WESTERN CAPITALS HISTORY
The Summerside Western Capitals are a Tier II Junior A hockey team based out of Summerside, Prince Edward Island, and have been a member of the Maritime Junior A Hockey League(MJAHL) since 1991.
Before they were the Western Capitals, the team was known as the Summerside Crystals during the 1970's. After taking a 1 year leave from the Island Junior Hockey League(IJHL), the team came back under the new name Western Capitals. It was given the Western in its name because Summerside is on the western end of Prince Edward Island. After it's first season as the Caps, 1981-1982, the team went 8-38-6(wins-losses-ties) and finished 4th in the IJHL, they never finished lower than 3rd and only twice had a losing record(1986-1987 and 1990-1991).
The Caps would win the Island Junior Hockey League Championship in the 1983-1984 season and would go on to compete in the Callaghan Cup, which was eventually won by the Halifax Lions of the Metro Valley Junior A Hockey League(MVJHL). The team would again reach the Callaghan Cup as the winners of the IJHL in 1987-1988. They would get to the final of the Callaghan cup before being beaten 4-1 by the Dartmouth Fuel Kids of the MVJHL. However, the next season, the Caps would be named the hosts of the Centennial Cup, which is the Junior A championship of Canada.The Caps would win the IJHL again and reach the Callaghan Cup for the second year in a row, and this time defeated the Monton Hawks of the MVJHL by the same 4-1 score to win their first ever Callaghan Cup Championship. The Caps would get to the final of the Centennial Cup before losing 4-1 to the Thunder Bay Flyers.
In the summer of 1991, the MVJHL decided to expand outside of Nova Scotia and Moncton, New Brunswick. The Summerside Western Capitals and Charlottetown Abbies joined the Amherst Ramblers, Antigonish Bulldogs, Cole Harbour Colts, Dartmouth Pepsis, Halifax Mooseheads and Moncton Classics to form the new Maritime Junior A Hockey League(MJAHL). The league was divided into two divisions, North and South, with Summerside playing in the North Division, with Amherst, Charlottetown, and Moncton. Each team would finish with a winning record that season, with the Caps finishing last in the division with a 18-16-12 record, just 5 points behind the first place Abbies.
The next season the league only had 7 teams with the folding of the Dartmouth franchise, so the league did not have seperate divisions, and the Caps would finish 5th in the league with a 21-21-4-2 record. The Caps had their worst season to date in the MJAHL in 1993-1994, when they finished last in the league with a 13-32-2-1 record.
With the folding of the Halifax Mooseheads in the summer of 1994, the league split into 2 three team divisions, with the Caps playing in a divison with the Abbies and Moncton Beavers. Continually getting stronger every season, the Caps were getting ready to host the Royal Bank Cup, the new Canadian Junior A Championships, during the 1996-1997 season.
Led by goaltender Harlin Hayes, the Caps finished with a 35-14-4-2 record and 76 points, 21 more than the Moncton Beavers. They then went on to defeat the Dartmouth Oland Exports in the Final to win the Callaghan Cup as MJAHL Champions. The Caps, however, would have a disappointing showing at the Fred Page Cup, going 0-3 in the round robin and being eliminated after the round robin. The Caps would then wait for the Royal Bank Cup hosted at Cahill Stadium. The Caps would win their first game as the Rayside-Balfour Sabrecats of the Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League(NOJHL) 5-1. But would then lose their remaining 3 games. However, since Rayside-Balfour finished with an 0-4 record, the Caps were able to sneak into the semi-final against the Weyburn Red Wings. The game against Weyburn would be a grueling one, going all the way into triple overtime, before a shot from the faceoff circle gave the Caps the win 4-3 and sent them into the final against the South Surrey Eagles. South Surrey was led by current NHL'er Scott Gomez, so the Caps became pretty big underdogs. However, the Caps stuck to their gameplan, and ended up defeating the South Surrey Eagles 4-3 to give the Caps their first ever National Championship and the first National Championship by any MJAHL team.
The Caps would struggle for the 3 seasons after the Championship, however, the shining light was the play of forward Kris MacPhee, who consistantly showed improvement. The Caps had a brilliant season in 2000-2001, finishing with a 32-12-4-4 record and reaching the MJAHL final against the Antigonish Bulldogs. The Caps had home ice advantage, however, that did not scare the Bulldogs, as Antigonish held a 3-1 series lead coming back to Summerside for Game 5.
In front of a packed house at Cahill Stadium,, the game went into triple overtime. With a puck loose in the crease of Caps goaltender Andrew Gallant, Bulldog forward Lew Robicheau poked the puck into the net to give the Bulldogs the win and end the Caps magnificent season.
The Caps fell upon hard times from 2001-2005, in which the team never made it past the first round of the playoffs.
