Sideways

Dukes hit rough patch

After a powerful start in September, the Wellington Dukes are skidding sideways in October—in a division that punishes anything but top performance each and every game. So it is that the Dukes find themselves on Monday morning, second from the bottom of the East Division after flirting with the league leaders last month.

It is hard to put your finger on the problem— it isn’t as though the Dukes are playing badly (they aren’t.) But things that worked in September are sputtering now. Against Newmarket, the Dukes allowed a disorganized, unstructured squad that managed to get just two shots on net in the first period, to stick around and stay close until late in the game. On Sunday they allowed one of the worst teams in the OJHL to beat their young netminder for three goals in the first period. The Dukes battled partway back— but not enough.

Wellington has leaned heavily on Brayden Stortz and Nic Mucci for goal production in the early going, waiting for other lines to develop and take some of the load. Tired of the wait, Dukes coach and GM Marty Abrams shook up the lines on Friday— looking to diversify Wellington’s scoring punch. Brent House moved to joined Mitch Mendonca and Colin Doyle.

Defenceman Mackenzie Warren stays close to Hurricane shooter Owen Ramsey.

Still, Stortz and Mucci were involved in every goal scored on Friday.

The Dukes rely on tenacity— the willingness to compete along the wall, in the corners and in front of opposing team’s net—to emerge with the loose puck and make a play. When the team’s energy level ebbs, so do its scoring chances. And the smaller Dukes players get mauled.

It’s bad all the way around.

It was the Dukes’ second outing against Newmarket. In September, the Dukes had edged the Hurricane 3-2 on the road. Wellington dominated. Rarely did the play visit the east end of the Essroc Arena. But nothing on the scoreboard. That is until the power play. With a bit more room to operate Stortz worked the puck low behind the Hurricane net. He saw his chance and put the puck onto Mucci’s stick. Mucci’s shot was stopped, but bounced to Mendonca waiting on the other side.

Austin Labelle, working with Evan Foley and Jackson Arcan rifled a couple of shots in the period that appeared labelled for the Hurricane net—but both were stopped.

The Dukes would not get on the board again until the second period. Another power play. Mucci’s low shot—perhaps intended as a pass— changed direction and slipped past the Newmarket tender.

A defensive lapse in the third allowed a Newmarket forward to go undetected and take a long lead pass. It was an unfettered break on net, beating Connor Ryckman. It wasn’t as though the game was in doubt—just annoying that it was still close. Stortz sealed the win a few moments later—a lightning quick wraparound that caught the large Hurricane netminder flatfooted.

It was an uneasy victory.

Until Sunday, night the Pickering Panthers had managed to win just a couple games against equally woeful competition. Perhaps more tellingly, both wins had come in the previous week.

Meanwhile, the Dukes had leaned heavily on netminder Ryckman. Cameron Lamour had spent much of September with the Saginaw Spirit of the OHL. So a road game against one of the league’s weaker teams seemed a good way to move the young tender into the rotation.

It didn’t work out well at all. Lamour gave up three goals on 12 shots and didn’t survive the first period. After the third goal, Lamour was pulled and Ryckman returned to the Dukes’ net. These things happen. Lamour is young. He will bounce back.

Meanwhile, the Dukes had a lot of ground to make up. Early in the third, Doyle got his team headed in the right direction finishing a play begun by House. But later in the period, Tyler Harrison was sent to the box for crosschecking.

The Panthers scored with 12 seconds remaining in the man advantage. It was tough goal to give up. It would turn out to be the game winner. A couple minutes later in the second frame, Stortz scored from Mucci and Arcan on the power play.

Connor Ryckman repels one of 26 shots by Newmarket on Friday.

In the third, the Dukes pushed and eventually Brody Morris scored, bringing the Dukes back to within a goal of tying the game. But it had come too late, with just two and and half minutes left in the game. The Dukes pulled their goalie, but Pickering’s Tiger McDonald potted his third goal of the game into an empty net—only his fourth of the season.

The Dukes left Pickering without any points. As Wellington’s schedule drifts toward more divisional matches, such missed opportunities will become more conspicuous.

UP NEXT: WHITBY AND ORANGEVILLE
On Friday, the Dukes welcome the Orangeville Flyers to Wellington. In September, the Dukes subdued the Flyers 5-3 playing in the Governors’ Showcase tournament in Buffalo. Brent House and Brayden Stortz each accumulated four points in that game.