Steamroller

Dukes find little resistance against Trenton and Carleton Place

The Wellington Dukes continue to roll through the preseason, racking up three more impressive wins on the weekend. The team continued their dominance of their cross-bay rivals Trenton—downing the Golden Hawks by identical 5-1 scores on Friday under the DukeDome and on Saturday on the road.

It was the Dukes fans’ first glimpse of Malcolm Subban, younger brother to P.K.. He didn’t disappoint. Subban kicked away all shots he faced on Friday. The only puck to pass him was a deflection on Saturday. The weekend also saw the return of Jordan Ruby to the Wellington net. Ruby was perfect in the two half-games in which he appeared on the weekend.

All Dukes netminders were protected well by a strong defence corps and energetic checking of all four forward lines.

On Sunday the Dukes racked up eight unanswered goals before letting up the pressure, enabling Carleton Place to come back and pot a couple of goals. The Dukes would get one more, rounding out the 9-2 thumping of the Carleton Place club. Notably, nine different Dukes players found the net in Sunday’s game.

But now comes the hard part. This week and next, the Dukes will need to pare down to about two dozen players. It can be the toughest part of the season for the general manager and the team: deciding who should stay and who should go. And why.

The problem is particularly acute on the Dukes’ attack where there is a bounty of talent from which to choose.

“I really believe we have 18 forwards who can play in this league,” said Dukes General Manager and Head Coach Marty Abrams. “It will come down to all kinds of factors. Who’s local and who’s a billet? Who will accept which role? Age factors. That will be the challenge in the next two or three days. Plus we have five guys up front who are at OHL camps.”

In total, the Dukes have at least nine players testing the waters with Major Junior ‘A’ teams this week or next. Some won’t return. But how many and who just compounds the decision-making complexity.

Despite the uncertainty, Abrams must whittle his squad down to a manageable size before the team travels to Vermont for the annual Woodchuck Classic tournament beginning on Sept. 9.

As soon as the team returns it will be thrust into the regular season, beginning with a tilt in Kingston on Sept. 16—the first time these teams will have met since the Dukes beat out Kingston in four straight games to win the East Division championship in 2008.

TAKING SHAPE

In net the Dukes are solid. Jordan Ruby is back and playing well in pre-season action.

Malcolm Subban has also played well, but his fate is controlled by the Belleville Bulls and the choices they make this week and next. Fortunately for the Dukes, Ryan MacDonald has also been strong in the Dukes net in pre-season action.

“We have three guys who’ve shown they can stop the puck in this league,” said Abrams. “Number one is Jordan Ruby. Malcolm’s future depends what the Bulls decide to do. And Ryan has shown he is ready to play at this level.”

DEFENCE, HOWEVER, IS A WORRY

Cole Murduff is fighting for a spot on the Peterborough Pete’s club this week. Meanwhile, Curtis Leonard and Matt LeCavalier will skate with the Bulls in tryouts this week.

Bulls prospect Dillon Walker was injured in his second game and is sidelined. So too is another Bulls pick, Mike Mountford. Suddenly, one of the Dukes’ areas of strength has, perhaps, some very big skates to fill.

Up front the Dukes have a different problem. There is a lot of talent and scoring punch fighting for just a dozen or more spots. There will be no easy answers to this dilemma.

IDENTITY

By now the makeup and character of the 2010/11 Dukes team is beginning to take shape.

Those who make this squad will need to buy into this identity.

“I think the way this team will be successful will be to approach each game with a very strong four-line approach,” said Abrams, “with lots of energy, lots of forecheck and lots of skating.

“I think we have good team speed, but we also have good team size. We need to utilize both to our advantage. I think this is a little bit different than we had last year—primary scoring.

“There will be little difference between the four linesand virtually no difference between second and fourth. It will be a real balanced attack—the only question will be are we good enough.”

NEXT UP: COBOURG

The Cobourg Cougars and Wellington Dukes shared identical 4-0 records as of Monday.

“They’ve been real good in pre-season. They’ve got a real good goaltender (Mathieu Cadieux) back from Division I (NCAA) school. They’ve solidified their goaltending which was a problem for them last year. I think it is going to be a very, very entertaining game on Friday night.”