Home ice

Shaw Boomhower powers past Trenton’s Chays Ruddy on Sunday night. Boomhower had a feisty night, scoring a goal and later trading fisticuffs with Ruddy—spotting the Hawks’ defenceman a couple of inches and 30 pounds.

Jockeying for position in anticipation of the playoffs

This much is set. The Wellington Dukes will face either the Aurora Tigers or the Markham Royals in the first round of the playoffs beginning next week. Nothing the Dukes do in their last game on Friday against Whitby will change that. However, it remains a critical game. The outcome may well determine whether the Dukes enjoy home-ice advantage or begin the playoffs on the road.

Currently, Markham is in the driver’s seat to win the North division. A regulation win against Stouffville on Friday night will clinch the North division title for the Royals—and eliminate the Spirit from playoff contention.

Aurora still has two games to play and trail Markham by three points. That means that if the Royals lose, the Tigers could leapfrog over them into first place. Tie games messily complicate the scenarios. However, the most likely situation will see the Dukes taking on the the Tigers in the first round.

Let’s get back home-ice advantage. This is where Friday’s game becomes pivotal. The Dukes currently have 65 points—a win will give them 67. Aurora has 63 points, with two games left. The most they can get is 67—and potentially tie with Wellington. Fortunately, the Dukes swept the Tigers this season—winning all four encounters. The home-ice advantage would then go to the Dukes.

Now, if Markham loses to Stouffville on Friday and Aurora wins both Friday and Saturday, the Tigers will move into the second seed position, and Markham will fall to fourth or fifth position— depending on what the Dukes do.

A Wellington win on Friday night will ensure the Dukes home-ice advantage in this potential, albeit less likely scenario.

The bottom line is, a win on Friday night ensures Wellington home-ice advantage in the first round of the playoffs—no matter who the Dukes face—Aurora or Markham.

TRENTON 4 – DUKES 2
Success in the playoffs will depend on the Dukes playing more disciplined hockey than they demonstrated on Sunday, particularly when facing an opportunistic team like the Trenton Golden Hawks.

It is true, the officiating crew were terribly eager to intervene in the game. At least three of the seven penalties assessed to the Dukes appeared to arise from an excess of talking. That is not an excuse. The Dukes know, or should know, that if they lose their composure against Trenton, the Hawks will make them pay.

And they did.

Things started well for Wellington. The Dukes opened up a two-goal lead in the first period. Luc Brown scored his 42nd goal of the campaign on his first shift, jamming home a rebound from a Justin Bean blast from the blueline.

Ben Sokay extended the Dukes’ lead on the power play, snapping in a rebound from Dylan Mascarin’s shot.

Trenton got one back later in the period when a Dukes defenceman was penalized for unsportsmanlike conduct. The referees were in no mood for chirping.

Nic Mucci becomes ensnared by Trenton players as he traps the puck deep in the Hawks’ end. Mucci drew a Trenton penalty on the play.

The Golden Hawks defencemen are trained to keep the puck low shooting from the blueline, looking for a redirection. It took several attempts, but eventually the puck slipped by Sam Tanguay in the Dukes’ net after changing direction twice inbound.

Still, the Dukes won the period—outshooting, outscoring and outworking the Hawks.

Nothing but penalties in the second period. Trenton had the edge in shots, but Tanguay and the Dukes were getting used to playing shorthanded.

In the third period, Wellington’s wall of invincibility began to fail. Though they managed to kill yet another penalty in the first two minutes—the Dukes failed to break the Trenton siege. Sixteen seconds after the Dukes returned to even strength, Trenton scored to tie the game at two goals apiece.

Not long after that goal, one of the Dukes young and exciting forwards was tagged for his second penalty of the game—another talking penalty.

Trenton scored on the power play, taking the lead for the first time. They held that lead until late in the game—with the Dukes pressing for the equalizing goal. Too hard. Trenton swung back swiftly, scoring an insurance goal.

It was a game the Dukes might have won— should have won—but for the talking.

WELLINGTON 5 – STOUFFVILLE 3
Stouffville came to Wellington needing a win to keep their playoff hopes alight. In the early going, it seemed Wellington would grant them their wish. Stouffville scored three unanswered goals by the mid-point of the first period.

But then, the Dukes’ Bean settled down to business. On the power play, Bean set up the first of three goals in the game. Brown hammered home the rebound. Before the period was done, Nic Mucci found Tyler Burnie in front of the Spirit’s net. The young forward scored his 16th goal of the season (bear in mind that by December, the 17-year-old had scored just two goals).

The Dukes dominated in the second period. Shaw Boomhower tied the game in the way he typically does—crashing head-first toward the net—somehow managing to put the puck past defenders and goalies.

Sokay gave the Dukes the lead in the third—on the power play from Bean and Jacob Panetta. When the Spirit pulled their netminder late in the game, they tried to trap the play in the corner to Lafrenière’s left. But the puck squirted lose to the other, vacated side. Brown won the footrace, lobbed a shot from inside his blue line to the centre of the Spirit net.

One final note about this game. If the Spirit fail to make the playoffs, it will be small justice for the actions of one of their talented forwards. At least twice in this game, Chris Brill-Morgan feigned injury, looking for a penalty. It worked once. It failed a second time. Further, it seems likely the Spirit were penalized later in the game for having taken a dive earlier. Later, Brill-Morgan crashed the net with seemingly the single- minded purpose of injuring the Dukes’ netminder.

It is ugly behaviour more befitting soccer than hockey. Brill-Morgan is a skilled player. It is disappointing if this is the impression the 20-year-old will leave behind in Wellington and elsewhere in the OJHL.

UP NEXT: WHITBY
Whitby has already secured a playoff spot. The only remaining question is who they will face in the first round of the playoffs. Will it be Markham, Kingston or Aurora? As it stands today, the Fury would face-off against the Royals next week. That may suit Whitby—cutting travel time, perhaps boosting attendance and avoiding the Voyageurs.

The Dukes will be motivated on Friday night by the opportunity to secure home-ice advantage in the first round of the playoffs.