Summerside Western Capitals

Summerside Western Capitals
City Summerside, Prince Edward Island, Canada
League Maritime Junior A Hockey League
Division Meek
Founded c. 1970 (Summerside Crystals)
Home arena Consolidated Credit Union Place
Colours

Blue, red, white

              
General manager Pat McIver
Head coach Billy McGugian
Franchise history
1976-1980, 1981-82, 1983-85 Summerside Crystals
1982-83, 1986-Present Summerside Western Capitals

The Summerside Western Capitals are a Junior "A" hockey team based out of Summerside, Prince Edward Island. They play out of the Maritime Junior A Hockey League. The team currently plays their home games at the Consolidated Credit Union Place. Until 2007 the team played at the former Cahill Stadium.

History

The Capitals started out in the Island Junior Hockey League. Thus, the reference to 'western' in the original team name, The Capitals joined the MJAHL in 1991. They hosted the Centennial Cup 1989 on behalf of the IJHL. This team was coached by former NHL coach, General Manager, & former Team President of the Columbus Blue Jackets, Doug MacLean, a Summerside native.

The 1996-97 Summerside Western Capitals created a come from behind story book during the year. They were coached by former Detroit Red Wings player, Gerard Gallant, and they dominated the MJAHL Roger Meek Division during the regular season. In the first round of the playoffs they routed the Restigouche River Rats in five games. They beat out the Charlottetown Abbies in the second round before going on to win the Callaghan Cup by clinching a seven-game league final in Dartmouth. Following the tough playoffs came a long bus trip to Brockville, Ont for the 1997 Fred Page Cup. The winner of that tournament would advance to the Royal Bank Cup, which the Capitals were hosting that year. They would go on to lose all 3 games in the round robin and be eliminated.

At the 1997 Royal Bank Cup in Summerside, the Western Capitals won the first game, 5-1n over the Rayside-Balfour Sabrecats. They would then hit a stumbling block, losing their second and third games 7-5 and 8-2 to the Kanata Valley Lasers and the Weyburn Red Wings. They would finish the round robin by losing 3-2 to the South Surrey Eagles in overtime. Because the Rayside-Balfour Sabrecats had already lost 4 games, the overtime loss game, the Capitals 3 points which was good enough for 4th place. After being shut out of the player awards, the Capitals had to come together as a team. In the regulation round, the Capitals did just that defeating the tournament's MVP and future NHLer, Mark Hartigan, and his Weyburn Red Wings 4-3 in a very exciting overtime. The Capitals used that win as a moral boost to defeat another Future NHLer, Scott Gomez, and his South Surrey Eagles by a very close score of 4-3. With that win the Summerside Western Capitals would become the first team in Eastern Canada to win the national jr. A (Tier II) junior championship, Royal Bank Cup.

In 2001 the team made a run for the league championship. After sweeping the first two rounds without one of their top players, Denis White, the Antigonish Bulldogs took advantage of the Capitals beating them in five games to go on the Fred Page Cup. They did not make another significant run again until former Philadelphia Flyer, Forbes Kennedy, was hired as head coach in 2004-05. They were one of the leagues elite teams for the three years that he coached the team, going to the division final in 2005-06 but losing to the Woodstock Slammers in 7 games. In the 2006-07 season they won 15 games in a row to end the season and went on to win the Meek division title before losing in 6 games in the league final against the Truro Bearcats.

In the 2008-2009 season, the Capitals finished first place in the Meek division, and later went on to defeat the Dieppe Commandos, and Miramichi Timberwolves in 4 game sweeps to advance to the league championship series, to take on the Truro Bearcats for the second time in 3 years. This time though, the Capitals defeated Truro in 5 games, and won their first league championship since 1997, on home ice. The Capitals entered the Fred Page Cup tournament, and after going 2-1 in the round robin portion, they defeated the Pembroke Lumber Kings 4-1 in the semifinal to move to the final against the Dieppe Commandos. The Caps won the game 3-2 in double overtime after Mike MacIsaac scored, to send the Caps to their first Royal Bank Cup since winning it in 1997 as the host team. The Capitals travelled to the Pacific coast to Victoria, BC to participate in their 2nd tournament. Summerside had a 0-4 record heading into their final game against the defending RBC champions Humboldt Broncos. Summerside won the game 5-0, but were already eliminated from the tournament and finished 5th. The players were angry and upset about the outcome and engaged in roughing up one of the hotel employees at the team's hotel. They behaviour resulted in the Capitals losing the right to host the 2011 Royal Bank Cup. Summerside got their chance to host the tournament in 2014.

