Dukes valiant effort downed by Vipers

After a valiant effort the Dukes lost semi-final play to the Vipers 4-1 Saturday in Camrose, Alberta. Lori McGinnis photo

Wellington Dukes 1 – Vernon Vipers 4
From www.hockeycanada.ca
CAMROSE, Alta. – Bryce Kakoske had a pair of goals to lead the offence as the Vernon Vipers advanced to the championship game at the RBC Cup for the third year in a row with a 4-1 semifinal win over the Wellington Dukes on Saturday.

Kakoske’s first goal, with 8.6 seconds left in the first period, broke the ice against Wellington goaltender Jordan Ruby, who stood on his head in the opening frame to keep the Dukes in the game.

Patrick McGillis and David Robinson also scored for the Vipers, who are the first team to ever earn a chance for three straight national titles – the 1992 Vernon Lakers lost in the semifinals and the 1983 Prince Albert Raiders failed to get out of the SJHL playoffs, ending their run of six straight league championships.

Elliott Richardson scored the lone goal for Wellington, a flip in from centre ice that skipped past Vernon netminder Kirby Halcrow to pull the Dukes to within a goal at 2-1 eight minutes into the third period. Ruby turned in his best performance of the tournament, making 35 saves, but it wasn’t enough to keep the Dukes from their second RBC Cup semifinal loss; they lost 3-2 to the Humboldt Broncos in 2003.
Sunday, the Vipers missed their hat trick of consecutive RBC cup wins as they fell to the Pembroke Lumber Kings 2-0.

Mid way thru third period, Vernon ahead 3-1. Lori McGinnis photo

After a valiant effort the dukes lost to the vipers. 4-1. Lori McGinnis photo

Dukes keep semi final hopes alive

The Wellington Dukes have made it to the RBC Cup semi-finals and will play Saturday against the host Camrose Kodiaks.  The two teams met this past Sunday with the Kodiaks coming out on top 3 to 2 on the strength of three second period goals.  Game time is 4 p.m. Eastern.
From www.hockeycanada.ca: (Visit site for photos)
CAMROSE, Alta. – The top line of Joe Zarbo, Sean Rudy and Steve Evans combined for nine points as the Wellington Dukes earned their first win of the 2011 RBC Cup with a 6-3 victory over the Portage Terriers on Thursday afternoon.

The win keeps Wellington’s semifinal hopes alive – a victory by Pembroke over Vernon in Thursday’s late game puts the Dukes into the final four, while a Vernon victory leaves three teams at 1-3 and means a tie-breaking formula would be required.

Zarbo and Evans scored twice and added an assist each, Darcy Murphy and Brian Bunnett had goals and Rudy finished with three assists to give Wellington (1-3) the win despite being outshot 40-25. Jordan Ruby had his best game in the Dukes’ goal, making 37 saves.

Tyler Moore, Cory More and Yvan Pattyn scored the goals for Portage (1-3), which lost its third in a row after opening the tournament with a win last Sunday. The goals from More and Pattyn in the final 15 minutes could be important for the Terriers if  Vernon beats Pembroke and math comes into the equation.

Dukes down one,  play again tonight

By Ross Lees
The Wellington Dukes got off to a strong start at the RBC Cup competition in Camrose, Alberta, Sunday night, but they couldn’t maintain the effort as they lost 3-2 to the host Camrose Kodiaks.

The Dukes held 1-0 and 2-1 leads in the game before the Kodiaks finally scored on the power play to give themselves the one and only lead they would need in the game before about 1,700 fans in Camrose, including a small contingent of about 30 fans from Prince Edward County.
The big, older team from Camrose employed a physical brand of hockey to eventually overpower the smooth skating Dukes, who never seemed to put their game together on the smaller ice surface in the Camrose arena. Jordan Ruby was harassed throughout the game by big bodies trying to block his view of the puck and his fellow Dukes just could not get good, inside chances on Galon Flett, the Kodiak goaltender.

Joe Zarbo opened the scoring at 16:50 of the first period on the power play with assists going to Sean Rudy and Steve Evans.
Despite a strong, aggressive forecheck by the Kodiaks, the Dukes out shot the Camrose squad 17-6 in the first period, but the trap employed by the Kodiaks limited the damage the Dukes could do.

Early in the second period, the Kodiaks scored an even strength goal on Jordan Ruby off a rebound to tie the score at 3:09 of the period.
Shortly thereafter, Steve Evans took advantage of another power play opportunity to score Wellington’s second goal on a turnover with an assist from Sean Rudy.

This lead was short lived as the Kodiaks came back with another even strength goal at the 7:53 mark to again tie the game.
On a power play of their own, the Kodiaks won two face offs to score on a blast through traffic to garner the lead, which they would nurse throughout the third period for their first win of the tournament. The Kodiaks lost to Vernon Saturday night in the first game of the RBC tournament.

While there was no scoring in the third period, Ruby was forced to make several excellent saves to keep the score at 3-2.
Sean Rudy was named player of the game for Wellington.

