A four point match up against their arch rival Friday, a date with the OJHL”s leading outfit in Toronto Saturday night  and a make up game the following afternoon more than halfway to far western Ontario awaits the Wellington Dukes this weekend.

On the heels of a 1-1 split where the locals beat a path to the Halliburton Huskies net Friday Feb. 3 and then lost a squeaker in Toronto to the Patriots the following night, Wellington has a tall order this weekend if they want to keep a toe hold on a home ice advantage in the first round of the 2023 OJHL playoffs.

Wellington welcomes their Loyalist Parkway rivals Trenton to Lehigh Arena on Friday night and with a three point lead and a game in hand, the Dukes will be looking to beat back the Golden Hawks.

On Saturday night, Wellington is in Toronto to take on the Junior Canadiens.

The Baby Habs have run away with the OJHL Regular Season title and have only four regulation losses in 45 games so the Dukes hopes of taking a point or two from the Scotiabank Pond should be tempered.

On Sunday afternoon, the Dukes are in Caledon to take on the Admirals who were eliminated from post season consideration some time ago.

Wellington kicked off last weekend with a hot start, dumping the Huskies 6-1.

After the visitors notched a goal off the stick of Ty Collins in the fifth minute of the first period, the contest was all Wellington.

Connor Hunt would tie the game at the 2:36 mark of the second off a slick set up from David Campbell.

In the third, the Dukes erupted for five unanswered goals.

Jacob Dietz would set up Jacob Vreugdenhil for the tally that would stand up as the game winner at 4:39 of the final stanza.

Goals off the sticks of Edward Moskowitz, Matheson Mason, Campbell and Barrett Joynt over the final 15 minutes of the period allowed the Dukes to cruise home.

Jacob Osborne made 23 stops in the win.

On the following night, the Dukes tried to play comeback on the Patriots at Westwood Arena but it was the hosts notching a go ahead goal late.

The Dukes fell behind in the opening period as Jack Piper and Jacob Guest found the net behind starter Ethan Morrow a the midway point of the frame to build a 2-0 lead.

In the second, a power play tally off the stick of Ryan Cutler at 8:22 off helpers from Campbell and Luke Strickland carved the Pats lead in half.

Wellington completed the comeback early in the third as Strickland’s 5th goal in his sixth game as a Duke off an individual effort squared the affair at 2-2.

Wellington outshot the Pats by a healthy margin, sending 43 volleys at Toronto tender Chris Quizi but it was Gabriel Ciarello who would be solving Morrow with a goal with less than 10 minutes left to push the hosts ahead to stay at 3-2.

Wellington has nine games left in their regular season. After the aforementioned three games in three days this weekend, the club has home games against Cobourg, Caledon, and Lindsay along with road trips to Lindsay, Trenton and Oakville.