2005-2006 was not supposed to be a great season for the Caps, but the team came together and molded around star forwards Darcy Tuplin, Jordan Knox and Thomas Waugh, and the solid goaltending of Josh Leclerc. The team finished with a 36-14-4-2 record, good enough for 2nd in the Roger Meek Division. Darcy Tuplin set a new Caps record with 110 points, beating the old mark of 107 set by Kris MacPhee in 2000-2001. Knox also tied a record with 54 goals that season. Amazingly, that was only good enough for 2nd in the league that season.
The Caps faced the Restigouche Tigers in the Division Semi-Final, a team which they had beated their first 2 meeting of the season, but lost to the next 4. However, this series was not to be as close as expected, as the Caps would sweep the Tigers in 4 straight to move on to the Division Final against the Woodstock Slammers. The Caps would lose the first game in Woodstock 3-2, but would come back to Summerside and pound the Slammers 8-1 to tie the series at 1. The Caps had a brilliant opportunity to get the edge in the series with the league's leading scorer, Woodstock's Justin Bowers, getting nailed with a 2 game suspension during game 2. The Caps went into Woodstock for Game 3, but dropped the game by a score of 3-2. Coming back to Summerside, the Caps would once again beat up on the Slammers, sending them home with an 8-2 loss to make the series a best of 3. Game 5 in Woodstock started great for the Caps, being up 3-0 after 1 period. However, the Slammers rallied and eventually Neil Jeffrey scored the OT winner to bring the series back to Summerside with the Slammers looking to end it. The Caps again would pound the Slammers, this time by a score of 7-2, and the two teams would meet for Game 7 in Woodstock. An early goal by the Slammers would put the Caps behind, however, Thomas Waugh would score to tie the game. Just as momentum was going Summerside's way, star defenseman Mike Pain would be ejected on a checking from behind call. The Caps never came back from that, and the 2nd period turned into the Justin Bowers show, where the League MVP scored 4 straight goals to give the Slammers a 5-1 lead after 2. The Caps got back into it in the 3rd when Kory Cooke scored, but Colin Lafreniere made the score 6-2 and officially put the game away to send the Slammers to the Kent Cup Final.
During the 2005-2006 season, it was announced that Summerside would be getting a new 3500 seat arena to replace the historic Cahill Stadium. The Cahill was home to Summerside hockey since 1954, and it was certainly saddening to see the building come to an end. However, it was time to move on.
With the bitterness still in them after the disappointding ending to the season before, the Caps had one of their best seasons ever in 2006-2007. They finished with a 43-14-1-0 record, just 1 point behind the Truro Bearcats for the MJAHL lead. 2nd year forward Mike MacIsaac would tie the record that Knox tied the year before scoring 54 goals in 54 games, going along with a whopping 311 penalty minutes to lead the league.
On February 25th, 2007, the final game at Cahill Stadium would be played, and in no more fitting, the game would be another chapter in the storied rivalry of the Summerside Western Capitals and Charlottetown Abbies. The Caps were the top team in the Meek Division, while the Abbies were last with only 9 wins and 20 points. But one thing learned over the years, was that in a Caps/Abbies game, you could throw the standings out. Both teams always got excited for the day they played each other. The Caps were able to come away with a big win, 7-2.
The Caps moved into their new building, which was originally named the Summerside Wellness Centre, on March 1st, 2007, once again against the Charlottetown Abbies. Abbies forward Adam Laite scored the first ever goal in the new building, but that would be about the only part of the game the Abbies would want to remember, as the Caps went on to easily win the game 11-3.
The Caps would once again open the playoffs against the Restigouche Tigers, and once again the Caps would sweep them. This time, in the Meek Division Final, they would go up against the Moncton Beavers. After the Restigouche series, the Caps had won 20 straight games and appeared that would not be stopped. However, the Beavers held in against the Caps and sent the game to double overtime before winning it to take a 1-0 series lead. The Caps would win the next 2 games to take a 2-1 series lead, before going into Moncton and being shut out 5-0 to tie the series at 2. The Caps would win game 5 3-2 in double OT and go into Moncton for game 6 with a chance to win the series. The Caps would jump out to a 1-0 lead, which would hold up until the final minute of the 3rd period before Moncton's Jason Rinzler tied the game to send the game to OT. Both teams would go scoreless through 1 OT period and it was back to double OT. The Caps had a few good chances before the Beavers came in on a 2-on-1. Goaltender Tim MacPhee tried to dive out and poke check the puck of Rinzler's stick, but he sent it over to an open Remi Gautreau who tapped the puck into the net to send the series to game 7. The new Wellness Center was pretty uneasy the day of game 7, wondering if the same result as the previous season was going to unfold. Moncton's Jason Rinzler put the Beavers up 1-0 early to upset the crowd even more. However, that would be the only goal the Beavers would score, while the Caps would put up 7 unanswered to defeat the Beavers and go to the MJAHL Kent Cup Final against the Bent Division Champion Truro Bearcats.
The Caps would lose game 1 in Truro 5-2 before coming home and beating the Bearcats 4-1 to send the series back to Truro tied at 1. The Bearcats would win 3-1 in Game 3, however, the Caps would win 6-4 back in Summerside to tie the series at 2. Truro would win at home once again in game 5 6-3 to send the series to Summerside with a chance to win the Kent Cup. In front of the largest crowd to date in MJAHL history, the Truro Bearcats would defeat the hometown Capitals 4-2 and win their 2nd MJAHL Championship in 3 years.
