The Wellington Dukes have a new owner with deep connections to Prince Edward County. 

Council updated its agreement with the Dukes August 25, incorporating the ownership transfer to Andrew Gunning. 

Mr. Gunning and his wife Nicole are the owners of Farnsworth Construction and the Oak Hills Golf Club. Councillors were excited to welcome an owner with deep local ties into the fold. The couple have children who play AAA hockey and they spend a good chunk of their time in the local minor hockey scene.

“I heard through the grapevine the Dukes were in trouble, just over a year ago. The situation was getting worse. From what I could tell it was time to get involved or watch the team leave. 

“It started with a phone call. I wasn’t sure where it would go, I just wanted to see what I could do to help,” Mr. Gunning said.

Eventually, discussions evolved into the possibility of Gunning acquiring the team. Still, putting pen to paper after that inital call in April was no easy task. 

“It was a really tough deal to get done. I don’t think we signed the paperwork until June. There was a lot of behind-the-scenes work in those three months,” he said.

The updated user agreement with the County is a clarified version of the original, with only two major changes. While previously held in either the afternoon or the evening, the Dukes will play all of their Sunday games in the evening time slot to avoid interrupting minor hockey. 

Additionally, the municipality is raising the number of spaces available for board advertisements from 10 to 14. These ads will not appear in face-off circles, in accordance with Hockey Canada recommendations. 

Small changes like these are an example of Mr. Gunning’s intent to listen to Dukes’ fans and curate a viable product in the long term. 

“At the end of the day, the community wants this team here. I just think we need a little bit of time to go through the process. It was a lot of work to buy the team and it’s a lot of work to put the correct systems in place. The focus is to create a structure for the long term. Short term thinking will get us through a season, but does it really put us where we want to be in the long haul?” Mr. Gunning asks.

Behind the scenes, his priorities are clear. “The idea is to stabilize. From a business perspective, you have to have your expenses under control in accordance with where your revenue is at. We just have to run a responsible ship.” 

He noted the community has not wavered. “The support is there in terms of sponsorships and we’re really appreciative of that.”

On the Ice

The Dukes kicked off their 2026-27 campaign with a 6-1 win over the Lindsay Muskies in the home opener on Friday. An 8-1 drubbing of the Toronto Warriors followed on Sunday. 

“We’re still getting a number of guys back from OHL (Ontario Hockey League) camps. So the chips have not 100 per cent fallen on the roster, but they look good,” Mr. Gunning said.

Cooper Woron, Landon Marleau, Gavin Godick, Presley Kelly, Sammy Longo, and Brandon Mann all found the back of the net for the Dukes in front of the home fans. Zachary Mascard and Maclean Chisolm picked up a pair of goals each in the win over Toronto, with Blake Berthiaume, Reid Crossman, Kelly, and Marleau joining them on the scoresheet with a goal apiece. 

Dryden Riley was nearly infallible between the pipes, stopping 34 of 35 and 17 of 18 shots over the pair of opening season wins. 

Wellington suffered their first loss of the season on Wednesday, falling 6-4 to the Mississauga Chargers. Mascard and Longo both scored for The Dukes, Jayden Levesque notched his first of the season and Marleau scored his third in as many games in the loss. Riley stopped 20 of the 26 shots he faced in the losing effort.

Consistency will be key for the Dukes after a hot start fizzled in the 2025-26 season. A winless streak spanning 14 games and two months last year offer plenty of reason to take the season game by game.

Up next for the Dukes is a road matchup against the Milton Menace on Tuesday, Sept. 15. They return home to take on the North York Rangers at Lehigh Arena in Wellington on Friday, Sept. 18. Puck drop on Friday is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.