Veteran Duke forward Darcy Murphy (centre) chips away in front of Trenton net minder Finney during Friday’s game. Murphy leads the team in points with 10 goals and five assists in eight games.

Wellington Dukes struggling to find consistency

Slowly but surely the Wellington Dukes seemed to be shaping into the competitive form many had expected from this team from the drop of the puck of the first game of the season. The form that propelled them to the top ranks of junior hockey last season. But just as the team appeared to have turned the corner—a sloppy outing in Cobourg Monday all that had been achieved.

The Dukes put a scare into the Trenton team on Friday, perhaps the first real jolt of their season. The Golden Hawks escaped with a 3-2 win but they and their many fans who made the trek to Wellington understood the result could have easily gone the other way.

After a hard-fought period and a half Trenton had a two-goal lead. Both featured a Golden Hawk player in the right spot to clean up the mess in front of Marc Nother in net for the Dukes.

But by then the Dukes had turned up the volume and were chasing the Trenton players off the puck—and winning the battles along the boards. Captain Simon Bessette got the Dukes on the scoreboard on the power play. The wily Bessette skated through the slot, waiting for Trenton netminder Spencer Finney to play his hand. With Finney flat on the ice—Bessette found the cage.

A minute later Darcy Murphy caught Finney out of position, firing a rifle shot from the high slot, beating the veteran netminder.

“You could tell they weren’t used to losing the momentum like that,” said Bessette. “The tempo of the game just changed. We felt we had the momentum and we would win the game—but a bad bounce in the third and our momentum went with it.”

Trenton’s third goal proved too high a hurdle to overcome. The Dukes had their chances. Some near misses and a goal post rung loudly—but it was not to be this night.

Captain Bessette says his team has been playing well for more than a week, and deserving of more points, but notes that this is how the game goes at times.

“Beginning with the game in Whitby last week I think we have been playing pretty well,” said Bessette. “But we couldn’t catch a break. Sometimes the puck just doesn’t bounce your way.”

The next evening the Wellington Dukes pounded a Mississauga Chargers team that could hardly have known what was coming down the QEW at them.

Young Dukes netminder Charlie Graham was called upon to make some highlight saves early on. But when Darcy Murphy scored on the power play midway through the first frame the floodgates opened. Murhpy added three more goals—including a natural hat trick.

takes a stand in Friday’s game against the divisionleading Trenton Golden Hawks.

Tyler Smokler made a jaw-dropping endto- end rush resulting in the first goal of the season for the 16-year-old Dukes defenceman. Jeff Stanton and Jan Kaminsky scored singles. Stanton added a helper. Murphy finished the game with five points (four goals, one assist). Elliott Richardson helped set up three, while Craig Campbell and Kyle Paat earned a pair of assists each.

Bessette said it was only a matter of time before his team broke out.

“It all started before the game,” said Bessette. “We all knew what we had to do. It was a must-win game for us. There was no speech. Everybody knew their role.

“It took five or six minutes to lose our bus legs and they got a couple of good scoring chances but our goaltender made some great saves—some key saves. After that Darcy Murphy scored three goals in a row. We were gone. It was important to get a good game like that—a good 60 minutes.”

COBOURG
The momentum gathered on the weekend in games against Trenton and Mississauga unravelled in Cobourg on Monday night. The Dukes gave up four goals in the first period —including three inside a two-minute span. Marc Nother was pulled in favour of Charlie Graham.

The Dukes settled down after the change and Darcy Murphy scored late in the period to narrow the Cobourg lead to 4-3. But a Cobourg power play goal late in the second and an even strength goal with just seconds to go in the frame put the Cougars out in front 6-3.

Cobourg added a pair in the third to seal the win. It was tough loss for the Dukes, struggling to find consistency, particularly in their own zone.

The team gets two good chances to reset at home this weekend.

UP NEXT: MISSISSAUGA AND TORONTO
This weekend the Wellington Dukes welcome a pair of GTA teams to Prince Edward County. But the only sight the Chargers and Junior Canadians are likely to see in their visit is the unrelenting forecheck of Cam Yuill, Jan Kaminsky and Braden Kavaratzis.

“We have a lot of leadership on our team this year,” said Bessette. “These guys are going to find a lot of different ways to create offence. The momentum they create is so important.”

With just three regular-time wins apiece, Toronto and Mississauga still manage to find themselves in second place and fourth respectively in the South division— a division in which St. Michael’s commands an imposing lead in the standings.

Where are they now?

The Wellington Dukes trace their hockey roots to the former Belleville Bobcats franchise, purchased in 1989 by 10-year operators of a successful Wellington Junior ‘C’ representative who moved the acquired squad to the tiny village. This is the second of a series tracking down former Duke players.

NAME: DANNY BOIS
In the summer of 1999 Danny, at the age of 16, made the 1600 kilometre trip from his hometown of Thunder Bay to the Village of Wellington in an attempt to make the Junior ‘A’ Dukes. Not only did he make the team, he picked up 35 points in just 37 games. He was also second on the team in penalty minutes with 115.

Drafted by the London Knights, he spent the next four years in the Ontario Hockey League being named to the Second All-Rookie Team and Captain of the Knights. He then went on to play six seasons in the American Hockey League, most of the time with the Binghampton Senators.

Today, the 28-year-old right winger is playing even farther away from home as he starts his second season with Salzburg EC of the Professional Austrian Hockey League.