Nine straight

Steven Deeg stuffs home the puck on the powerplay well before Trenton’s Brady Wiffen (94) could do anything about it. This was first of two goals Deeg scored in the game.

Dukes ranked eighth in the nation

It has been an impressive run. After a pair of losses early in the season, the Wellington Dukes have won nine straight games, propelling them to the top of the OJHL. The Dukes are also soaring up the national rankings. A week ago the Dukes made their first appearance on the CJHL Top 20 list in 20th spot. This week Wellington is ranked number eight in the nation.

Every aspect of the Dukes game is working. Mike Soucier, Erick Delaurentis and Steven Deeg are among the top ten point getters in the league. Lucas Machalski is allowing less than two goals per game, on average. The Dukes power play is the most potent in the OJHL and penalty killing is in the top five. Despite the individual successes, it is the collective effort and hard work of every player, of the Dukes team on every shift, that is most impressive to their fans—and likely most responsible for the team’s winning streak.

The lower ranks of the OJHL are inhabited by teams with exceptional talent. But unless that talent is surrounded by a team willing to do the hard work to be successful, wins come few and far between.

That has been the difference in the Dukes this season. Night after night the team is working hard, playing smart hockey and waiting for their chances—rather than forcing the highrisk, low-probability play and then coughing up a goal.

Erick Delaurentis is enjoying a breakout season paired with Deeg. Delaurentis has 17 points in 12 games, good enough for second place on his team and top five in the OJHL.

TRANSFORMATION
When the story of the Dukes 2013/14 season is written, Steven Deeg is sure to have his own chapter. Bringing this young man to Wellington must be rated among the shrewdest deals Dukes general manager Marty Abrams has ever wrangled.

For four seasons with Whitby, Deeg was a reliable grinder, working both ends of the ice averaging 14 points per season. Last season Deeg netted 10 goals in 52 games. The current season is just 12 games old and Deeg already has netted 10 goals with the Dukes—matching his last-season total goal output by mid-October.

But these aren’t just ordinary goals. Deeg has three game-winning goals—more than anyone else in the OJHL. He has the rare ability to find another gear when the game is on the line—or at risk.

He remains a gritty checker at both ends of the ice, regularly forcing opponents off the puck. But, most impressively, he has become a finisher, a playmaker and goalscorer. There was nothing in his previous four seasons that suggested this kind of offensive potential.

GONG SHOW PLAYER OF THE MONTH
Mike Soucier is also having a banner year. This was easier to predict. Since he arrived in Wellington last year it was clear this young man would make a powerful impact in the OJHL. He was selected OJHL East Prospects. He scored 22 points in his rookie season.

This season Soucier has taken charge, scoring timely goals and setting up his linemates. Like Deeg, Soucier has as many goals (7) so far this season as he notched in 46 games last year. Eight of Soucier’s thirteen points have come with the man advantage, including five power play assists to lead the league’s best power play unit early in the season. Soucier leads the Dukes first power play unit, playing on the point. He has a pinpoint accurate shot and the hockey sense to make the smart play rather than the clever or heroic one. He has the knack of finding the right seam, and waiting until it appears, sending the puck through to the net.

Soucier was chosen the Dukes player of the month for September last week. This week he was selected as the North-East Conference Player of the Month.

Mike Soucier was named Gong Show Player of the Month for the North- East conference, leading all players in scoring with 13 points in the month.

DUKES 4 – TRENTON 3
Despite winning seven games in a row. The streak would not have meant much had the Dukes fallen to Trenton on Friday. One of the Dukes two losses this season came at the hands of the Golden Hawks—a team that promises to be contenders all season long.

Both squads battled knowing this game mattered more than most. The Dukes grabbed the early lead in the dying minutes of the first period. Andrew Coupland fired a foot-high laser on net just inside the far post. Seconds into the second period, Cody Gratton tried the same spot on a superb pass from Luc Brown in the deep corner. Same result. The Dukes had a two-goal lead. Midway through the period Trenton scored back to back goals to knot the game at two.

Then Trenton gave the Dukes a gift—sending two players to the penalty box, eleven seconds apart. Deeg and Delaurentis combined to restore the Dukes lead. In the third period Cody Gratton shifted and dangled his way up the wing until a frustrated Trenton defender hauled him to the ice. On the ensuing power play Deeg and Delaurentis combined again to widen the lead.

Trenton scored another in the third, but could not find the equalizer. A high stick by a Trenton player in the final minute nullified the man-advantage gained by pulling the netminder.

DUKES 5- LINDSAY 3
This game never was close. Despite only a two-goal win and a fairly even shot total, the game was played mostly in the Lindsay end. Legitimate goal-scoring chances were tilted heavily in the Dukes favour.

The Dukes jumped out to a three-goal lead in the on a power play marker from Soucier and a pair of goals from Deeg. Lindsay would get one back in the second on the power play. But later in the period Cody Gratton, on a Dukes power play, would rifle a shot past the netminder the heavy twine was challenged to stop.

Delaurentis and Deeg combined for their third goal of the night early in the third period. But Lindsay scored an ugly short-handed goal late in the game as Muskie forward Logan DeNoble danced around three Dukes defenders before potting the puck over Adam Wood in net.

BUZZERS COMING TO TOWN
By David Brown

The Ontario Junior Hockey League (OJHL) has 22 teams and just three of them have won multiple Dudley-Hewitt Cup Championships. The Wellington Dukes, Aurora Tigers and Oakville Blades have each won the Dudley twice, which earns the team a berth at the Royal Bank Cup, for bragging rights for all 128 Junior A clubs from across Canada as well as a few American based teams.

The St. Michaels Buzzers have the most Dudley appearances with three, however they have come up short each time:

2005: The Buzzers won a tough six-game OJHL playoff finals over the Georgetown Raiders. The Raiders were also the host of the Dudley that year and got their revenge as they defeated the Buzzers 3 – 1 in the finals.

2006: The only team to have won back-toback playoff finals in the past 20 years, the Buzzers knocked off the Stouffville Spirit in six games and then headed to Thunder Bay for the Dudley where they failed to advance after the roundrobin portion of the schedule and watched as the host Fort William North Stars won the first cup for the Superior International Junior Hockey League (SIJHL).

2013: An exciting seven-game OJHL playoff final saw the Buzzers defeat the Newmarket Hurricanes. North Bay of the Northern Junior Hockey League (NOJHL) were hosts of the most recent Dudley which saw the Minnesota Wilderness of the SIJHL defeat the Buzzers in the final 4 – 3, in overtime no less.

The Dukes will be hosting the next Dudley-Hewitt Cup in late April of 2014 and this will be the 12th year under the current format. The breakdown of league winners to date are:

OJHL – 8 Cups
SIJHL – 2 Cups
NOJHL -1 Cup