Powerplay pushovers

Colin Doyle just has a goal and an assist so far—but he is a physical and energetic presence every shift he gets.

Dukes own the league’s worst penalty killing record, have yet to win at home

Brodie Maracle had barely taken his seat in the penalty box when Cobourg scored. Nevermind that it was a dubious penalty call. The referees, on Sunday night, seemed weirdly selective in a game in which dozens of stick violations might have been penalized. It seemed a great many competitors in Sunday’s contest would wake up with CCM tattooed onto their hides the next morning. Yet the officials this night were choosy, the way your great aunt is when grazing for second helpings at the buffet counter— carefully picking from an array of things that all look the same. That is the way it goes, some nights.

But Cobourg’s powerplay goal, scored well into the third period, was tough to take. The Wellington Dukes were down 3-1 after the first period but they played brilliantly in the second. Fast, hard driving and determined. They had a plan. They were going to turn this game around for their celebration-deprived fans. Furthermore, the visiting Cobourg team was fading. After working through the first period with the ambition of tenderizing the Dukes into submission, Cobourg’s lumbering skaters were falling a step behind.

But Wellington couldn’t close the gap. Even one goal might have been enough to topple the Cobourg team’s flagging confidence. There were some near misses. A post rung. But nothing on the scoreboard.

The Dukes continued to press in the third—though the rushes seemed a bit more improvised. More desperate. Cobourg was more comfortable now, clogging up the middle of the ice. Then came the cross-checking call against Maracle. The Dukes’ young forward had scored the Dukes’ lone goal earlier in the game. Cobourg’s netminder, Stefano Durante, had presented a peculiar rebound. Turning away Austin Labelle’s bad-angle shot, Durante dropped the puck at Maracle’s feet, who was alone just a few feet in front of him. The young Duke forward swatted at the puck and it slipped under the netminder. It should have been the spark his team needed, but it wasn’t enough.

Brody Maracle scored the Dukes lone goal in a 5-1 losing cause at home against the Cobourg Cougars on Sunday.

When the whistle blew, stopping play seven minutes into the third period, no one was quite sure if the refs were signalling a penalty and if so, who was being singled out and why. Least of all Maracle. Yet he obediently made his way to the box. The door had barely closed when the puck dropped. Cobourg won the draw, the puck moved back to the blue line, across ice to the other defender who had moved in a few metres from the blue line. Wrist shot, far corner. Goal.

So far this season, the Dukes are the worst penalty killing team in the OJHL. Four of Cobourg’s five goals were scored with the manadvantage against Wellington on Sunday. The Dukes have allowed 18 power play goals in 14 games played in this young season. Wellington has managed to kill off just 70 per cent the penalties it has been assessed. Nearly a third of its penalty killing assignments have resulted in a goal against.

The Dukes have historically been a disciplined team that stays largely away from the penalty box. This season, Wellington is in the middle of the pack in that regard—averaging a bit more than 13 minutes of penalties per game. Similarly, the team’s ability to capitalize when it has the man-advantage has only been fair.

Indeed, with four power play opportunities on Sunday, the Dukes came up with nothing. Not a single goal. Very few shots even penetrated the Cobourg’s huddled fortress in front of Durante.

When Cobourg scored its fourth goal, the Dukes stopped skating. They were spent. For a time, trying to run out the clock, they hoped cleverness would make up for energy. It didn’t. The Cougars added another. Frustrations boiled to the surface—the result of prolonged reshaping of vertebrae and inner organs by crudely wielded sticks.

The refs filled the penalty box. The Dukes looked for a late goal—something to give their fans. Nothing came.

It was Wellington’s seventh loss in 14 games. Its second in three games.

Home has been no advantage for the Dukes this season. The team hasn’t won a single game in Wellington. Its lone home win came in a tournament in Buffalo. Yet the team’s energy, speed and intensity have delivered exciting hockey.

Until the Dukes figure out how to prevent opponents from scoring at will with the man advantage, and until they regularly take advantage when they have it, Wellington will likely remain stuck in the middle of the OJHL ranks. Still looking for the Dukes’ first home win.

LOSING AT HOME
It was another frustrating night in Wellington on Friday. The Stouffville Spirit were visiting Wellington on the back of the team’s first win. They liked the taste.

The Dukes outworked the Spirit through the first period. But it was Stouffville with the extra step in the second. Yet the score remained at nil—that is until the end of the second period. Stouffville scored on with just 90 seconds remaining in the period. That was all the Spirit needed.

Despite seven power play opportunities, the Dukes failed to beat Aaron Taylor in the Stouffville net. The Spirit added an empty net goal in the last flickering minutes of the third, ending the suspense.

OT WIN ON THE ROAD
On Saturday it was Stouffville’s opportunity to act as host. Again, the Dukes were burned on the powerplay and trailing 1-0 at the end of the first period.

But then Luc Brown and Dylan Mascarin combined to put the Dukes on the scoreboard early in the second. It was the first goal the Dukes had scored in more than four periods—not since Brown scored the overtime winner in Whitby nearly a week earlier.

Dorian Overland expanded the Dukes’ lead, midway through the final frame. But two minutes later, the Spirit scored to knot the game at two goals apiece. In overtime the fleet-of-foot Dukes had the advantage—with the added room afforded by four-on-four hockey. Two minutes into the overtime period, Mascarin scored from Tyler Burnie to take the road win—the only kind of win the Dukes have mustered so far.