Well done

The Dukes reach the summit, but fail to plant the flag

It was magnificent. The Wellington Dukes came within a period of being crowned the very best junior hockey club in the nation—of carrying the RBC Cup high over their heads.

It was all so incredible. Implausible. Unimaginable. Nearly perfect.

It was a season that began in turmoil. The long-time coach and general manager was gone—to run the team in Trenton. The owner was unsure how he would carry on. Michael Mulvihill’s life was in Pembroke, and it was increasingly harder to justify the expense—even though his heart remained with this team and its future in Wellington.

A new investor stepped up to take a majority interest. But Ken Clement wasn’t well known in this community, and his intentions weren’t immediately clear. Not good or bad, just unknown. Randy Uens was appointed to head hockey operations. Scott McCrory took over the head coaching job. Ryan Woodward—a holdover from Marty Abrams’ reign and the captain of the first Wellington team to compete in the RBC Cup championship—was named general manager. Woodward had assembled many of the pieces that would become the core of the 2017-18 Dukes.

The team enjoyed immediate success. They were blazingly fast, astonishingly skilled and most were keen to work harder than their opponents. They were soon atop the standings in the East, a high-water mark that held to the end of the regulation season.

WINNING BUT RAGGED
A wobble began to appear late last year. By far, this was the most undisciplined squad in recent Dukes’ history. Nevertheless, the team overcame a staggering number of penalties, and continued to win.

Jonah Capriotti was exceptional all season long. Especially so in this brilliant playoff run. Poised, he snatches the puck as those around him flinch. Photo: Matthew Murnaghan/Hockey Canada Images.

But when three players—including captain Colin Doyle—left to join Team Canada East in the World Junior A Challenge for a couple weeks straddling November and December, the Dukes drifted sideways. Seemingly rudderless.

Upon their return, the Dukes lost a miserable game against the last-placed Lindsay Muskies just before Christmas. It was an omen.

Over the Christmas break, Woodward, Mc- Crory and the rest of the Dukes coaching staff were dumped. The Dukes were in first place in the East Division.

After a few days of confusion, the team announced that John Druce—coach of the 2017 RBC Cup Champions Cobourg Cougars—was now at the helm. Joining him were former Dukes defenceman Derek Smith and Mike Farrugia, a hockey conditioning and performance specialist.

But the Dukes’ play was spiralling badly. Penalties of the worst kind began to pile up. So did the losses. The team on the ice had become unglued. By early February, the Dukes had lost four of its previous five games. A season of achievement seemed to be unwinding.

All season long, Wellington had been compelled to navigate a wacky, and unfair, schedule—a legacy of the summer’s uncertainty and distraction. So it was that in mid- February, Wellington faced stretch of 11 days without a single game.

It was an opportunity for teams nipping on Wellington’s heels to close in. But that mattered little inside Dukeland. If they couldn’t find a way to break out of this self-imposed dive, the season would soon be over.

We don’t know what happened in those 11 days. We don’t know what Coach Druce might have told them. What their captain might have said. Or whether it was a collective realization that these talented young men were allowing a winning season to fritter away. But something good happened in that break away from the spotlight.

The Dukes came out with four wins in their next five games, capped by a decisive 8-2 thumping of Abrams’ Trenton Golden Hawks in the final game of the regular season. The Dukes’ swagger returned—or more accurately they regained confidence that they could use their skills, talent and work ethic to succeed against any team they encountered. It was a sense they would have to summon several more times over the next two and half months.

THE PLAYOFFS
The Dukes got an early test from the young and much-improved Pickering Panthers. After Wellington earned a two-game lead, the Panthers rebounded to tie the series. Wellington would eventually require seven games to suppress the upstart Pickering team.

Then it was the structured and disciplined Newmarket Hurricanes. It seemed as though the Dukes might be swept early in this series. Two losses to start the series, including a smelly 8-1 loss in Newmarket. But then a key win in game three. Another tough loss in game four put Wellington down three games to one. But the Dukes rebounded with three one-goal victories to move on to the North East conference final.

It was during the Newmarket series that Bryce Yetman, Andrew Barbeau, Frank Pucci and Josh Supryka joined the team. Each of their Junior B teams had been eliminated from the playoffs, and these seasoned and talented players—each with OHL experience—were now eligible to join the Dukes.

They would have a significant impact on their new team.

The Dukes had a bit easier time with the Aurora Tigers, quickly getting ahead in the series three games to one. It would take a couple more overtime games—but the Dukes emerged victorious. Ready to face the mighty Georgetown Raiders—OJHL champs for the past two seasons.

The Dukes notched two surprising wins to start the OJHL championship series against Georgetown. But then gave up a terrible 8-0 penalty-filled mess in Georgetown. It was followed by another lopsided loss in front of hometown fans. It appeared this was as far as the Dukes could go.

Confidence is a maddening, elusive thing. It has the power to push through unimaginable obstacles. When it slackens, however, the simplest tasks become overwhelming.

