Slip

The Dukes look to reboot with games against Newmarket and Pickering

The East is a tough division. Its lowest ranked team, the Kingston Voyageurs, would occupy the middle of the pack or better in any other OJHL division. All five teams in the East own a winning record so far in the 2016/17 season. It’s not the case in other divisions. Nevertheless, the East is where the Wellington Dukes live.

After sharing the Division lead a week ago, The Wellington Dukes have slid to third place this week after playing Stouffville to a draw last Thursday and dropping a narrow decision to Georgetown at home on Friday. (Though technically tied with Whitby at 19 points, the Dukes slip to third because they’ve scored fewer goals than the Fury).

It seems a slight lapse, yet a harsh outcome. Such is the contest for survival in the brutal jungle of the East Division.

The good news is that the Dukes sit just a point back of the leaders, the Trenton Golden Hawks. The Cobourg Cougars, however, have a couple of games in hand and have lost just one game in ten outings—their sole loss coming at the hands of Wellington.

Opposing teams have begun to target the Dukes’ top line, draping massive bodies over nimble and wily playmakers Brayden Stortz and Nic Mucci—looking to wear them down. So the Dukes must turn to Colin Doyle’s line, with Austin Labelle and Evan Foley as well as to newcomer Mitch Mendonca alongside Tyler Harrison and Jackson Arcan to seize the opportunity presented to them.

Connor Ryckman has been strong in net and assisted ably by his defence corps. Ryckman owns the fourth best goals against average and save percentage in the league.

DUKES 2 – STOUFFVILLE 2
In Stouffville, the Dukes fell a couple of goals behind early in the first period, before Harrison scored, narrowing the Stouffville lead to a goal. But a string of penalties, five consecutive minors to be precise, in the second and third period hampered the Dukes’ ability to even the score. But late in the third, with the penalty debris cleared, Brent House scored to tie the game. Despite two five-minute overtime periods the game remained tied. And that is how it finished. Shootouts no longer decide deadlocked games.

DUKES 3 – GEORGETOWN 4

Defenceman Keegan Ferguson is a speedy and energetic force on the Dukes blueline.

Georgetown has put together a team with a lot of dimension—it has size, speed and skill in equal portions. They play smart, structured hockey. It is why the Raiders are a perennial contender in the OJHL West Division.

Yet it was smarter play by the Dukes that enabled the hometown to gain the lead on Friday. Defenceman Justin Bean’s primary job in the offensive zone is to keep the puck inside the blueline. It is often a tricky balance— when to back off and when to push forward. The wrong decision could lead to a breakaway on your netminder.

So it was that the puck was rimming around the boards on a Dukes’ power play. It looked to be leaving the zone when Bean slid over to stop the puck with his knee. It was a gamble. Had he failed, the puck would have slid by him—and a speedy Georgetown forward would have had a break.

But he didn’t fail. He kept the puck in. He got to his feet and fired it deep. Harrison won the battle along the back wall and put the puck out to Carter Allen coming in from his point. Allen passed the puck across to Bean. Bean’s shot zipped through traffic and into the Georgetown net.

But the lead wouldn’t last. The Dukes struggled on the face-off throughout the game. Midway through the first, the Georgetown centreman won the puck cleanly, sliding it to a shooter alone in the slot. A well-honed set play. With time, the shooter picked his spot and fired. The game was tied.

Just seconds after that goal, Allen was penalized for roughing. Georgetown again won the face-off, set up its power play formation and scored ten seconds later.

In the second period Mendonca scored his first goal as a Dukes player, ably manoeuvring around the Raiders’ 6-foot 7-inch defensive tower, Jacob Payette.

Later in the period, Georgetown regained the lead. But early in the third, the Dukes working with a two-man advantage, Mucci and Stortz finally had some room to move and soon had the game tied again.

Georgetown turned up the heat. Meticulously breaking up the play in the neutral zone, dumping it deep and working it around the edge. Over and over again. Until the Duke defenders were exhausted. The Raiders tightened the vise. The puck was in the net.

The Dukes pressed but could not find the equalizer. The Dukes fans cheered a hard fought, but losing effort.

UP NEXT: NEWMARKET AND PICKERING
The Hurricanes have a new coach since Wellington last faced the team in September. Tom Milne has not yet been able to reverse Newmarket’s fortunes. In its most recent match, the Hurricanes squandered a 3-1 lead in Markham before losing in 4-3 overtime. It is a team still struggling with confidence.

In Pickering, the Panthers are living a similar story. Brutal in September, the Panthers are gaining some credibility in October—though still with just a single win in 11 games. Pickering beat Orangeville on Saturday and was edged by Whitby 3-2 on Monday. The Panthers have played just two games at home so far; they will be eager to give their fans a reason to cheer when the Dukes visit on Sunday night.