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The Dukes sweep Upper Canada and prepare for round two

By David Brown

Dukes defenceman Brendon Barletta gathers the puck in front of Jordan Ruby on Friday against the Upper Canada Patriots. The Dukes swept Upper Canada in four games to win round one.

Editor’s note:The Wellington Dukes swept the Upper Canada Patriots in four games with Jordan Ruby allowing just two goals in the series. Braden Kavaratzis scored his first point as a Wellington Duke, lifting a powerful backhander past the Patriot netminder to open the scoring on Saturday night. The goal would prove to be the game and series winner. Most Dukes fans have been watching the Villanova – Peterborough series closely, calculating that Kingston would make short work of Cobourg. But the feisty Cougars have fought back throughout their series and have forced game seven in Kingston on Thursday. This means that the Dukes’next playoff series could be against either Cobourg (if they win on Thursday), Villanova or Peterborough. The Dukes’next series is likely beginning on Sunday in Wellington. Once again David Brown has scoured the Internet and resources known only to him to bring you the information you need to know to assess the Dukes’ next opponents.

The Cobourg Cougars are the only team to have played in the same division as the Dukes for the past 13 seasons. If the Cougars defeat the Kingston Voyageurs they will be the Dukes’ next opponent. It would also mark just the third playoff round win for Cobourg over the past nine years. The most recent playoff meeting between the two teams dates back in 2002 when the Dukes swept the East Division finals, although two of the games went into overtime. Last year the Cougars finished with 43 points and missed the playoffs. This year their point total jumped to 62, good enough for fourth place in the East Division and sixth in the South/East Conference.

Captain Sean Rudy powers through the Upper Canada defence on Friday.

The Cougars defeated the Dukes in overtime in the first meeting of the season between the clubs before the Dukes stormed back to win the last five. All of the games were decided by close scores.

Special Teams: The Cougars’ 20.7 per cent power play rate is very close to the Dukes’ 22.0 per cent’ while their penalty-killing success of 82.5 per cent is almost identical to the Dukes’ 82.9 per cent.

Top Producers: Blake Sexton, #20, leads the offence: goals (32), assists (44), power play goals (10), power play assists (20) and game-winning goals (7). Evan Jasper, #14, leads the team in shorthanded goals with three; Jared Martin, #7 leads in shorthanded assists with two; Kevin Van Dyk, #8, was their top producing point defenceman with 40. Two other players have stepped up in these playoffs and are the top two point guys to date:
James Diminie, #11, and Dylon McMahon, #18. Mathieu Cadeux, #29, gets the bulk of work in net having played 45 games with a 3.02 GAA, and .901 save percentage as well as four shutouts.

The Cougars have the most balanced roster in junior hockey with five 20 year olds, five 19 year olds, five 18 year olds and five 17 year olds. They also have the maximum of two 16 year olds.

Did you know? Cougars Head Coach Wayne Marchment held the same position with the Wellington Dukes from 1993 to 1995.

The Villanova Knights trace their roots back to the old Thornhill Junior ‘A’ team. This is only the fourth season for the Knights and they’ve made a remarkable turnaround. During their first two seasons they only won six games each year before winning 33 last season. This year they won 30 and finished with 63 points, good enough for second place in the South Division and fifth in the South/East Conference.

If the Knights defeat the Peterborough Stars it will be their first playoff round win in their short history, having lost to the Georgetown Raiders last year in six games in their only post-season action.

The Knights lost both meetings with the Dukes this season. They visited the old DukeDome back on Sept. 24, losing 5-1. On Nov. 12 the Dukes won a close 2-1 battle at Villanova.

Special Teams: The Knights’ 19.9 per cent power play efficiency is just slightly less then the Dukes’ 22.0 per cent. The Knights’ penalty kill success of 82.7 per cent is almost identical to the Dukes’ 82.9 per cent.

Top producers: Junior Harris, #4, led the team in goals (31), power play goals (10), power play assists (20) and shorthanded goals (5). Mason Baptista, #8, led in assists with 59. Phil Di Giuseppe, #9, led in shorthanded assists (3) and game-winning goals (5). Matt Lorito, #26, led in powerplay assists (20) and tied for shorthanded assists with three. Charlie Connell, #25, was the Knights’ top-producing point defenceman with 22. Jared Lockhurst, #29, got the bulk of the work in net playing 41 games with a 3.41 GAA, .902 save per cent and two shutouts.

Their roster includes four 20 year olds, four 19 year olds, five 18 year olds, eight 17 year olds and two 16 year olds. The team also made a mid-season coaching change which seems to have helped turn things around for them.

NCAA Bound: Phil Di Giuseppe (Michigan) and Matt Lorito (Brown).

The Peterborough Stars have been an East Division opponent of the Wellington Dukes in the OJHL since 1998. If they were to defeat the Villanova Knights and the Cobourg Cougars were to lose to the Kingston Voyageurs, then the Stars would be the Dukes’ next playoff opponent. Last year Peterborough won their first playoff round in a sweep over the Stouffville Spirit before losing to the Bowmanville Eagles in six games. The last time Peterborough and Wellington met in the playoffs was back in 2005 when the Dukes won in four games.

This year Peterborough’s 71 regular season points were good enough for third place in the East Division and fourth in the South/East Conference. They were the only team the Dukes had a losing record against, going 1-2-1 on the year. If they manage to come from behind and win their series with Villanova, it will be just their fifth playoff round win in the past 13 years.

Steve Evans was named Dukes player of the month for February. Evans scored 10 goals in eight games and assisted on four others

Special Teams: Their power play success was 18.8 per cent compared with the Dukes’ 22.0 per cent. They have a very good penalty kill unit at 86.2 per cent compared with the Dukes’ 82.9 per cent. This may have a lot to do with the fact that the Stars led the league in playing shorthanded (370 times) compared with the Dukes shorthanded just 187 times.

Top Producers: Troy Barss, #21, led the team in goals (29) and shorthanded assists (2); Jake Taylor, #11, led the team in assists (35) and shorthanded goals (2); Corey O’Brien, #8, led in power play assists with 18; Jeff Swift, #16, had two shorthanded goals; Rickey Buelhler, #18, had 10 power play goals and five game-winning goals; Nelson Armstrong, #5, also had two shorthanded goals as well as tying O’Brien as their topproducing point defencemen with 37. Travis Brault, #14, also picked up two shorthanded assists. Zac Fryia, #33, got the bulk of the work in net playing 42 games with a 2.80 GAA (8th in league), a .910 save per cent and one shutout.

Their roster includes seven 20 year olds, two 19 year olds, six 18 year olds, six 17 year olds and two 16 year olds.

NCAA Bound: Nelson Armstrong (St. Lawrence).

Did you know? One of the Stars’ assistant coaches is former Wellington Duke Frank Sinacori.