The Caps went into rebuilding mode for the 2007-2008 season, which was no more evident than on the January 10th roster deadline. The Caps lost their top line, Jordan Knox to the Weeks Crushers, Kory Cooke to the Charlottetown Abbies, and Mike MacIsaac to the Niagara Ice Dogs of the Ontario Hockey League(OHL). The team would go into a slump after, and were in danger of missing the playoffs for the first time since 1999. However, they would rally, and win the final playoff spot to go into the 5 game Mini-series round against the Island rival Charlottetown Abbies. The series opened at MacLauchlan Arena in Charlottetown, with the Abbies taking a 6-3 victory. The Caps would win back home in Game 2 by the same 6-3 score to even the series at 1. The Abbies hammered the Caps 7-2 in Game 3 to have a chance to win the series back in Summreside for Game 4. The Caps would rally around the home crowd and defeat Charlottetown 4-2 to send the series to a decisive Game 5. Game 5 was played at the Charlottetown Civic Center, home of the P.E.I. Rocket of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey Leageu(QMJHL). The Abbies fired almost 60 shots at Caps goaltender Stefan Dumaresque, scoring on 4 of them, and taking the game 4-1 to advance.
The 2008 off-season was a busy one for the Caps. Acquiring forwards Nathan Snowie and Will Johnston as well as goaltender Alex Dupuis from the folding Charlottetown Abbies. They also got back forwards Brett Gallant and Greg Paynter as well as defenseman Spencer Corcoran from the QMJHL. Mike MacIsaac would return to the Caps from the OHL on October 10th. With one of the best teams on paper the Caps have ever seen, they finished with a 39-13-0-2 record, good for 1st in the league.
They opened the playoffs against the Dieppe Commandos. Dieppe started the season slow but finished the season winning 10 straight. Everyone was expecting a close series, but no one expected the Caps to sweep the Commnandos in 4 straight games and then move on to the Meek Division Final against the Miramichi Timberwolves, who they would sweep as well, to advance to the Kent Cup Final against the Truro Bearcats for the 2nd time in 3 years. The Caps would win Game 1 in Summerside 3-0 to take a 1-0 series lead. The Bearcats would take Game 2 in overtime to send the series back to Summerside tied at 1. The Caps would beat the Bearcats by scored of 5-2 and 4-1 in Games 3 and 4 to give them a 3-1 series lead going into Game 5 in Summerside.
Summerside jumped out to a 2-0 lead after period 1 with goals by Mike MacIsaac and Trevor Carmichael. The Bearcats answered with 2 goals in the 2nd period from Jon Reid and Travis Moore to send the game to the 3rd tied at 2. Captain Brett Gallant would score to give the Caps a 3-2 lead. Just as it looked the Caps would win the game, Bearcat forward Jonathan McArthur would slip the puck past goaltender Alex Dupuis to tie the game at 3 and send the game to overtime.
The Caps were deflated after the goal, but did not give up hope. After receiving a long pass from Spencer Corcoran, Mike MacIsaac stepped into the Bearcats zone, cut to center, and let go of a rocket of a slapshot that found the top corner to give the Caps their first Kent Cup Championship and second MJAHL Championship. Defenseman Spencer Corcoran was named playoff MVP.
The Caps would then take part in the Fred Page Cup Eastern Canadian Championship hosted in Dieppe, New Brunswick. After defeating the Pembroke Lumber Kings 4-3 in overtime, and then the Sherbrooke Cougars 6-3, the Caps faced off with the Dieppe Commandos, with the winner being guaranteed a spot in the final. Dieppe would hold down the Caps offense and win the game 2-0, meaning the Caps would have to defeat the Lumber Kings once again to reach the final. The Caps would defeat the Lumber Kings 4-1 to reach the final against Dieppe.
With revenge on their mind, the Caps jumped out to a 1-0 lead on a goal by Chad Locke. However, before the end of the 1st, Dieppe's Chuckie Schembri and Willie Harvey found the back of the net to give the Commandos a 2-1 lead after 1. The next goal would come midway through the 3rd period, when Locke would get his 2nd of the game to send it to overtime. The teams battled into double overtime, and minutes after a game-saving save by Alex Dupuis, two of the most dangerous Caps, Brad Smith and Mike MacIsaac, went on a 2-on-1. Smith slid the puck over to MacIsaac, who buried it past Dieppe goaltender Mathieu Gauvreau on their 71st shot of the game to give the Caps their first ever Fred Page Cup Championship and send them to their second ever Royal Bank Cup.
The Caps would lose their first 3 games of the Royal Bank Cup, but would play the Humboldt Broncos in the last game in a virtually meaningless game, as the Broncos had secured their spot and it was the final Caps game. The Caps would end their season in style, defeating Humboldt 5-0.