Homebound Dukes

Talented forward Abbott Girduckis has been mired in a bit of a slump scoring just three goals in January. Girduckis and his linemates Mike Soucier and Joe McKeown have each improved their play away from the puck this season.

Dukes’ streak ends—still in search of 30-win season

Home is where the heart is. The Wellington Dukes already know this well. But as the regular season winds down the sentiment becomes a bit more urgent. There are just five more games remaining in the Dukes’ regular season—each of them will be played amid the friendly confines of the Wellington and District Community Centre.

Where the team places hardly matters now. The Dukes have clinched a playoff berth and, while they will continue to jockey for position in the North East Conference, they can’t catch the Golden Hawks for the Division title. Second place in the North East is virtually spoken for; the Kingston Voyageurs have been on a screaming tear since mid-December, losing just a single game since then. The Dukes still have a shot at a first-round home ice advantage, but they need the teams ahead of them—Aurora, Newmarket and Whitby—to falter. It is not out of the question; the two North Division teams, Aurora and Newmarket, have been uneven of late. But each team has more games left in their schedule than the Dukes with which to cobble together enough wins to hang on to their advantage in the North East standings.

After dropping their first game since the beginning of January, the Dukes will be reminded that the opportunities to reach the symbolically significant marker of 30 wins are getting fewer.

All the more important for the Dukes to be welcomed by a rousing and enthusiastic hometown crowd on Friday night.

DUKES 3 – NEWMARKET 0
For the second straight game Hayden Lavigne got the start in net for the Dukes. It was the first time since mid-December the 16 year old had played in back-to-back games—both in relief of Matt Larose in woefully losing causes.

On the heels of a brilliant shutout win against the Whitby Fury two weekends ago, Lavigne got the nod for the road game in Newmarket on Thursday. He turned away all 33 shots, propelling his team to a second straight shutout win.

Jake Marchment scored a pair while Craig Campbell tallied his team-leading 27th goal. Marchment and Spencer Turcotte have been clicking as a unit recently on a line with Captain Jan Kaminsky. Always a tough and reliable checking line, their new-found scoring prowess has helped take some of the pressure off the Campbell-Delaurentis-Wood line.

Jake Marchment has been on a tear in recent weeks and working well with linemate Spencer Turcotte. He’s notched six points in his last six games including three goals.

NEWMARKET 4 – DUKES 2
The second half of the home-and-home series with the Newmarket Hurricane didn’t turn out as well as the first.

But for one half of one period.

The game started well enough. The Dukes were largely carrying the play to the Hurricane and generating solid scoring opportunities. But midway through the first period the Dukes got lost. They began chasing rather than rushing. Scrambling rather than playing structured hockey. When the period was done—the Dukes trailed 2-0. They would never recover.

Midway through the second period Jake Marchment finished a slick play with linemates Kaminsky and Turcotte on the power play to narrow the Hurricane lead to a goal.

It was only a couple minutes later, however, that Newmarket scored on their own power play. It was a killer. It was the first soft goal Matt Larose has given up in weeks, perhaps months. Any rebound momentum gained from Marchment’s goal had been zapped. A couple minutes later Newmarket scored again.

Kaminsky scored one in the third. And the Dukes managed to get some great shots on net with the extra attacker in the dying moments—but came up with nothing. It was the Dukes’ first loss since January 4.

UP NEXT: COBOURG AND STOUFFVILLE
Both Cobourg and Stouffville come the County this weekend fighting for their playoff lives. Cobourg arrives in Wellington on Friday currently holding the eighth and final playoff spot in the North East Conference. But they have not yet clinched it.

In five previous meetings this season, the Dukes have won three and lost two. They will not be pushovers and few teams are looking forward to facing the Cougars in the playoffs.

Stouffville, however, remains within striking range of stealing the final playoff spot from Cobourg. Any Cougar slide and the Spirit will be looking to take advantage.

The Spirit come to Wellington on Sunday. Wellington has a 3-2 record against Stouffville this season. Most recently the Dukes emerged 3-2 winners in Stouffville in early January.