Heroic in defeat

Dukes battle to the end

A brilliant game. Fast, ferocious, and thrilling. The battles were hard, the checking tenacious, and there was much less of the mindless thuggishness that had popped up occasionally in the Haliburton series.

But it became clear by the fifth period of game five, this game would end on a mistake or a fluke. A flip of the coin. Both netminders had been brilliant. Both teams had played so close that neither side was afforded time or space. Indeed, some mistakes created some giveaways. Some breaks. But the goalies had managed to keep their team in the hunt through 82 minutes of intense and thrilling hockey.

So it was that a random shot hit a skate and deflected past Jacob Osborne early in the second overtime. It was no one’s fault. No error. Just a fluke. And the Dukes’ season was over. The slow-moving puck changing direction and sliding into the Dukes’ net as the netminder looked on helplessly. It is an image that will be frozen in fans’ memories all summer long.

Until that moment, however, it was either team’s game to win. Or lose. Both performed mightily before a massive crowd of more than 1,300 fans—from Quinte West, Belleville, the County and beyond. Everyone got their money’s worth in Wellington on Friday night.

SCORING OUTBURST
Until the overtime goal, the only scoring in the game occurred during one two-minute penalty. Dukes captain Jacob Vreugdenhil had been tagged for slashing. On the penalty-kill, Corbin Roach chased Trenton’s first unit all over the ice. Behind the Golden Hawks’ net, Roach stole the puck from the Trenton defender and slid a pass to the mid slot as Barret Joynt sailed into the zone. Joynt was alone. Snipe. The Dukes had the lead—a short-handed goal.

But less than a minute later, Trenton beat Osborne on the same power play.

And that was all the scoring. The scoresheet, however, tells you not at all about the pace, the near misses, the spectacular saves, the brilliant rushes, and the creative puck movement on display through this wildly entertaining game.

Nor does it inform the reader of what might have been. Midway through the third, Dukes’ forward David Campbell rifled a shot at the Trenton net that appeared to beat the netminder—high short side.

It bounced out immediately, at a speed suggesting it had hit a post or crossbar. It was hard to tell. Play continued. No signal from the referee. For many of the faithful, however, it appeared the puck had hit the back of the net and ejected quicker than the eye could discern. A buzz went through the west end of the rink. But no call. There is no video review in junior hockey.

Folks can spend the summer bemoaning what might have been—primarily because these two teams seemed evenly matched. The Dukes were more talented and faster—but the Golden Hawks appeared more determined and driven. Any of the four losses to Trenton might have been Dukes’ victories—with a bit more time and space.

And power play success. Trenton’s aggressiveness resulted in 19 minutes of penalties assessed. The Dukes capitalized on just three of these opportunities. What had been a superpower— power play percentage—withered in this series. Yet credit must go to the Golden Hawks, for they fell back into an impenetrable defensive posture when they were a man down. They were also a regular threat to break free on the short-handed attempt.

And so ends another thrilling Dukes season. It felt like the first complete season since the pandemic began in 2020. Yet the tradition of success continues. Much commendation is due to Dukes’ ownership, management and coaching staff headed by Derek Smith and Tyler Longo.

And so we say goodbye to several young men who will graduate this year from junior hockey.

They will leave impossible skates to fill—yet Dukes fans will, nevertheless, eagerly await the return of those who will try to do it again next fall.