The Dukes Steven Deeg leaps to get out of the way of a shot by Trevor Cope (out of frame).

Dukes humbled in Cobourg

The least-penalized team ran into some penalty trouble on Monday night. And it cost them dearly. The Wellington Dukes went down to their most humbling defeat this season in Cobourg, dropping a humiliating 9-2 decision to east division rivals, the Cobourg Cougars.

One statistic told the story of the game. Powerplay conversions: Cobourg 6 of 7, Wellington 0 of 5.

Slashing. Hooking. Inteference. The kinds of penalties a team earns when it arrives unready to play. To play at speed.

Penalties. And Mason Marchment. The son of former NHLer Bryan Marchment scored four goals and added two assists in the dismantling of the Wellington Dukes on Monday.

Cobourg was ahead 9-0 midway through the third period before the Dukes managed to get on the board, with Josh Supryka and Parker Wood tallying for Wellington.

Cobourg and Wellington are fairly evenly matched teams. In two previous outings each game was settled in a shootout—Wellington taking one and Cobourg the other.

One team came ready to play on Monday. The other didn’t.

Fans will wait to see if the experience in Cobourg serves as a wake-up call or a symptom of a deeper malaise

Tyson Teichmann earned a shut out on Friday and limited Oakville to a single goal. But on Monday, his team deserted him. When it was over, nine goals had passed him by.

DUKES 4 – NEWMARKET 0
Monday’s fiasco put sour end to a rather good weekend for the Dukes. Introducing new forward Alex Carnevale to the team and welcoming back Mike Robinson from injury, the Dukes outworked a feisty Newmarket team on Friday night in Wellington. Newmarket features two former Dukes players, Cam Nicoll and Nik Coric. Nicoll was a force to be reckoned with much of the evening—Coric was largely invisible.

Newmarket’s fortunes have declined steadily from a strong beginning to their season. Yet they came to Wellington with a great deal of pride and energy.

But slowly and systematically, the Dukes machine chipped away at the Hurricanes’ bravado. Erick Delaurentis got the Dukes on the board first— redirecting a brilliant pass from Luc Brown deep in the corner. Steven Deeg added a couple more.

Inexplicably, as time was running out in the third, Newmarket pulled their netminder in favour of extra attacker despite a threegoal deficit. From deep in his own end, Mike Soucier lobbed a pass to centre ice, nearly hitting the scoreboard. Brown scooped up the puck and scored the empty netter—punishing the Hurricanes for their feckless manoeuvre.

DUKES 5 – OAKVILLE 1
It was surely one of the more confusing games to be played in the Essroc Arena. For a period and a half, the Wellington Dukes utterly dominated the visiting Oakville Blades on Sunday. Everything was working. Passing. Battles along the boards. The cycle. Footraces to the puck. Every thing. Except the puck going into the Blades’ net.

By the end of the first period the Dukes had outshot Oakville 22 – 5. Most fans, and perhaps Tyson Teichmann, would be hard pressed to remember the five shots. Yet the Dukes had just one goal, Delaurentis jamming home a loose puck in the crease.

The domination continued. Oakville players dragged themselves off the ice after each shift entired gassed at having to chase the Dukes for 45 second intervals.

It was midway through the game when the Dukes’ Mike Robinson scored on a lovely 125 foot pass from Joe McKeown deep in Dukes territory. Robinson was sent in alone and beat the pesky Blades netminder low.

Eighteen-year-old Alex Carnevale is a former Belleville Bulls pick and player. He was playing in Sarnia for the Sting before joining the Dukes on Friday night.

The goal came just in time. The Dukes had begun to sag after dominating the game with just a goal to show for it.

Moments later Oakville scored drawing within one. The ice had been slanted so far in the Dukes favour for so long—it felt as though the game might slip away.

Then began the Trevor Cope show. On the power play midway through the third, he picked up a tidy rebound and buried it. Then in one of the prettiest plays displayed in Wellington this season—Cope weaved his way up ice on the powerplay. With one defender left, he dangled the puck inside out, emerging the other side with the puck. A snap of the puck later the Dukes had a three-goal lead.

Another minute later. Another Oakville penalty. Steven Deeg tallied. The score at last resembled the domination on the ice.

DUKES NOTES

By David Brown

The Wellington Dukes of the Ontario Junior Hockey League (OJHL) defeated the Newmarket Hurricanes 4 – 0 on Friday night, and in the process extend a current OJHL regular season record. The win gives the Dukes 53 points (as of Friday night) and means the franchise has now gone 17 consecutive seasons of reaching the .500 record or better. The next three teams following this streak have not reached the 53- point mark this season yet, but they are as follows:

Georgetown Raiders who are at 15 years and have 40 points with 17 games remaining;

St. Michaels Buzzers who are at 13 years and have 45 points with 14 games remaining;

Oakville Blades who are at 12 years and have 41 points with 14 games remaining.

ONE OF THE BEST DUKES OF ALL TIME!
This coming Friday, January 17, the Wellington Dukes will be retiring number 44 to honour the career and numerous accomplishments of Bryan Helmer. Those of you who know “Hermy” will recall his prowess on the Dukes blueline in the early ’90s. Upon graduating from the Dukes, Bryan embarked on a 21 year professional career spent in the NHL and AHL. His records still stand in the AHL and he is the assistant coach of the OHL’s Peterborough Petes. Bryan’s number 44 will fittingly be the first Dukes sweater raised to the rafters and we hope that you can join us for the celebration

UP NEXT: TRENTON GOLDEN HAWKS

By David Brown

Prior to the start of the 2009-10 Ontario Junior Hockey League (OJHL) season, the Port Hope Predators packed up shop and moved along the highway to become the Trenton Golden Hawks. Their first year was a success as they knocked off the Couchiching Terriers in four games in the first round of the playoffs before falling to the Kingston Voyageurs in the second round in five games.

The next season they failed to make the playoffs, but bounced back to finish in first place the following year. They were then upset by the Voyageurs in six games in the first round of the playoffs. Last season was similar, as they again finished first in the regular season before being swept by the Cobourg Cougars in the first round.

This year, the Hawks are currently sitting in the sixth seed in the competitive North/East Conference. Number 10 Mathew Thompson, picked up from the Orangeville Flyers, leads the team in points while number 4 Tyler Mayea, a former Burlington Cougar, is one of the top defencemen in the league. Denny Dubblestyne has been getting most of the starts in net.