Resurrection

It has been long and rocky journey, but Dylan Mascarin is at last having the break out season his minor hockey success promised.

Dukes finding offensive balance as opponents target Brown and Sokay

Dylan Mascarin figured his junior hockey days were finished. He had bounced around four different leagues—including eight games with the Wellington Dukes last season. But nowhere did his performance match the output of his minor midget season back home in Thunder Bay. That season, he notched 75 points in 63 games. His best season as a junior, however, was his very first—24 points in 42 games. But it trailed southward after that. So he moved to Smith Falls. Then Trail, BC. Then the Dukes. Nothing much happened. A string of injuries marked his early junior career.

Then Fort Frances called. The hosts of the Dudley Hewitt Cup wanted him to come back to northern Ontario. But the now 19- year-old wasn’t interested. So the teams worked out an arrangement that saw Mascarin land in Kanata.

(That deal, incidentally brought Will Cook, another turnaround project, to the Dukes. Cook exploded after Christmas scoring 50 points in 38 games.)

After a lacklustre season in Ottawa’s suburbs, Mascarin was looking for a place to play. He kicked around a few teams. Considered Junior B. Considered quitting hockey.

Then he mustered the courage to call Marty Abrams, coach and GM of the Wellington Dukes. Abrams agreed to give the talented forward another look.

Mascarin scored in his first game back with the Dukes. Against Kingston, no less. Though a losing cause, it was a good start. He scored again in his next game—this time a win against Lindsay. He continued to produce at a good clip and soon earned a position on the Dukes’ top line, alongside Luc Brown and Ben Sokay.

While Brown and Sokay have rightly been receiving the accolades, Mascarin has been quietly racking up the points.

The Dukes recognized his improving performance, naming him their player of the month for December.

And lately, as opposing teams zero in on his linemates, Mascarin has been capitalizing on the extra time and space he has been afforded. In seven games in 2016, Mascarin has notched 10 points, including four goals.

“We always recognized the talent Dylan possesses,” said Abrams. “The difference this season is that he has remained healthy.”

Mascarin’s hockey fortunes were fading a few months ago, but now burn brighter than ever. He already has more points (42) than in any of his previous seasons. He is hoping some NCAA school recruiters are taking notice.

DUKES 3 – TORONTO JUNIOR CANADIENS 5
The Dukes lost their first game of 2016 at home on Friday against the Toronto Junior Canadiens. Prior to the game, the Junior Canadiens, had inked a deal that saw the Toronto Patriots top line move holus bolus to the second place Toronto team. The three new arrivals figured prominently in the win against the Dukes on Friday, scoring four of the five goals.

Sam Tanguay earned his first win as a Duke in Whitby on Sunday—closing the door on a last-second penalty shot.

Despite a two-goal deficit early in the second period, the Dukes finally unleashed their superior speed and skill, scoring three unanswered goals—one from Jacob Panetta with a rocket from the face-off circle and one each from Nicolas Mucci and Tyler Burnie.

But midway through the third period, Toronto turned up the intensity a couple of notches. The Dukes were slow to respond. The Junior Canadiens scored. Before the Dukes could regroup, Toronto scored again. In a minute, the lead had changed hands. There were just five minutes left in the game. With about a minute and a half left in the game, the Dukes pulled netminder Sam Tanguay. A broken play in the Toronto end. The puck squirts loose into the neutral zone. It was a foot race to the puck. Toronto’s newly acquired Nicholas Ursitti was faster.

With the puck looking to go wide and miss the net, Ursitti dove, sweeping the puck into the empty net. He wanted it more.

DUKES 6 – NEWMARKET 1
The Dukes shook off the loss on Saturday night in the NorthEast Showcase tournament held in Trenton over the weekend, facing the Newmarket Hurricanes for the third time this season.

Matt Adams scored his first with the Dukes—two minutes into the game. Mascarin has his first of two midway through the first period. Newmarket scored on the power play a few minutes later. It would be their only marker—and the only blemish on Olivier Lafreniere’s standout performance.

Before the first period was done, Mucci and Shaw Boomhower had tallied for the Dukes, widening their lead to 4-1. Mascarin scored again in the second period. Austin Labelle scored shorthanded in the third.

It was another game that saw the Dukes’ balance coming to the fore. Boomhower, Labelle and Maracle were all over the ice. Burnie, Mucci, and Adams continued to gel as a productive offensive force. St. Aubin and Smith along with Panetta, Bean, Allen and Falcao ably killed four of five penalties assessed to the Dukes.

DUKES 3 – WHITBY 2
On Sunday, the Dukes were back in Trenton to face the Whitby Fury. While stuck in last place in the East, Whitby is a decent team—good enough that their record would put them in the top half of North Division teams.

Any discussion of this game, however, must begin at the end. With a second left in the game, the Dukes were leading 3-2. Whitby was pressing hard for the tying goal. With a crowd around the Dukes’ Sam Tanguay whacking and shoving desperately, the net came off its mooring. The whistle blew. The refs charged Tanguay with delaying the game. They awarded Newmarket a penalty shot. One second on the clock. The mostly Dukes fans in the Trenton rink rained down their disapproval.

Newmarket’s Nic Coric (a former Dukes player) was chosen for the shot. He faked right, swung left. But Tanguay was with him the entire time—calmly swinging his right pad out to stop the shot, salvaging the win for the Dukes.

It should not have come down to this. The Dukes were the better team through two periods. Mascarin had scored shorthanded—breaking in on net, freezing the netminder before sliding the puck around him. Tyler Burnie scored his fifth goal in five games early in the second.

But midway through the period, Whitby scored. They had the momentum. It would stay this way until Sokay scored on the power play— Bean pushing the puck down the wall to Brown. Brown expertly puts the puck on Sokay’s stick in the slot. One time. Nine seconds into the power play.

In the third, Brown was assessed a four-minute penalty for high sticking. Whitby scored on the power play edging within a goal of tying the game. But the Dukes held on—despite the ref’s last second intervention—to win the game 3-2.

UP NEXT: PICKERING AND TRENTON
Pickering visits Wellington this evening to face the Dukes. The Panthers are an unpredictable team—downing Markham one night, losing handily to Newmarket another. Wellington has lost one and won the other in two meetings with Pickering so far this season.

The puck drops at 7 p.m.

On Friday, the Dukes welcome the Trenton Golden Hawks to Wellington. The Golden Hawks will be looking to avenge their loss on January 6 when the Dukes defeated them 4-3 in overtime.

The Dukes, on the other hand, will be looking to make a statement of their own.

Game time is 7:30 p.m.