If the Wellington Dukes were looking for what it might take to hang with the best of the Ontario Junior Hockey League, they received an eyeful on Sunday when the Collingwood Blues skated into Lehigh Arena.

Since the Kingston Voyageurs moved to cottage country back in 2019, there’s been no denying the Collingwood squad assembled by General Manager Mike Tarantino has become the cream of the OJHL crop. The Blues are coming off back-to-back Centennial Cup appearances. They were Canada’s best Jr. A team in 2024, downing the Melfort Mustangs in the National Championship game. In fact, one could argue that since the Vees relocated and rebranded, they’ve usurped Wellington in all the ways that matter.

Collingwood put together a perfect road game, shading the Dukes 3-2 and pushing the local side below the .500 mark at 4-5-0. That score flattered the denizens of the Dukedome as the Blues blasted 41 shots on the Wellington goal. That was compared to 16 shots sent towards Collingwood starter Colten Dillon-Roach.

Playing Catch Up

Collingwood opened the scoring in the first when Damen Boose’s blast caught iron behind Wellington starter Jack Lisson. The puck bounded to Marcus Lougheed who fired it past Mr. Lisson for the game’s opening goal at 10:50. If the Blues had bus legs from the trip southward, it didn’t show as they limited the home side to a paltry three shots.

Early in the second, Mr. Boose was able to secure a loose puck and made it a two goal spread for the Blues 35 seconds in. Wellington pushed back later in the frame as Captain Corey Jewitt fired his fourth of the season on the power play at 4:35.

In the third, Daniel Markevych would pot a powerplay goal to put the game on ice for Collingwood.

The Dukes were able to get back into shouting distance with under ten minutes to go as Zach Mascard fired a shorthanded goal but Wellington ran out of time.

Wellington were able to get back on track in North York on Tuesday, blitzing the Blueshirts 5-2.

Welllington got goals from Tyler Tsoukalas, Ethan Murray and Ben Vreugdenhil in a four minute span in the opening period to give the visiting side a lead they would never give back.

Mr. Jewitt and Logan Sitlani also scored for Wellington. A newcomer in the Wellington net, Noah Davis, picked up the win.

Wellington is in Markham Friday and Toronto Monday for Thanksgiving weekend and finally return home to play Stouffville on Friday, Oct. 18.

Darkened Horizon

The landscape of the Canadian Junior Hockey League of which Wellington is a member is about to change drastically. And not for the better.

NCAA Conference Managers are meeting this week and are expected to remove the professional designation from the Canadian Hockey League. Under the previous rules, players appearing in Major Junior CHL games were ineligible for NCAA competition. For example, a Wellington Duke that might get called up to play for the Peterborough Petes for a game lost their NCAA amateur status.

Soon, major junior players from the Ontario, Quebec and Western Hockey Leagues will be eligible to attend and play for U.S. College and University programs. The removal of the designation is in relation to the Name, Image and Likeness rule the NCAA instituted in 2023. NCAA student athletes are finally allowed to capitalize monetarily from their participation in university sport (Equipment endorsements, video games, trading cards, etc).

What this means for the CJHL is that it will no longer be a pipeline for Canadian players looking to bypass Major Junior in hopes of earning an NCAA scholarship and then a pro contract. At one time, CJHL teams were able to attract top flight prospects such as Cale Makar, Zach Hyman and Colton Parayko who maintained their amateur status in the CJHL, play four years in the NCAA and then go on to be major NHL stars. As a development league, it’s difficult to see the CJHL becoming much more than a feeder system for Canadian universities once graduating Major Junior players start making their way south.