Luc Brown and Trevor Cope find themselves unfettered in the crease with the puck against Hamilton on Sunday night. Brown dangled the puck to his right before snapping it in the net on the way to a 7-2 Dukes win. Luc has been on fire with the Dukes in February, with seven points his last four games.

The field of first round opponents has narrowed

With just days left in the regular season, the Wellington Dukes seem set to face either Trenton, Cobourg or Whitby in the first round of the playoffs. All four are locked into the middle four positions of the North East conference. Only the pairings have yet to be established. That will be determined by the outcome of this weekend’s games.

Wellington can finish no better than third in the conference, and no worse than sixth. All four teams—Wellington, Whitby, Cobourg and Trenton—are in the same position.

The Dukes might have had a bit more say in the outcome—but have played unevenly down the stretch. After dropping a game they had to win in Buffalo to stay in the hunt for first place in the East, the Dukes downed the Burlington Cougars by a 7-3 margin.

That set up Friday’s game in Trenton. This was an opportunity to set the tone for a possible playoff series that could begin as soon as a week from today. The Dukes had only a single victory in three tries against the Golden Hawks this season. This was a chance to even the score.

The Dukes couldn’t get anything going for two periods. By the third frame the Dukes were trailing by a couple goals and netminder Tyson Teichmann was sidelined. Dukes forward Luc Brown scored a spectacular goal on the powerplay to edge the Dukes back into the game. But a Golden Hawks goal midway through the period quelled the comeback attempt.

Mike Robinson notched his sixth goal in the waning minutes.

More than anything, the loss cut the Dukes adrift—to be buffeted by the results of others.

The Dukes found a more pliable opponent in the Hamilton Red Wings on Sunday.

Mike Robinson has a truckload of talent, but injuries kept him out of the Dukes. He has a flair for the dramatic and the unexpected. Currently on a line with Abbott Girduckis and Joe McKeown, Robinson is now regularly racking up points—with five goals and three assists in his last five games.

The Red Wings are coming to the close of a disappointing season. The trek from one end of Lake Ontario to the other would do little to buoy their spirits.

Early in the second period the Dukes had built a 4-0 lead on goals from Abbott Girduckis and Mike Robinson and a pair from captain Erick Delaurentis. The Dukes loosened up a bit—and suddenly Hamilton had scored a couple goals.

Luc Brown found a loose puck in the crease and extended the Dukes lead. Girduckis added another early in the third. A minute later Steven Deeg found a lane and went end to end, swooping around the tired Hamilton defender and depositing the puck in the net.

Teichmann didn’t dress for the game. Neither did Mike Soucier.

Youngsters Griffin McCarty, Josh Supryka and Trevor Abbot saw generous helpings of ice time in the win against the Red Wings.

REWINDING HISTORY
It was an odd remedy to a blown call. The Trenton Golden Hawks were visiting the Rangers in North York. After 60 minutes and five minutes of overtime the game was deadlocked at two goals apiece. In the shootout that followed, Trenton’s first shooter scored. North York missed. So did the next three shooters for both sides. It came down to Gabriel Valenzuela. The North York player deked left, pulled right and shovelled the puck over the netminders outstretched leg and into the net.

The referee immediately waved off the goal—saying the net had been knocked off its moorings as the goalie slid back to save the puck. Trenton had won the game. Valenzuela and his North York team felt they had been robbed. Valenzuela hadn’t knocked the net off its moorings—the netminder did.

North York filed an appeal to the OJHL— and won. According to the OJHL ruling, game number 541 would to resume at the point of the missed call.

So it was that on Monday afternoon Trenton defeated Ice Hawks 5-2 in Milton. Waiting in the wings were the North York Rangers.

When the game was over Trenton netminder Denny Dubblstyne stayed in his net. Gabriel Valenzuela skated to centre ice at the Milton rink. When the whistle blew Valenzuela scooped up the puck and headed to the net—resuming game 541. But on route, Valenzuela lost control of the puck. He never did get a shot away. But the game was over. It had taken eight days, but game 541 had a proper end.

UP NEXT: BURLINGTON AND MISSISSAUGA

Story: David Brown
I reported a few weeks back after a Dukes win that the team had clinched a playoff berth for the 25th consecutive season in the 25-year franchise history. Someone asked me if that feat was really a big deal, considering most teams make the post-season. Consider some of these facts of other teams in the Ontario Junior Hockey League(OJHL):

When the Dukes won their second OJHL Championship in 2011, teams like the Aurora Tigers and Trenton Golden Hawks failed to make the playoffs that season. The next year the Stouffville Spirit won the championship, but have missed the playoffs both seasons since. The Hamilton Red Wings, who were in town Sunday, have also missed post-season play the last two years. And coming to town Wednesday (as a result of a postponed game back on January 24th) is the Burlington Cougars, who will be sitting on the sidelines after having their 11 consecutive seasons of playoff action snapped.

The West Division Cougars have had some success with East Division teams, with wins so far over Trenton, the Kingston Voyageurs and, just two weeks ago, the Whitby Fury. Leading their team in powerplay goals is number 17 Ryan Wilkinson while number 93 Daniel Campbell tops their team in powerplay assists. Josh Moron and Jeremy Currie share net duties. One of their most famous alumni is former Toronto Maple Leaf player and coach Pat Quinn.

The Mississauga Chargers (who were once known as the Weston Dukes, the King City Dukes and the Richmond Hill Dukes) were just one point away from clinching a playoff berth as of this writing. Big deal you ask? Well, when you consider they’ve not seen post-season action in seven years, I would say yes.

Number 63 Vince Figliomeni leads the team in goals while number 15 Trevor Warnaar and number 90 Lucas Venuto are tied for assists. Number 25 Nick Tetley is their top offensive defenceman. Austin Washkurak and Alex Lepore share net duties. One of their more famous alumni is two-time Stanley Cup champion Adam Graves.