Tournament week

The Dudley Hewitt Cup arrives in Wellington

Dukes captain Erick Delaurentis breaks out from along the boards and headmans the puck during practice on Monday evening.

The Toronto Lakeshore Patriots emerged as Buckland Cup champions over the Aurora Tigers on Easter Sunday afternoon. The Patriots have earned the right to represent the OJHL at the Dudley Hewitt Cup next week in Wellington. The winner will go on to the RBC Cup in Vernon B.C.

Toronto is a strong, well-rounded team that gets good goaltending from Evan Buitenhuis, who came to the Patriots at the trade deadline in January. With the Patriots, he had a goals-against average of less than two through 12 games. In the playoffs he has allowed an average of just over two goals a game.

The Patriots also lean heavily on defenceman Michael Prapavessis for offence. The OJHL’s top defenceman tallied 50 assists in 47 games played during the regular season. In the playoffs he had 13 assists in 19 games. Picking up his rebounds were forwards Andreas Tsogkas, Kevin Shier, Doug Bonar and Nathan Feric.

The Patriots are a slightly younger team than the Wellington Dukes. But by taking the Buckland they have demonstrated they will be a formidable force as they vie for the Dudley Hewitt Cup.

NOJHL
Kirkland Lake Gold Miners lead their series 3-2. The Soo Thunderbirds avoided elimination on Sunday with a 5-1 win. Game six was set to take place on Tuesday in KirklandLake. Game seven—if needed—is on Thursday in Sault Ste. Marie.

SIJHL
The Fort Frances Lakers were facing elimination on Saturday night as they trailed the Minnesota Iron Rangers 3-1 in that best-of-seven series. Led by their netminder, FortFrances blanked Minnesota on Saturday winning the game 2-0. Then on Monday the Lakers edged the Iron Kings 4-3 in overtime—forcing a game seven showdown. The deciding game will be played in Fort Frances tonight.

There are still good tickets and ticket packages available to be part of all the Dudley Hewitt Cup action.

Contact the Dukes box office or send an email to Betty Masterson at ladybug19@sympatico.ca

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