Thriller

Dukes defeat Oakville in an exciting display of speed and tenacity

Some described it simply as the most exciting game they’ve ever witnessed. That’s something. For the Dukes have presented plenty of excitement in Wellington over the decades.

But this was exceptional.

The Oakville Blades were in town. The best team in the OJHL, third highest ranked team in the nation. From the early going it was clear why. Oakville is blazingly fast. They move the puck well and create scoring chances on nearly every rush. They are sound defensively too, with Blade forwards showing as much energy on the backcheck as they do with the puck.

The Dukes were up for this game, however. Coming off a journeyman win in Kingston the night before, the Dukes were keen to prove something on Friday night, in front of their hometown crowd.

The combination of two ultra fast teams provided a thrilling contest. A fast break. Interupted. And the puck was speeding just as fast the other direction.

And, so it was through the first period, though the Dukes managed to spend a bit more time in the Oakville end. They wanted the puck just a bit more. The play went back and forth through much of the first period. But then Daniel Panetta was working in the Oakville corner. Digging. Burrowing. Suddenly he emerged with the puck. Threw it at net from the redline. At the same plane as the net. Impossible angle. But looking for a rebound. His shot hit a skate in the blue paint, and bounced into the net. The Dukes had the lead.

Early in the second, the Dukes pressed the Blades with a strong forecheck from Dawson Ellis, Jacob Vreugdenhil and Adam Usinger. But the Blades were playing a bit of rope-a-dope. When the entire Dukes line changed, the defencemen went too. Then five Oakville skaters were on the attack. The Dukes were caught outnumbered. Some brilliant passes and the puck was behind Logan Bateman and the score was tied. A moment later, however defenceman Zach Uens broke up a pass in his own end, chipping it ahead, creating his own breakaway.

Dukes forward Andrew Rinaldi looks to stuff the puck through the pads of Oakville netminder Will Barber, but was denied. The Dukes emerged victorious, defeating the OJHL’s winningest team.

Uens is gifted shooter with a rifle-accurate slap shot from the point, but his wrist shot is equally well-honed. Clearly the young defenceman put in lots of backyard hours with the Mike Palmateeer net guard with four exposed corners, for Uens can put the puck seemingly where he wants with his wickedly fast wristshot.

And thus, the Dukes retook the lead. Oakville’s netminder Will Barber might have felt like that backyard net guard.

But a couple moments later the Blades tied the game again. It was going to be like this all game long.

Early in the third, Brett Humberstone hit a streaking Keenan Eddy with a pass from the Dukes zone to his forward at centre ice. Nobody back. Eddy swung a wee bit left, pulled back and ripped a shot that handcuffed the Oakville netminder.

Seconds later the Dukes executed another brilliant breakout, this time from Ben Woodhouse to Frank Vitucci, with Andrew Rinaldi on his tail. Vitucci fired. Stopped. Rinaldi was there for the rebound and the Dukes led 4-2.

But it couldn’t hold. Oakville is just too powerful. A few moments after Rinaldi’s goal, Bateman made terrific save, but couldn’t gather the rebound and it was soon in the net.

The Dukes pressed to restore the two-goal lead. The best defence philosophy. But too much. Suddenly Oakville was racing toward the Dukes goalie on another odd man rush. Buried. The game was tied again.

Then, with just two and half minutes remaining in the game, the Blades turned on the heat. Ben Woodhouse was compelled to wrestle his opposite to the ground. There were no good options for the Dukes forward. If he had let his man go in the mid-slot area, the chances were very good he would get the pass and a great scoring chance.

But Woodhouse barely had enough time to rest his butt in the penalty box when the puck came back to the Oakville defenceman on the Dukes’ blueline. The wrist shot whizzed through a forest of bodies past Bateman. The Blades took the lead for the first time in the game. With just over two minutes left in the game.

It seemed the wrong way for this game to end.

And so it was. The Dukes pulled their netminder with 90 seconds remaining. And they dug in. For the next 58 seconds they dominated the Blades. Repeatedly, the Dukes’ defence stopped near-certain clearing attempts, keeping the play alive.

Suddenly Rinaldi had the puck, away from the prone netminder. Over to Elijah Gonsalves in the slot. A yawning net. Shot. The game was tied again.

OT
In the first overtime the play moved back and forth 200 feet at a time. Good chances. Great saves. By the time the second overtime came around and the skaters were reduced from four to three, both teams were exhausted. There was no more elegance or style. This was two competitors who had worn each other out. Fully. Completely.

The Dukes got the better chances, with both Gonsalves and Rinaldi earning breakaways, but Barber was up to the task.

But with just a few seconds left in the second and last overtime period, Vitucci gathered up the puck in front of Bateman and shovelled it through the slot to Dylan Massie who had sneaked to the neutral zone undetected. Massie scooped up the pass, and with time on his side, moved left, then brought the puck back and buried it. The Wellington crowd went bananas.

Defenceman Zach Uens has a killer shot from the blueline, but he showed Dukes fans another weapon on Friday. Forcing an Oakville turnover in his own end, Uens streaked down the wing unfettered. He rifled a wrist shot top corner that was behind the netminder before he knew it was no longer on Uens’ stick.

Defenceman Zach Uens has a killer shot from the blueline, but he showed Dukes fans another weapon on Friday. Forcing an Oakville turnover in his own end, Uens streaked down the wing unfettered. He rifled a wrist shot top corner that was behind the netminder before he knew it was no longer on Uens’ stick.

They were witness to one of the most thrilling games ever played in this rink.

DUKES 4 KINGSTON 3
The night before the Dukes were in Kingston, just as speculation was swirling that the Voyageurs might be done at the end of the season. By Monday, team owners were downplaying the story.

It wasn’t a shining game in Kingston. The Vees managed just 14 shots in the first two periods, to the Dukes 34. By the third, Wellington had accumulated a 3-1 lead on goals from Dawson Ellis, Tim Fallowfield and Frank Vitucci (his 10th point in seven games).

Discipline would emerge again as a challenge for the Dukes. By midway through third, Wellington had already battled through seven penalty kills. Number eight was too much. Kingston drew within a goal of tying the game. A couple of moments later, however, and Jacob Thousand combined with Keenan Eddy to restore the two-goal lead. Three more penalties in the dying minutes made for an unnecessarily exciting finish. With three Dukes skaters stuffed into the penalty box, Kingston scored again. But too late. There was just three seconds left.

The Dukes escaped with the win.

WHITBY 5 – DUKES 1
On Sunday afternoon, the Dukes wilted in their third game in four nights. Not right away, mind you. Tyson Gilmour gave Wellington the lead in the second period, after a fairly even first. But Whitby beat Logan Bateman 14 seconds later to tie the game. Then another Dukes penalty. The Fury scored to take the lead. Another penalty early in the third. The Dukes killed it, but were back on their heels. A couple moments later the Fury scored. And another midway through the period.

In this tightly checked defensive game, the Dukes were limited to just 30 shots. Whitby made more efficient use of its 30 shots on Bateman.

The Dukes were set to take on the Cougars in Cobourg on Monday, but the game was postponed due to the snow storm.

UP NEXT: LINDSAY
The Dukes visit Lindsay on Friday night, their only game this weekend (after four in five nights last week). The Muskies are just playing out the string at this point, as their playoff hopes have been extinguished. Lindsay has been a tough adversary for the Dukes all season long, however. The Muskies won the first two meetings, the Dukes have taken all three since, including an 8-4 adventure earlier this month.

But the sad fact is that Lindsay hasn’t won a game since the middle of December, and are playing like a team that can’t wait for the season to be done.