NEWS

(pictured - Brian Bunnett is back in the fold with the Wellington Dukes and hopes to help them capture a second Dudley-Hewitt Cup title in four years - photo credit: Shawn Muir/OJHL Images)

tory by Jason Parks of The Picton Gazette (www.pictongazette.com)

After a long layoff, the Wellington Dukes are prepared to host the 2014 Dudley-Hewitt Cup, Central Canadian Junior 'A' Championship.

The priming and pumping continues this week at Essroc Arena as the Wellington Dukes are on the hunt for another Dudley Hewitt Cup Championship.

Winners of the Central Canadian crown in 2003 and 2011, the locals have a direct birth into the four team tournament thanks to the fact they are hosting the 2014 event.

Three other clubs will be dragging their playoff weary bodies here this weekend in advance of round robin play which gets underway Tuesday night.

While the OJHL championship was decided earlier this week when the Toronto Lake Shore Patriots toppled the Aurora Tigers in six games for the the Buckland Cup, the series to cement the Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League and the Superior Junior Hockey League clubs that will vie for the Dudley Hewitt Championship and a birth to the Royal Bank Cup were extended.

In the NOJHL, the upstart Kirkland Lake Gold Miners knocked off the prohibitive favourite Soo Thunderbirds in Game Six for the Copeland Cup Tuesday night.

Further north, the Fort Frances Lakers and Minnesota Iron Rangers played Game 7 of the 2014 Bill Salonen Cup Wednesday evening with the Lakers coming out on top 3-2.

While these teams will undoubtedly be banged up when they get to Prince Edward County, the Dukes will be fresher than fresh as they bowed out of the 2014 Buckland Cup playoffs in the opening round.

However, the champions of the Ontario-based Junior Hockey Leagues will be battle tested, something the Dukes cannot claim.

So what's more valuable in a week long, round robin tournament? Rest or readiness? Well, we are about to find out.

Dukes coach and General Manager Marty Abrams was pretty clear to the club that they needed to come back to Wellington in shape after being ousted by the Cobourg Cougars in round one in early March

And the Dukes look lithe in practice, perhaps sensing an opportunity to rectify an unceremonious five game bouncing in the opening round.

“Overall, they came back in good shape,” Abrams told the Gazette Monday. “A lot of them put the work in, some more than others, but the first week of practice was outstanding. It was High paced and  competitive.”

In addition to the rostered team, a  number of floating affiliates have trickled into Wellington including a familiar face in Brian Bunnett.

The only link to the 2011 Dudley Hewitt Cup championship squad (unless you count Kyle Paat who was playing for the opposing Huntsville Otters in that tournament) has been working through the lines at practice this week and looks ready to play a role with his former Jr. A club.

If you recall, Bunnett burst on the scene in 2010-11, drawing all kinds of attention and praise from several corners including the Ontario Hockey Association who named the Clarington native its top prospect that season.

“It seems like yesterday we were acquiring him, getting the deal done through the Bowmanville-Cobourg merger and then watching him take off and have an amazing year,” Abrams recalled.

But disaster struck that summer of 2011 as Bunnett was involved in a car accident, badly breaking his leg.

“We had to watch it all evaporate with this tragic car accident. It just doesn't seem like it wasn't three years ago,” Abrams added.

But rehabilitation and top end program in Picton has allowed Bunnett to regain much of the form that put him on the 2011 NHL draft watch list.

“The big reason he went to the Pirates in the first place was he couldn’t practice every day and play 55 games. His leg wouldn't allow it. But he has not shown any issues like he did two years ago when he was first cleared,” Abrams said. “So far, he's looked sharp and he's come in with a fantastic attitude.”

Bunnett isn't the only Picton interloper as Ken Murduff has made the squad and could get some time on the blue line.

Also on the blueline will be Braydon Blight, a former Kingston Frontenac that will add grit and size to a defensive corps that could use that sand paper, especially if Chad Thibodeau winds up on a forward line.

In terms of their OJHL counterpart, Abrams saw some similarity in the Patriots to his 2011 club.

“Their story sounds so familiar.  In 2011, we didn't know we were going to have that type of team and reading some of their comments, they were in that same boat early in the season,” he said.

The Patriots started to role later on in the season and wound up winning the Southwest Conference, going 35-12-6 over the course of the regular season.

Stud netminder Even Buitenhuis and top defencemen Robert Powers were key acquisitions while Andreas Tsogkas lead the team with 57 points in 53 games.

Also key to the Pats lineup is top prospect Micheal Prapavessis, the OJHL's top defenceman in 2013-14 and an RPI commit, meaning he could join former Duke Curtis Leonard in the NCAA next season.

“There's not a whole lot of weaknesses in that hockey club. I've been looking for one and I can't so far,” Abrams said.
While Toronto Lakeshore is notorious not having great crowds, there is hope the few supporters the Pats do have will make their way to Wellington.

The Pats did get over 400 for their home games in the Buckland Cup final, but it should be noted that they were taking on Aurora ,who's fan base is nearby and travels well.

“I don't know if there's going to be a whole lot of travelling by their fans, but we certainly hope so,” Abrams said.
Wellington plays the Gold Miners on Tuesday night and the Lakers on Wednesday evening before taking on the Pats on Thursday.