Lessons learned

Dukes win a pair—one the hard way, the other the right way

It was two points. That’s about all you can say about Friday’s game—it was a win. Don’t look back. Just move on. This was Streetsville afterall. Most nights, Streetsville loses in front of about 50 fans in a nondescript arena amidst the barren warehouse tracts north of Pearson airport— nowhere near Streetsville.

Ryan McDonald had been struggling of late in the Dukes net, subbing for Jordan Ruby while in Penticton toiling for Team Canada East. This would be a game to get McDonald back in net and begin to get his confidence back.

It was a good plan. And things started well enough. Dukes vets Zach Blake and Sean Rudy each scored to run a 2-0 lead in the first period. But before the period was up, Streetsville had scored. Then they scored again early in the second.

The Dukes reloaded and scored five unanswered goals in the second period. (Brendon Barletta with a cannon from the point that screamed through a crowd and slammed into the top corner, sending the water bottle flying spectacularly into the air. Brian Bunnett, Darcy Greenaway, Rudy and Blake— each their second goal of the game—also scored.) The rout was on. The Streetsville players, accustomed to losing, had resorted back to form. No one skated back to console their netminder.

But in the third period Streetsville, proving there is still life in the franchise, came out and scored three times in the frame. It was the first time since Nov. 2 the Dukes had given up five goals in a game and only the second time all season. Greenaway added his second goal in the third and the Dukes went quietly into the dressing room with an 8-5 win.

“I think we got complacent,” said Marty Abrams, Dukes head coach and general manager.

Whatever it was, it is perhaps best we don’t speak about it again.

20 PLAYERS. 60 MINUTES.

On Sunday the Dukes faced another low-ranked team, the Pickering Panthers. But Pickering had shut out Whitby the night before in a 5-0 drubbing. And the Panthers’ record was beginning to improve of late.

It was always evident that this team had some strong offensive weapons; the question marks were on the defensive side of the ice.

The Dukes, however, still had the sour taste of Friday’s game lingering in their mouths. Efficiently they scored twice in each period. Jordan Ruby was back in net and stopped all 22 shots Pickering managed to send his way.

There were six different goalscorers in the game: Joe Zarbo, Sean Rudy, Jan Kaminsky (his first as a Dukes player), Cam Yuill, Steve Evans and Wil Healey (also his first in a Dukes jersey).

“I thought we turned the negative—the third period on Friday—into a positive on Sunday,” said Abrams. “We referenced Friday night’s game several times against Pickering. I thought we had 20 players playing a full 60 minutes.

“Pickering played well. They had a lot of energy and structure. Jordan Ruby had to make three or four real good saves at critical parts of the game. I think we learned our lesson.”

PLAYER OF THE WEEK

Darcy Murphy earns our pick as the player of the week.

In Sunday’s game Pickering came out fast and furious. Ruby was forced on several occasions to come up with a big stop to keep the Dukes in the game.

Then, about midway through the period, Sean Rudy carried the puck into the Panthers zone and was checked along the wall. Murphy jumped and battled hard for seemingly minutes. He emerged from the scrum with the puck and fired on net. Ryan Carlisle stopped the high shot but the long rebound landed on Joe Zarbo’s stick; a second later it was in the net.

On his next shift Murphy took a nice pass up centre ice and pushed hard to earn a partial breakaway. The Pickering defender was forced to slide to try and clear the puck, but instead took Murphy down, earning a twominute tripping penalty. Sean Rudy scored on the ensuing power play and the Dukes never looked back.

For his effort Darcy Murphy is our player of the week.

UP NEXT: PETERBOROUGH, PICKERING AND COBOURG

The Dukes face the most intensive part of their schedule so far, with seven games in fourteen days. All but one are against divisional opponents.

“With the division as tight as it is, these games are true four-pointers,” said Abrams.

To kick it off the Dukes face Peterborough at home on Friday night. Peterborough has won both times these teams have met this season. The Stars are a big strong team that has proven adept at pushing some skilled teams off their game. That is not expected to happen again in Wellington on Friday.

The Dukes travel to Pickering on Sunday and then Cobourg on Monday.

LINEUP

Defenceman Brandon Mcintosh is expected to miss at least another week due to high ankle sprain. These type of injuries typically take a while to heal. Abrams won’t rush his veteran defenceman back into the lineup prematurely. “We are taking a very cautious approach. We are nearing the mid-point of the season and the Christmas break is almost upon us. It won’t be long before we are in the playoffs.”

With Mcintosh on the sidelines and Darryl Snelling out with a concussion acquired on Friday night, the Dukes are down to five defencemen. The circumstance is providing an opportunity for youngsters Wil Healey and Micheal Montford see much more ice time.

“I thought Healey was outstanding against Pickering,” said Abrams. “It was his best game of the year. We’ve had him playing with Leonard against the opponent’s best line and he hasn’t looked out of place.

“Montford, too, hit a stride on Sunday that we haven’t seen since earlier in the season. And until he was hurt Snelling was playing his best hockey so far.” Notwithstanding the progress of his young defencemen, Abrams says his team needs to get Mcintosh back in the lineup soon.

Talks to get star defenceman Pat McEachen back to Wellington from the Mississauga St. Michael’s Majors have stalled. Abrams says that unless something can be done with Mississauga the team will be looking for another veteran defencemen to shore up the Dukes blueline.

DUKES PICKED FOR CJHL PROSPECTS GAME

Darcy Greenaway and Brian Bunnett are among only 12 forwards picked to go to the Canadian Junior Hockey League Prospects Game representing Team East in Dauphin, Manitoba on Dec. 7 and 8.

“We sort of expected Bunnett might get picked as he is on the NHL scouting list,” said Abrams, “but Greenaway has been out of sight playing prep school hockey until this year. This is a real feather in his cap.”