But then an impressive performance by Jonah Capriotti— this was already an emerging theme of this playoff run—propelled the Dukes to a win in Game five to regain the lead in the series. Then that incredible win at home, capped by Ben Evans’ back pass to Frank Pucci. The Dukes were headed to the Dudley Hewitt Cup.

DUDLEY HEWITT
In Dryden, the Dukes lost to the hosts in Game one of the tournament. The Ice Dogs had been nationally ranked much of the season and were considered the tournament favourites. But even in the loss, the Dukes appeared to be the better team.

The Dukes would not lose another game in the tournament. In the final game they faced off once again with the Dryden Ice Dogs. For two periods the game went back and forth. In the third, however, the Dukes skated away with three goals, securing the Dudley Hewitt Cup and earning their place in Chilliwack to compete for the RBC Cup.

For the third time in their history the Dukes would challenge for the national championship.

CHILLIWACK
It was tough going in Chilliwack. The Dukes won just a single game in the four-game round robin—defeating the Steinbach Pistons. More warm-up than competition, only one team (Steinbach) was eliminated after a week of tournament play, while the unbeaten team—the Wenatchee Wild—earned only the right to choose either the afternoon or evening semi-final game.

The American entrant chose the early game and faced the Wellington Dukes. Most of the wise persons writing and commenting from Chilliwack didn’t give the Dukes much hope of success against this powerhouse team, based 50 kilometres east of Seattle. Many were already anticipating an all-BCHL final with the Chilliwack Chiefs.

But the Dukes and Jonah Capriotti had other plans.

On their heels in the first period, the Dukes scrambled in their own zone after killing a penalty. Declan Carlile banked a clearing pass off the wall. Bryce Yetman, flying under the radar, was behind the Wild defence. He gathered up the pass, skated across the goal mouth lifting the puck past the Wild netminder. The crowd was stunned into silence.

The Dukes kept working, not allowing the Wenatchee forwards to move without a check, without a stick in the passing lane. Yetman stealthily forced a turnover in the neutral zone and again skated to the net unfettered. The Wild netminder made a terrific toe save.

On the next shift the Wild scored to tie the game at one goal apiece.

skated through the neutral zone with Daniel Panetta surging up the wing. Panetta went to the net, beating the defenceman. Pucci expertly threaded a pass, through traffic onto Panetta’s stick. Redirect. The Dukes had the lead again. They would not let it go.

Unbelievably, they had beaten the tournament favourites and would go on to compete in the RBC Cup final—for the very first time.

FINAL GAME
The streets of Wellington were strangely quiet on Sunday night, the villagers glued to their television screens at home or at several venues across the village, to watch the Dukes compete in the final game with Chilliwack for the RBC Cup.

The Dukes picked up right where they left off on Saturday. Tight checking from every line. Hard work. Winning face offs. Capriotti was amazing. Then, on his first shift, Andrew Rinaldi scooped up the loose puck at mid ice and bulled his way into the Chilliwack zone. Behind the net. With defencemen draped over him, Rinaldi slipped the puck into the slot. McGeen’s quick snap shot beat the netminder. The Dukes had a 1-0 lead.

The Chiefs tied the score early in the second. Then a Dukes penalty. But with the man-disadvantage, Mitchell Martan skated the puck up the right wing, pulling up at the face-off circle and cutting to the slot, losing his defender. Low hard shot. Goal. The Dukes regained the lead.

It seemed the Dukes and Capriotti might yet make it to the top of this mountain.

But in the third, the Chilliwack team came out with extra speed and tenacity. The Dukes struggled to clear their zone. Chasing the puck. Hoping. Praying. It wouldn’t be enough.

Cycling. Cycling. Shot from the top of the slot area. Through traffic. Chilliwack goal. Tie game.

More cycling. The Dukes were losing the battles along the wall. Failing to clear their zone. Puck on net. Two whacks. Goal.

Then the killer. Seven minutes left in the game. The Dukes were moving the puck desperately. They had more time, but it didn’t feel that way. A defence-to-defence pass behind Capriotti went astray, rolling pitifully out to the untended ice in front of the Wellington netminder. The Chiefs forward leapt on the puck. Pass to his partner. Tip. Goal. That was it.

LEGACY
The disappointment of Sunday’s loss will fade quickly in Wellington. For this was a most amazing season. Full of surprises and drama. And achievement. For the young men on this team, it will be a launching pad to bigger and better things—education, pro careers and life beyond hockey. They will always have these stories.

It is another thrilling chapter in the unbelievable fabled story of the Wellington Dukes.

So it was fitting and just that the TSN commentator, Craig Button, would recognize Gary Lavender in the broadcast on Sunday night, pointing to the role Lavender played in establishing the Dukes in Wellington and creating a hockey powerhouse that is known and admired across this country and the US.

We are truly fortunate in this community to share in this success.