot. Low slap shot. Redirected expertly by Panetta through Jett Alexander and into the net.

It was the first time in the game the Dukes had the lead. Already intense action was now amplified, the now-desperate Rangers looking for the tying goal. That is when the Dukes are most dangerous.

Midway through the third, Gilmour forced a turnover in the neutral zone. To Gonsalves. To Rinaldi, with some open ice. Then, as he has done throughout the series, Rinaldi charged up the wing. Unstoppable. He beat the North York defenceman like a pylon in practice. Rinaldi cut through the slot. He held onto until the Rangers netminder was out of position, before potting the insurance goal. It would turn out to be the game-winner.

With more three minutes left in regular time, North York pulled Alexander in favour of a sixth attacker. After a minute of desperate hockey, and the Dukes unable to clear the zone, the puck was behind Logan Bateman. The score was 4-3 Dukes.

Still the Rangers kept pushing. Alexander again on the bench. Then Ellis scooped up the puck from the red line near his own net, and calmly lifted a wrist shot that artfully soared over the Rangers team, landing at centre before sliding into the empty net. His third—technically second—goal of the game.

Still North York kept coming. But the Dukes prevailed. They were once again Conference Champions.

UP NEXT
So, there is more hockey to be played in Wellington. Game 2 is set for 7 p.m. on Sunday at the Wellington and District Community Centre. Other home games are set for Thursday and the following Sunday.

The Dukes will welcome four days of rest and recuperation. These have been hard-fought series. And the bruising is evident. After getting Dylan Massie back in the North York series, the gritty forward was slammed into the boards in Game 4 of the series, he didn’t return.

Others are playing hurt or banged up. It’s playoff hockey.

John Druce has amassed a record of success in three years as head coach in the OJHL that others don’t enjoy in a career. In just two seasons steering the Dukes, Druce is leading his team to its second successive Buckland Cup championship— overcoming the loss of the team’s number one goalie, a modest regular season record and a massive overhaul in players.

THE COACH
Two years ago, John Druce led the Cobourg Cougars to a national championship. It was his first year as a head coach. The Cougars were hosts of the RBC Cup that year, but it was still a shock when Druce and the Cougars parted ways early in the following season.

The Wellington Dukes snapped him up. Druce led last year’s squad to a Buckland Cup Championship, a Dudley Hewitt Championship and to the finals of the national championship in Chilliwack, B.C. A remarkable, and unlikely, achievement.

In 2019, he has mentored a team with just five returning players, a mediocre regular season, and the loss of his number one netminder, into the OJHL finals.

He has trained these young men to understand the importance of their assignments, especially when they don’t have the puck. In three series, in this playoff run, these Wellington players have vanquished physically stronger and highly talented teams. They have done so with discipline, structure and hard work. And when the push comes, they work together—as a team—ensuring there are no good lanes, no easy passes, no simple plays.

His record makes it abundantly clear: John Druce is undeniably the best coach in the league.