Down and dirty

Dukes spinning their wheels in new year

The story Wellington fans tell themselves is that the 2016-17 Dukes are a decent team in an elite division. Try telling that to the teams in the South Division. As of Sunday, the Dukes had played five of the six GTA teams in the South—and lost every game. Even the lowly Mississauga Chargers managed a win when Wellington came to town in November.

The South may be the sleeper division in the OJHL—up against tough opponents in every game—a luxury Georgetown, in the conference’s other division, the West, doesn’t enjoy.

On Sunday it was St. Michael’s turn to earn a win on the backs of the visiting Dukes. The game started badly and ended worse.

In the warm up, newly acquired defenceman Bryson Michel, was assessed a 10- minute penalty. His first game in the Dukes jersey began with 10 minutes in the penalty box. The game unfolded as many have this season. Competitive back and forth play. The opposing team scores. The Dukes fail to respond. By the end of the first period, Wellington had dug a 3-0 hole, including a short-handed goal. There was no coming back from that. Not when you struggle to score. The Dukes would go on to outshoot St. Michaels, but only managed to score a single goal—early in the third period.

After the Buzzers had scored their fourth of the game late in the third period, the game turned sour. The refs tried pairing penalties— one to each team—hoping to cool tempers. It didn’t work. Jackson Arcan took a senseless shot at the Buzzers’ Finn Evans’ head. In the ensuing fight, Arcan was accused of uttering a discriminatory slur. Gross misconduct. Sevengame suspension. Maybe more. The seventeenyear- old must face a disciplinary committee to explain himself. The Dukes have just 17 more games in the regular season.

The Dukes went home a lesser team.

DUKES 3 – MARKHAM 4 IN DOUBLE OT
It’s not as though Friday’s game was a memorable event. The Dukes came out flat against the visiting Markham Royals. Inside of two minutes, Sam Hu had a two-goal lead for his team. The diminutive forward simply carved through and around the Dukes’ defence for two quick goals with the anthem still echoing around rafters at the Essroc Centre. It was a rough start for Victor-Olivier Courchesne in the Dukes’ net. But this wasn’t on him.

The Dukes firmed up after the second goal—but failed to form any sustained offensive presence until late in the first period when Brayden Stortz scored on a brilliant rush and set up pass by Nic Mucci.

But Markham had come to play. The Dukes, it seemed, were still recovering from a 6-3 win in Stouffville the night before. In the second period, however, Wellington found fresh legs and took the game to the visiting Royals. But nothing on the scoreboard. Then the backbreaker. With the Dukes pressing the play, Markham made a quick transition up ice and beat Courchesne— not a good goal—putting the Royals ahead 3-1 just when it appeared the Dukes were mounting a comeback.

Fortunately, Justin Bean re-ignited the lamp late in the second, firing a hard slap shot through traffic to score on the power play—with two Markham players in the penalty box.

Early in the third, Colin Doyle tied the game at three. The Dukes had the momentum. But that was stalled midway through the period with a pair of Wellington penalties. Terrific penalty killing, most notably by Stortz, Doyle, Carter Allen and Hunter Gunski, kept the score knotted at three.

Late in the first overtime period, the Dukes’ Mitchell Mendonca was penalized for head contact. A terrible penalty. Unnecessary. Undisciplined.

Early in the second period, Markham scored with the extra man and tons of ice to work with. The Dukes’ Brody Morris offered some words to the St. Michaels coach and the on-ice officials—earning him a two-game suspension.

Some games slip away—Friday’s game felt like a gift. With a bow and shiny wrapping.

UP NEXT: WHITBY, LINDSAY, COBOURG
Much of the remainder of the Dukes’ schedule will be spent on the road. Of the 17 games remaining in the regular season, just six will be played in Wellington.

On Wednesday, the Dukes face the Fury in Whitby. Wellington hasn’t fared well against the East’s second place team so far this season, losing 4-3 in October and 6-3 in November. In their last three games, the Fury have beaten both Trenton and Cobourg as well as St. Michaels.

Defenceman Hunter Gunski has been a strong performer on the blueline and fearless in blocking shots on the penatly kill.

On Friday Wellington travels to Lindsay as the Dukes tangle with the Muskies. Lindsay started the season woefully, but has worked itself back into respectability— if not a playoff spot. The Muskies downed Markham and Kingston in December and played Trenton to a 2-1 loss. The fish are not to be trifled with.

On Monday, the Dukes visit Cobourg—this year’s hosts of the RBC Cup. Despite a record that suggests the Cougars are a middle-of-the-pack team, the last time they visited Wellington they demonstrated persuasively this team has the horses to power past most teams in this league. It is a dangerous habit, however, to rely on the riding crop (not literally) to push a team to success.

Cobourg’s game against Pickering on Monday offers an example. Playing against a poor Panther team, the Cougars fell behind by a pair of goals, but then came back with five straight goals to win the game 5-2.

It will be intriguing to see how the Cougars perform in the playoffs. Monday’s game could be a preview. If the playoffs began today, the rankings would pit Wellington and Cobourg against each other in the first round.

It is why the Dukes will want to make a strong appearance next Monday. It will be the fourth and final meeting between these teams this season. The Dukes won the first two, but lost the third in November.

LINEUP
Defenceman Bryson Michel arrived this week from Saint John Sea Dogs of the QMJHL where he got into 13 games. The seventeen-year-old earned 16 points on the blueline with his AAA team last season.