NEWS

Pickering Panthers defenceman Joshua Jones and Wellington Dukes leading pointgetter Mitchell Martan will meet in the first round of the OJHL playoffs beginning Friday. (Photo by Ray MacAloney / OJHL Images)

Ontario Junior Hockey League writer Ron Valentine is previewing all eight first-round playoff matchups.

By Ron Valentine

 

WELLINGTON (2) vs PICKERING (7)

The second-seeded club in the North/East Conference's wait is over to find their first-round opponents as the Wellington Dukes will play the 'upstart' Pickering Panthers. The series begins Friday night in Wellington.

Meetings between the two clubs have been, for the most part, close with the Dukes taking the games by 3-2, 6-1, 4-3 and 3-2 scores. 

 

This has been a remarkable comeback season for the Panthers following a nine-win, 21-point campaign in 2016-2017 and general manager/head coach David Demarinis sees no reason why it should not end with a good playoff run.

“The team's goal was to make the postseason and now that's accomplished let's see how far we can go", he says.

A recent run of injuries has slowed the team down somewhat but the coach is hopeful to have everyone back in uniform by the start of this round. His club, consisting almost entirely of locally born players, has been one of the pleasant surprises in the OJHL this season having reached the 25-win mark. They also dropped 16 games by just one goal.

Two big acquisitions this season have really helped out offensively with Andrew Hughes coming back from the Stouffville Spirit and Brock Traill from the Lindsay Muskies. Both are in their final year of junior hockey. Both surpassed the 20-goal mark with their two clubs combined as did captain Josh Argier. Trail and Argier also played in Stouffville

Dustyn McFaul and Mitchell Doyle have proven to be two of the top prospects on the blueline, which is led by returnee Joseph Franzin.

Goaltending has been one of the highlights of the season for the team with rookie Ethan Langevin and veteran Adam Wisco splitting the games.

“Though we do not have a lot of veteran players at this level on the club we do have a lot who have been winners at lower levels and on championship teams and they have developed that trait,” says Demarinis. "To beat the Dukes, who are a very good club, we have to play a full 60 minutes with no lapses and try to keep the puck in their end as much as possible to defuse the offensive capabilities of players like (Mitchell) Martan and (Mitch) Mendonca.”

The coach also points out that the 6-1 loss to the Dukes occurred early in the season and there have been many positive changes since that time.

 

It seemed for a long part of the season that the Wellington Dukes had wrapped up at least the No. 2 seed in the North/East Conference, if not first overall. But a late surge from the Kingston Voyageurs, who almost caught the Dukes atop the East – things were not decided until game No. 53. 

The Dukes had long held the desirable home-ice advantage but during the course of the regular season they won one more game on the road (17 to 16).

Another interesting stat is the fact that they lost five overtime games and tied three. Wins in those eight would have put them over the 80-point mark. They had a dozen extra-time games in all but not one in their last 16 contests.

Three players reached the 25=goal mark led by Teddy McGeen, with 33. McGeen split the previous season between the BCHL's Powell River Kings and the GOJHL's Chatham Maroons. Mitchell Martan found the net 26 times and Andrew Rinaldi had 25 goals. Seven players had 15 goals or more.

Other than Geoff Lawson, who came in from the Brooks Bandits in Alberta and is in his last season, the defense corps is young but very talented. in goal, Jonah Capriotti has surprised many with his five shutouts and the club got trade deadline help in the person of veteran Tyler Richardson who came from Lindsay. 

 

Head Coach John Druce, who took over the club in November, coached the Cobourg Cougars to the RBC Cup championship last season. The ex-NHLer is optimistic going into the series but expects the Panthers to provide very tough opposition. In a season like this he says, there are bound to be upsets and the wants to make sure the Dukes are not among those.

He praised the efforts, among many, of McGeen who has done everything asked of him this season, his young and talented blueline group, the dedication of Capriotti and the commitment of the players led by captain Colin Doyle, whose hat trick against Kingston with top spot on the line personified his leadership role.

Noting that it's always difficult to come to a new team in mid-season he now feels that the guys have all 'bought in' and all ready to go. We (half) joked about the possible headlines in May: 'Coach wins consecutive RBC's with two different teams’ – but there is a lot of hockey to be played between now and then!

 

The conference playoffs look wide open this season though the Dukes' record would install them as favourites in this series but the Panthers have come so far, they do not want to stop now!