PLAYOFF MVP DOYLE LEADS WELLINGTON TO OJHL TITLE
Colin Doyle (Photo by Timothy Bates / OJHL Images) got used to hoisting trophies late Sunday night.
The 19-year-old from nearby Campbellford was named playoff MVP after leading the Wellington Dukes to the Ontario Junior Hockey League playoff title.
The Dukes won the best-of-seven championship series over the Georgetown Raiders four games to two, taking the sixth game 4-3 in overtime Sunday night in Wellington. Frank Pucci netted the winner at 8:19 of the first overtime.
After receiving the Brent Ladds Trophy as MVP, Doyle accepted the Buckland Cup, the OJHL championship trophy, at centre ice. The standing-room-only, hometown crowd of over 1,100 roared. Both times.
Through four rounds of the playoffs, Doyle had 24 points (8G/16A) in 25 games. In his third year with the Dukes, he had a 54-point regular season.
The championship series was streaky and inconsistent. The Dukes won the first two games and the last two. The Raiders won the two in the middle – by a combined score of 15-2. The Dukes won both the first and the last game in overtime, both by 4-3 scores.
The Dukes advance to the Dudley-Hewitt, the Central Canadian Championships, May 1-5 in Dryden, Ont. The host Dryden GM Ice Dogs, who won the Superior International title Saturday, and the runner-up Thunder Bay North Stars have also qualified. The fourth team will either be the Cochrane Crunch or Rayside-Balfour Canadians. Cochrane leads the North Ontario Junior Hockey League final three games to two. Game 6 will be played Tuesday in Cochrane.
