Out of the blue

Forward Luc Brown earned four points in two games over the weekend–leading his team with two goals on Friday in defeating the Georgetown Raiders and setting up two goals in a losing cause in Oakville where the Dukes were edged 4-3.

Lineup-depleted, Dukes rise to the challenge

Few of those who have watched the Wellington Dukes this season should be surprised when the team puts together a long winning streak. It may not happen—but it could. The ingredients are there. Strong netminding makes the Dukes a contender in every game. A sturdy and highly mobile defence corps is skilled at cleaning up messes in their own end of the ice. Up front. the Dukes have good mix of experience and raw talent. Of size and playmaking. Finishing—that is, scoring goals—is still a work in progress.

Confidence is not found in the Dukes’ record of wins and losses—the Dukes have a below .500 record at nearly the halfway mark in the regular season. But rather, it is found when watching this team play. They are a better team than their record. They, their fans and their opponents know this.. It seems only a matter of time before Wellington assembles a string of wins.

LEADERS EMERGE
Friday offered a great example of a team confounding expectations. The Dukes’ number one netminder, three blueliners and a sniper were out of the line up, participating in the Central Canada Challenge. Another was sidelined due to injury.

West Division powerhouse Georgetown Raiders were in town. They had only three absent from their lineup. The Dukes were in a tough spot.

Joe McKeown took a pass from Will Cook in the early going. He skated to the high slot and lobbed a high shot on net. It fluttered past the netminder’s glove into the net. The Dukes had been outshot eight to two by then, but they had the lead.

Moments later, Cook went end-to-end with the puck, weaving his way through the Georgetown squad before undressing the Raiders’ goalie. 2-0.

Then Brody Morris, sneaking in from the blueline, let loose a cannon from the face off dot that pierced the Georgetown netminder. 3-0.

Despite the three-goal lead, the Dukes weren’t skating away with the game. In the second period, Georgetown pushed hard to get back into the game. But the Dukes, despite a depleted lineup, held off the attack.

Then a Dukes’ penalty. A goal at this point might have shifted the momentum heavily to the Raiders’ favour.

On the ensuing penalty kill, Dukes’ forward Luc Brown picked up a loose puck and broke for the Georgetown net with linemate Marco Azzano on the wing. Brown looked to pass. Everyone in the building expected the pass. But instead, with time and space running out, Brown snapped the puck high. Top corner. Near side. A brilliant, short-handed goal. 4-0.

Now, for the first time in the game, the outcome seemed clear.

Georgetown scored late in the second, spoiling a sensational shutout opportunity by Dukes’ netminder Olivier Lafreniere. But that was it. The Raiders spent much of the third in increasing frustration—smacking sticks, taking penalties and looking to fight. Brown scored his second of the game on the power play early in the third.

Nearly a third of the team was missing, yet the Dukes soundly defeated the best team in the West, and the third-best record in the OJHL. Their fans gave the team a well-earned ovation as they skated off the ice.

Lafreniere was celebrated as player of the game. Brown, with two goals, earned hardest working player honours.

Olivier Lafreniere had another strong outing on Friday night in relief of Taylor Welsh who participated in the Central Canada Cup in Etobicoke. Lafreniere turned away 35 shots, helping his team to a 5-1 win over Georgetown.

COMEBACK FALLS SHORT
It was a different story in Oakville on Saturday. The Dukes fell behind on the road— trailing 4-1 early in the second period. Another team might have packed it in. Chalked it up to a shortened bench. Looked to do better next game.

But that isn’t what happened. Midway through the second, the man with the surgeon’s hands, Nick Devito, scored to narrow the Blades’ lead to a pair. In the third, the Dukes ramped up the intensity—pelting the Oakville net with 20 shots.

Unable to keep up, the Blades turned to slashing and hooking to slow down the faster Dukes. That turned into a pair of power play opportunities for the Dukes. Azzano, Morris and Brown combined to score on one power play. But the Dukes were unable to score the equalizing goal.

Oakville escaped with the 4-3 win.

UP NEXT: NEWMARKET, TRENTON AND NORTH YORK
The Dukes will be looking to avenge their November 9 loss to the Hurricanes, when they were edged 3-2, when they visit Newmarket on Thursday.

On Friday night, the Dukes welcome cross-bay rivals, the Trenton Golden Hawks, to the Essroc Centre in Wellington. Trenton has the best record in the OJHL with just three losses in 24 games—though one of those losses—a 5-2 defeat—came from Wellington when the Dukes visited Trenton in October. The Golden Hawks own a powerful offense, averaging five goals a game this season. But they are strong at the other end of the ice as well, allowing just 2.25 goals per game—second best in the OJHL.

The Dukes know how to win against Trenton. They will also have Taylor Welsh, Jacob Panetta, Justin Bean, Andrew Coupland and Abbott Girduckis back in the lineup.

It will be another big test for the Dukes.

On Sunday, Wellington visits Downsview to take on the North York Rangers, a middle-of-the-pack team in the South Division. The Dukes quelled the Rangers 4-2 when they visited Wellington on Halloween night.