Early warning

16-year-old Josh Supryka has shown speed and willingness to play fearless gritty hockey in his first week in the juniors.

Dukes drop two of three to start regular season

It is not the way the Wellington Dukes wanted to start the march to the Dudley Hewitt Cup. After picking up a hard-fought win in the season opener in Kingston last Thursday, the Dukes dropped games to the Trenton Golden Hawks and the Pickering Panthers on Friday and Sunday.

Marty Abrams, coach and general manager of the Dukes didn’t mask his disappointment, particularly of those who wore the Dukes jersey last year.

I’m concerned,” admitted Abrams. “Last year we were extremely patient with our players. Not so much this year.

“We need to see [that] returning players be better. The team’s success or failure depends on how players from last year’s team progress into this year. That is what we are assessing right now.”

He added his urgency isn’t based upon the Dudley Hewitt Cup season, but rather to address a complacency that he fears may have seeped into the minds of players he expects to lead this team.

“The guys who were here last year, need to show a considerable amount of improvement in order to stay here,” said Abrams.

The Dukes travelled to Kingston for last Thursday’s regular season opener, fully aware that their playoff runs had ended early in both of the past two seasons at the hands of the Voyageurs. Bitter memories etch deeply.

But a new season brings new hope. And ambitions of revenge. The Dukes jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first period on a pair of goals by Spencer Turcotte and one from Erick Delaurentis. But with just 11 seconds left in the period Kingston tallied. Late period goals were a curse of the Dukes last season. This was troubling turn. When Kingston scored again in the second period with rearguard Trevor Abbott in the penalty box, it seemed the game might unravel. But on the first shift of the third period Erick Delaurentis hooked up with Steven Deeg to restore the Dukes’ two goal lead. Kingston scored another goal late but none further.

Lucas Machalski went the distance for the win.

Parker Wood fends off Golden Hawk Ori Abramson in a skirmish for the puck.

“Went into a difficult rink on Thursday,” said Abrams. “We showed a lot of commitment and desperation in terms of how we played. We had an unbelievable amount of traffic in front of the net which generated a couple of goals.”

But when the Dukes skated out onto the ice in Trenton on Friday the desperation was evident, but the commitment—at least to grind for position in front of the net—was largely absent.

In fact the game was much closer than the 6- 2 score would suggest. Aside from a pair of twogoal lapses the Dukes might have stolen a win in Trenton. The Golden Hawks are smaller, younger and speedier team than recent Trenton teams.

On the small ice in Trenton the Golden Hawks buzzed around the rink determined to show their fans a newfound hunger. Neither side was allowed the time and space to create sustained pressure. The Dukes enjoyed the territorial advantage in the first period but it was the Golden Hawks that scored first. Before the frame was complete, however, Joe McKeown and Steven Deeg had scored to give the Dukes the lead.

The pattern of this game seemed set. But seven minutes into the second period Trenton scored. One minute and 43 seconds later, with Dukes still staggering, Trenton scored again. Bingo. Bango. Trenton had stolen the lead.

The Dukes mounted the march back. But after an intermission to regroup, the Dukes stumbled badly. Forty-seven seconds into the frame Trenton scored. Twelve seconds later they scored again.

The Golden Hawks made a clear statement: if you let up, even for a moment, they will punish you.

Making a statement of his own, Abrams sent out an extra forward in favour of his netminder with just under five minutes left in the game. The Dukes were on the power play and there was still a chance to change the outcome.

But the Dukes could not get themselves organized, they could not break out of their own end. The Golden Hawks zipped back and forth like hummingbirds in a meadow. An errant Dukes pass was intercepted and the puck was in the net.

“We came out strong and had the game in check,” said Abrams. “But then we got derailed.

We weren’t hard on the puck, we weren’t strong on the puck. We were turning it over too easily. We had too many unforced errors—for no apparent reason.”

Most worryingly, the bodies that were so effective in front of the Kingston net on Thursday were on the periphery on Friday night.

“There was a distinct change in the way we played from Thursday to Friday. It didn’t look like the same team 24 hours later. Our net presence was one of the key aspects that changed from Thursday to Friday.”

Things didn’t improve materially on Sunday in Pickering. Once again the Dukes had to battle from behind after the Panthers took the lead on a power play goal early in the second period. Defenceman Jacob Panetta was assessed a four-minute penalty for spearing at the end of the first frame.

In his second year with the Dukes, Abbott Girduckis is expected to build on his 19
point performance last year.

The Dukes Mike Soucier scored his first of the season from Spencer Turcotte to tie the game. But then in the third, with another Dukes player in the penalty box, Pickering scored to retake the lead. From that point on the Dukes dominated the Panthers but failed to score. It was disappointing reminder to the Dukes they can’t show up for the end of a game and expect to win against any team in this league.

“ I don’t think we gave up a shot in the final 10 or 12 minutes,” said Abrams. “But our games are 60 minutes long. If you only saw the last 10 minutes of Sunday’s game you would say there is some promise here. But you have to play the full 60 minutes to compete in this league.”

Randy Rowe is the new assistant coach of the Wellington Dukes. Rowe played 12 seasons in the American and East Coast Hockey League, retiring last season with the Toledo Walleye. His best season was 2007/2008 when he scored 24 goals and 44 assists with the Johnstown Chiefs.

“Having just come off a sound professional hockey career last year, he can relate to the players in terms of where they want to go,” said Abrams. “He has been there—and been there recently.”

Abrams says his influence is being seen on the ice.

“He is helping players with some of the finer points in the game—things like face-off positioning. He can share the technical parts of the game that only a professional hockey player can know. I’ve already seen some subtle changes on the ice based upon his input.”

HOME OPENER
The Dukes welcome the Georgetown Raiders to Wellington in Friday.

“It is going to be very exciting home opener,” said Abrams. “We haven’t seen Georgetown in this rink ever. They are one of the best teams in the league— one of the best coached. They play high octane, structured hockey with elite players. This will be quite a test for our team.”

The puck drops at 7:30 at the Essroc arena this Friday night.