From ashes

Wellington Dukes swing from near death to playoffs

The Wellington Dukes were in trouble. Last summer the team was broken—the coach and general manager, the assistant coaches and even the trainer had bugged out for Trenton. Four Dukes players followed them. Those remaining were cast into the wind.

Rumours had been circulating all summer long. It was unclear if the Dukes—the most storied and winningest franchise in the Ontario Junior Hockey League and perhaps nationally— would have a team in September. To this day, it remains unclear how it arose that this hockey club was left for dead.

Just six months later, however, the Wellington Dukes are a competitive and exciting team once again. The Dukes are preparing for the playoffs this week—the 35th consecutive season this storybook team has achieved this measure of success.

So how did this happen? How did the team go through the devastating loss of virtually every player and staff to emerge in third place in the East Conference? How is it that this team—rent asunder last summer—is preparing for the first round of the playoffs? How did the Dukes survive and manage to put together a thrilling season worthy of Gary Lavender and the many others who had a dream for junior hockey in this village?

Individuals closest to the team point to the arrival of Kent Lewis.

Lewis has spent his life in junior hockey, almost all of it in BC. He played five seasons between Esquimalt, Nanaimo and Victoria. In his final year in the WHL, he scored 35 points in 57 games and racked up 77 penalty minutes. He describes himself as a simple guy. Work hard and be a good teammate.

When his junior career was up, he turned immediately to coaching, first as an assistant coach and thereafter as the head coach of his hometown Powell River Paper Kings. He enjoyed a long string of success and was chosen to coach the Canada West at the World Junior A Challenge in 2011. Lewis led the team to its 35th WJAC championship that year.

But by 2018, his long tenure at Powell River had soured. Lewis and his hometown team parted ways. He was out of hockey for the first time in his life. But then, last summer, he got a call from a former teammate. Ken Clement— the owner of the Dukes—had played with Lewis in Nanaimo.

Clement had a proposal. He laid out the circumstances in Wellington and made a strong case for Lewis to put this franchise back on its feet as coach and director of hockey operations. Before committing, Lewis travelled to Wellington. He wanted to know precisely what he was getting into.

“It was a lot to jump into,” said Lewis in a sitdown conversation with the Times last week, recalling the decision to move across the country into a tumultuous situation. “I was at a point in my life where I had been out of the game for a few years. It was an opportunity to do something I love. I looked at it as a great opportunity and a great challenge.”

He says his family and friends thought the move might be a sign of a mid-life crisis.

“If you’re trying to resurrect your career—maybe you don’t throw yourself into this kind of situation.”

But throw himself he did.

Lewis had little to work with. All the coaches, the staff and all but one player—Connor Hunt—were gone. He credits Clement for giving him the tools and the latitude to surround himself with a strong core—including assistant coach Brian MacKenzie, athletic trainer Caitlin McCuaig, strength coach Dr. Adam Reynolds and goaltending coach Phil Groenveld.

He also had to find a team of players. He leaned on decades-long relationships to find the best he could find. His pitch was simple, “Here is your chance.”

By way of example, Lewis pointed to the Dukes’ captain Dimitri-Alexandre Tzaferis. The defenceman had kicked around a few teams in the BCHL and AJHL but struggled to find his feet.

“I was able—with support from ownership—to assure him he was coming to a healthy and nurturing place,” said Lewis. “Now, just look at the trajectory of his improvement.”

Tzaferis finished the regular season with 40 points in 55 games, including 13 goals, ranking him among the top ten of all Dukes who have played this position for the past 35 years.

The same may be said of the entire team.

“The biggest thing has been about building a culture— building the DNA,” said Lewis. That remains a work in progress.

But the resurrection of the Dukes goes further than on-ice success. The team has always enjoyed—and continues to enjoy—the tireless support of volunteers like Doug Robinson, David Wakefield, Betty Masterson, and Robert Baitley. These folks, however, take their cue from the general manager.

This season the team has done much more to engage the community, the fans and all the other folks who support this team. From celebrating players’ moms, honouring the volunteers, recognizing billet families, and celebrating players who will graduate from this team at the end of the season, there is renewed focus on the intangibles of nurturing a hockey team in a small community.

“We need to really embrace that,” said Lewis. “But we’ve just started. There’s more we are going to do. I want to see them more involved in the schools and the community. It’s good for our kids. They are our best ambassadors.”

The coach is happy with the regular season, but he is already focused on the playoffs.

“We finished a regular season we are proud of,” said Lewis. “We are of the mindset, however, that we’re only getting started.”

The Dukes have earned home-ice advantage and expect to host the Toronto Junior Canadiens on Friday night in Wellington.

“You want to ensure that you don’t regret anything,” said Lewis. “And that it remains fun. There are no certainties. The only thing we know for sure is that we have four more games. That’s it.

“We have to stay positive, stay focused and enjoy the moment. These guys like playing together, coming to the rink every day—I can feel it, I hear it. That, to me, is perhaps the most important thing. It is a healthy and happy place.”