Lessons of youth

Mike Soucier scored the Dukes’ first goal Friday night. He also tallied his second goal late in the game, on the power play.

Dukes display two sides of adolescent exuberance

You are as young as your faith, as old as your doubt; as young as your selfconfidence, as old as your fear; as young as your hope, as old as your despair.”

The wise and experienced had seen this before. They could see where this game was going. Down two goals after a period. A young netminder battling the puck. An equally young defence handing over the puck in their own zone.

So when the Stouffville Spirit scored early in the second period, it seemed to the shrewd and seasoned fans of the Essroc Centre this would be a long and sorrowful night.

But the young hearts on the Dukes squad didn’t know what the fans feared. They knew only that they could beat this team, and soon, with a bit more effort and a few more bounces, they would turn the scoreboard around.

It started with a tenacious battle in front of the Stouffville Spirit. Dukes sniper Mike Soucier planted himself firmly in the slot with his team pressing. The young forward had to wrestle a much bigger defenceman to keep his ground. As he twisted away from the hulk the puck was on his stick. In the same motion Soucier snapped a shot just under the crossbar.

Barely a minute later Joe McKeown put his head down and pushed to join a rush with Craig Campbell and Parker Wood. He arrived without a checker. Wood found the Campbellford centre with a pass. McKeown snapped home his first OJHL goal.

Last week Captain Jan Kaminsky observed that his team had to make a greater commitment to work harder at creating chances in the dirty zone in front of opposing netminders; the place where sticks and elbows are used to punish intruders, so close that brutal infractions often go undetected by the referees.

Erick Delaurentis had 4 points on Friday night, including a highlight reel goal in the third period.

Erick Delaurentis had carved his own ground in the slot and was shouting at his linemate to give him the puck. When the puck arrived Delaurentis had one chance before the Spirit defence rained down on him. He got low and square to the net—more pushing the puck toward the net than shooting.

In the ensuing pileup of players the puck was in the net. There was nothing pretty or elegant about it. Just determination. In less than 10 minutes the Dukes had tied the score of a game that had seemed lost. They were too young to be fearful. Too young for doubt.

Delaurentis set up the go-ahead goal, pushing down the wing of a now flustered Spirit defence corps. Sliding toward the net, Delaurentis found Abbott Girduckis heading for the opposite side.

The Spirit netminder had to play the shot, leaving the net open for Girduckis.

Before the period was over, Kaminsky snapped a shot on net that hit a defender’s stick and blooped over the netminder and into the net.

In the third the Dukes goals kept coming. Craig Campbell, dealing from behind the Stouffville net, found Kaminsky cruising through the slot who buried his shot.

Then in perhaps the highlight play of the season so far, Delaurentis, already working on a three-point night, scooped up the puck in his own end and headed up ice. He bulled his way through the forwards, chipping the puck ahead along the boards. Regaining control, he danced around the defence pair with the puck still on his stick. Clear of the defenders, Delaurentis was running out of

ice—the netminder closing the gap. He snapped his shot high over the netminder and into the net, capping the best single-handed rush the Wellington and District Community Centre has seen this year.

Mike Soucier tallied his second of the game on the power play late in the game. Josh Finkelstein had sneaked in from the point—but rather than shoot, he fired a hard cross-ice pass to the opposite face-off circle. Soucier connected with a brilliant one-timer propelling the puck into the yawning chasm.

“We were too complacent in the first period,” observed Kaminsky. “In the second period we decided to turn it around. Even after they scored their third goal in the second period we knew we were getting the better chances. If we got the puck on net we were going to be okay. We started racking up shots on net. Then the puck started going in the net.”

PLAYING SIXTY MINUTES
Some lessons come hard. But only need to be learned once.

On Saturday night the Dukes ruled the Community Centre in Aurora through 30 minutes. Abbott Girduckis scored a pair to give his team the two-goal lead in the second period. But by the midway point of the game the Tigers had tied the score at two.

“All of sudden the momentum changed,” said Kaminsky. “They tied up the score at 2-2 and we never recovered. Cam Nicholl scored to give us the lead again—but they came right back and scored again. You could see everybody deflate.”

“We worked hard to get the momentum back but it was gone. It shows you can’t take a lead for granted. You have to keep working for 60 minutes—every game.”

The Tigers added an empty-net goal to win the game 5-3.

NEW NETMINDER
Twenty-year-old Matt Larose has arrived in Wellington to vie for a roster spot on the Dukes. The 6-foot 4- inch Nanaimo native won rookie of the year honours on his Trail Smoke Eaters team with a goals-against average of 2.67 and a save percentage of .924—second best in the BCHL that year.

Last year he was traded to the Alberni Valley Bulldogs where his GAA ballooned to 4.40 and save percentage withered to .870 in 36 games last season.

Larose comes to Wellington by way of Dauphin, capping a deal that sent Kevin Swales and Gui Naud to the prairie town.

UP NEXT: STOUFFVILLE AND TRENTON
The Dukes travel to Stouffville on Thursday where the Spirit will be looking to exact revenge for being embarrassed in Wellington on Friday night.

On Friday the Dukes welcome the Trenton Golden Hawks for the first time this season. The Golden Hawks are currently sitting second in the East Division, but own the best winning percentage.

Kaminsky anticipates a large and enthusiastic crowd in the stands on Friday from both sides of the Bay of Quinte.

“Many of these guys haven’t seen a game like I expect this one to be,” said the captain. “It is a big rivalry with Trenton. Hopefully we come out and play for our fans and our home barn.”