Tightening

Just ten games remain for the Dukes in the regular season

In a league without Trenton, Collingwood and perhaps another couple of teams, the Dukes would be kings. Yet, in Wellington, some fans fret about whether the hometown team will make the playoffs. With just ten games remaining in the regular schedule, the Dukes are perched in the second spot in the East Conference (measured by both points and winning percentage).

Eight teams from each conference will advance to the playoffs beginning in March. That means seven teams separate the Dukes from the Stouffville Spirit—the team sitting on the outside looking in. Yet, just 11 points separate the Dukes from the Spirit. A lot of jockeying can—and will— happen before February is done.

The Dukes, however, control their fate. There are a great many teams who would trade places.

DUKES 1 – TRENTON 4
Corbin Roach, Barrett Joynt and Lucas Lapalm combined to score just 48 seconds into the game in Trenton on Friday. Sadly, the former Dukes now play for the other team. Not long afterward, a line assembled from Trenton’s leading scorer alongside a pair of long-term OHL players at the end of their junior careers extended the Golden Hawks’ lead. Another midway through the second. And another a moment later. Trenton had a 4-0 lead at home.

Yet, the Dukes stayed with it, and late in the second, Ryan Schapp finished a Zander Latreille and Nick Dipaolo setup to put Wellington on the board.

But that was as close as they would come. The shots and chances trailed off.

Trenton is in Wellington on Friday, Feb. 9, for the rematch.

DUKES 5 – HALIBURTON COUNTY 4
Hockey is a simple game. When two evenly matched teams tangle, the team that works harder—battles most persistently along the wall—tends to win more than lose. And the Dukes are nothing if not tenacious and hardworking. Most of the time.

This ethic delivered the team a 3-0 lead in the first period. Very early in the game, Wellington was hemmed in in its own end. But wily forward Ethan Quick won the battle in the Dukes’ zone and snapped an outlet pass to Connor Hunt. Met by the defender at the Huskies’ blueline, Hunt shovelled the puck into an open wing. Then he went to the net. Meanwhile, William Mitchell caught up to the puck and saucered it onto Hunt’s stick. Goal.

Corey Jewitt hammered home a loose puck on the power play to make it a 2-0 lead. Similarly, Pana Ephraimidis buried his shot on the power play through traffic to extend the lead.

But Haliburton isn’t a team to shrink when down. Especially Patrick Saini. He is the last remaining player from the Whitby Fury (the previous incarnation of the Huskies). Saini ripped a hard shot. High. Dukes’ netminder Jack Lisson stopped the shot with his blocker, but there was enough backspin that the puck curled over his glove and dropped into the net.

Just before the end of the frame—a boarding penalty. The Huskies scored on the power play, drawing within a goal of the Dukes.

Thirty seconds into the second period, Saini scored to tie the game at the three.

Midway through the frame, the Dukes were on the power play—but failed to pull ahead. Yet, they continued to work. To push. Haliburton was on its heels. Sacha Trudel scored his seventh of the season. The Dukes once again had the lead.

But just a minute into the third, the Dukes’ feet weren’t yet moving. Wellington coughed up the puck twice in their own zone before the Huskies made them pay, tying the game once more.

On the very next shift, however, William Mitchell fired a heavy shot low on net. Caleb MacDonald managed to redirect. Goal.

The Dukes turned up the pace and kept the fighting Huskies at bay.

It was a hard-fought win. The best kind.

UP NEXT: NORTH YORK AND COBOURG
Three of the Dukes’ final ten games are against the league leaders—Collingwood, Leamington and Trenton. That means that the Dukes really must win the games it should win.

The North York Rangers are having a woeful season and mired at the bottom of the East. The Dukes have won all three matches against the Rangers this season. North York visits Wellington on Thursday night.

Cobourg is a more formidable contestant. The Cougars sit in fifth place in the East Conference but are just three points back of the Dukes—and they have four games in hand. But the Cougars have struggled of late—winning just one of their last four games.

The Cougars have a knack for making undisciplined teams pay by managing to score on a third of their power play opportunities.