Wellington out shot the Kodiaks 44-26 in the game but were out hit in the first two periods 35-6.
In post-game analysis, Jack Miller of CJBQ felt the Dukes did not play with urgency while the Kodiaks used the trap successfully to limit the Dukes’ effectiveness in the third period.

Wellington is now 0-1 in the tournament with Pembroke, Camrose is 1-1, and Vernon is 1-0 along with Portage, who defeated Pembroke 5-2 earlier in the day on Sunday.
The Dukes play Pembroke tonight at 9:30 p.m. EST. The game will be broadcast on Rock 107.1 FM as the election takes top billing on CJBQ tonight.
Camrose has appeared in the RBC tournament six times throughout the 2001 to 2010 period, but has only won the event once, in 2001.
Wellington meets Vernon Wednesday night at 5:30 p.m. EST and then plays Portage Thursday night at 5:30 p.m. EST.
All teams in the tournament will be trying not to place fifth, as that team does not advance to the semi-final games on Saturday. The winners of the semi-final games play in the championship game on Sunday.

Dukes RBC Cup challenge begins Sunday

Ross Lees
The Wellington Dukes Provincial Junior A hockey team was congratulated by Prince Edward County council Tuesday night and received a wish of good luck as they proceed to Alberta this weekend to compete in the Royal Bank Cup, the symbol of supremacy in Provincial Junior A hockey in Canada.
Mayor Peter Mertens announced the team’s Dudley Hewitt Cup win in Huntsville on the weekend and asked councillor Jim Dunlop to fill in the details for council.
Dunlop began by noting there were 172 Tier II teams across Canada and that Wellington comes from one of the smaller if not the smallest centre. Despite this, Wellington often has more fans at games than their competition and more than 400 travelled to Huntsville last Saturday for the final game against the hometown Huntsville Muskoka Otters, which Wellington won 5-3.
Dunlop noted this was the second time the team had won the Dudley Hewitt Cup (also winning 2003) and it was the second time they would compete for the RBC cup. He said the team often had several local players like this year’s Jeff Stanton, Cam Yuill and Mitch Rosborough, who had played part of the year then had to quit due to job commitments. This popular local team also gives several players each year the chance to win scholarships to American universities.
According to Dunlop, there may be the opportunity for local residents to watch their team compete at the RBC competition at the Wellington and District Community Centre on a big screen with live feeds from Alberta. He also indicated the Dukes hope to host the Dudley Hewitt Cup competition within a couple of years.
“This is quite an accomplishment and tribute to the County and I believe we should congratulate them on their Dudley Hewitt Cup win and wish them luck in Alberta,” Dunlop noted.

The battle for Dudley
The Dukes got off to a stellar start at the Dudley Hewitt Cup tournament by defeating the two American entries – the Wisconsin Wilderness and the Soo Eagles – 7-2 and 7-1 respectively in their first two games. But the Huntsville Otters used a tenacious forecheck to throw the Dukes off their game somewhat in the third game of the tournament to defeat them 3-2 in double overtime, preventing the Dukes from advancing directly to the final on Saturday and forcing them to play the Soo Eagles in a semi-final match Friday night to qualify for the final.
This qualifier was to prove epic, as it became the longest game played in the Huntsville tournament, no easy feat considering the Soo Eagles had just fought through a quadruple overtime game to defeat the Wisconsin Wilderness to advance to the qualifier.
Tied at two at the end of regulation time, the Dukes and Eagles played to almost the half way mark of the fourth overtime before Wellington finally scored to win the game at approximately 12:15 a.m. Saturday morning. Just over 16 hours later, they would again have to meet the tough, home town Otters in the final. The Otters had earned the Friday off with the win over the Dukes on Wednesday.
Surprisingly, the Dukes drew first blood in the final only to see the Otters tie it, a situation which reoccurred twice before the second period ended.
Despite the fact the Dukes had taken the hard way to the final, they scored two unanswered goals in the final frame by Darcy Greenaway and Joe Zarbo to claim the Dudley Hewitt Cup before 1700 fans and kill the hopes of the Otters, a team built to compete in competitions like the Dudley Hewitt Cup and the RBC Cup.
On to the RBC
First game – May 1, 9:30 p.m. EST – Camrose vs Wellington
May 2 – 9:30 p.m. EST – Wellington vs Pembroke
May 4 – 5:30 p.m. EST – Wellington vs Vernon
May 5 – 5:30 p.m. EST – Portage vs Wellington
May 7 – Semifinal playoff round
May 8 – Championship game

The Wellington Dukes won the Dudley-Hewitt Cup Central Canada Jr. A hockey championship against the Huntsville Otters, Saturday with a  5-3 tally. The champs take to the ice in Camrose, Alberta for the National Cup next month. They had defeated the Soo Eagles 3-2 in a quadruple overtime game that started Friday and ended early Saturday morning. Lesley Lavender photos