March 2, 2026
By Brock Ormond
(Photos: Ed McPherson / OJHL Images)(Graphics Tyler Brown)
DUKES 5 MUSKIES 1 – The Wellington Dukes’ graduating players took center stage in their regular season finale on Sunday night.
The quartet of Sacha Trudel, Will Mitchell, Kyle Grasby and Cain Tucker combined for seven points in a 5-1 victory over the Lindsay Muskies after being recognized pre-game by the Dukes organization.
The game may not have had an impact on the standings, but both teams came out for a playoff tune-up with gusto.
Trudel got the scoring started by burying a rebound late in the first period.
Wellington broke the score open with three more unanswered tallies in the third, with Mitchell tapping in a backdoor feed from Zack Carrier, Ethan Fredericks notching his first OJHL goal on a backhand and Trudel lasering a shot under the bar for his second of the night and 19th of the year.
Jackson Bathgate slinged a shot over Dryden Riley about two minutes into the third to at least get Lindsay on the board, but it was ultimately not their night.
Aiden Lee fired a dart past Thomas Lima on the powerplay for his 13th of the year to put a bow on the campaign.
Trudel and Carrier each had three points on the night, with Mitchell adding two and Grasby, Tucker, Carson Albert, Liam Campbell and Tristan Williams chipping in with one each.
Riley made 29 saves to help the Dukes finish 27-20-4-5 on the season with 63 points and sixth place in the East Conference.
Wellington’s first round opponent in its 37th straight Buckland Cup postseason will be the third seeded Pickering Panthers.
Stay tuned to the Dukes’ social media pages for the full schedule release this upcoming week.
Previous games:
BLUES 5 DUKES 2
The Wellington Dukes got a good pre-postseason test against another strong West Conference opponent.
The Collingwood Blues outshot the Dukes 50-23 and won 5-2 on Tuesday night at Eddie Bush Memorial Arena.
Collingwood got on the board first on a Talan Palmer goal with a little more than three minutes to go, while outshooting Wellington 16-3, but the stellar play of Royden Smith kept the Blues at bay.
The Dukes stemmed the Blues tide for most of the second period and began to chip away in shots before Landon Marleau got on the board with 3:37 to go in the second with his 22nd of the season.
Lorne Miles and Zach Mascard drew the helpers.
Collingwood came through to re-take the lead a minute later through Declan Bowmaster, before Brayden Stumpf went upstairs on Smith in the waning seconds of the period for what turned out to be a huge goal to win the game.
The Blues tacked on two more from Wyatt Jinman and Tyler Cristofaro, with Sacha Trudel’s 17th of the season trimming the gap late from Blake Berthiaume and Marleau.
Smith finished with 45 saves on 50 shots.
FLYERS 7 DUKES 0
The Dukes had a tough time of it in their road finale on Thursday night against another intimidating opponent from the West.
The Leamington Flyers jumped ahead 2-0 after the first and cruised to a 7-0 rout of the Dukes in their one and only regular season meeting.
Smith and Dryden Riley split the net for Wellington as the Dukes were outshot 49-29.