The Capitals named Gordie Dwyer as their Head Coach and Associate General Manager for the 2009-2010 season. Dwyer led a rebuilding team to a regular-season record of 27-20-1-2 (won-lost-overtime losses-shootout losses). The Capitals finished third in the Roger Meek Division, and won a seven-game division semifinal series against second-place Miramichi. The Capitals were then eliminated by eventual league-champion Woodstock in a five-game division final. Dwyer returned for his second season in 2010-2011 as head coach and Associate Director of Hockey Operations.

Since 2001, the Capitals have been owned by a private ownership group consisting of local individuals. In 2013, the Caps were sold to a new private local group.

Season-by-Season record

Season GP W L T OTL GF GA P Results Playoffs
1971-72 27 21 3 3 - 170 82 50 1st IJBHL
1972-73 40 28 8 4 - 239 149 60 2nd IJBHL
1973-74 28 10 15 3 - 123 154 23 4th IJHL
1974-75 40 21 18 1 - 208 198 43 3rd IJHL
1975-76 39 13 19 7 - 199 247 33 4th IJHL
1976-77 40 12 25 3 - 186 276 27 5th IJHL
1977-78 40 31 5 4 - -- -- 66 1st IJHL
1978-79 39 20 14 5 - 206 181 45 3rd IJHL
1979-80 40 14 20 6 - 193 235 34 4th IJHL
1980-81 Did Not Participate
1981-82 42 8 38 6 - 189 283 22 4th IJHL
1982-83 42 18 18 6 - 216 238 42 3rd IJHL
1983-84 40 25 12 3 - 244 201 53 1st IJHLWon League
1984-85 37 18 15 4 - 203 174 40 2nd IJHL
1985-86 36 15 9 12 - 231 204 42 2nd IJHLWon League
1986-87 42 19 20 3 - 232 216 41 3rd IJHL
1987-88 42 30 6 6 - 267 179 66 1st IJHL
1988-89 44 33 7 4 - 297 161 78 1st IJHL
1989-90 40 26 11 2 1 213 153 55 2nd IJHL
1990-91 42 15 20 5 2 211 247 37 3rd IJHL
1991-92 46 18 16 12 - 210 206 48 6th MJAHL
1992-93 48 21 21 4 2 226 244 48 5th MJAHL
1993-94 48 13 32 2 1 182 263 29 7th MJAHL
1994-95 48 24 21 3 0 221 206 51 3rd MJAHL
1995-96 54 28 24 1 1 252 232 58 5th MJAHL
1996-97 55 35 14 4 2 350 259 76 2nd MJAHL Won League, Won RBC Cup
1997-98 52 12 33 3 4 207 307 31 9th MJAHL
1998-99 48 5 41 2 - 157 317 15 9th MJAHL
1999-00 52 24 24 3 1 198 229 52 5th MJAHL
2000-01 52 32 12 4 4 288 224 72 1st MJAHL Lost in League Finals
2001-02 52 21 26 3 2 209 225 47 8th MJAHL
2002-03 52 26 21 3 2 240 219 57 4th MJAHL
2003-04 52 19 28 2 3 201 225 43 9th MJAHL
2004-05 56 22 26 4 4 220 252 52 9th MJAHL
2005-06 56 36 14 0 6 274 197 79 2nd MJAHL Lost Semi-final
2006-07 58 43 14 0 1 281 172 87 2nd MJAHL Lost in League Finals
2007-08 58 24 30 - 4 185 219 52 9th MJAHL Lost in Mini-Series
2008-09 54 39 13 - 2 249 149 80 1st MJAHLWon League, Won Fred Page Cup
2009-10 50 27 20 - 3 230 186 57 4th MJAHL Lost Semi-final
2010-11 52 36 12 - 4 255 186 76 2nd MHL Won League
2011-12 52 26 21 - 5 192 200 57 7th MHL Lost Semi-final
2012-13 52 43 7 - 2 222 119 88 1st MHL Won league
2013-14 52 24 23 - 5 178 187 53 8th MHL Lost quarter-final
2014-15 48 21 21 - 6 184 197 48 8th MHL DNQ
2015-16 48 34 12 1 1 207 150 70 1st of 6 North
1st of 12 MHL 		Won Div. Semi-finals 4-3 (Tigers)
Lost Div. Finals, 2-4 (Commandos)

Franchise records

Former logo of the team used from 2007-2013.

These are franchise records held by previous team rosters. Figures are updated after each completed MHL regular season.

Team Records for a single season
StatisticTotalSeason
Most Points88 2012–13
Most Wins432012-13
Most Goals For3501996-97
Least Goals For1231973-74
Least Goals Against821971-72
Most Goals Against3171998-99

Notable alumni

See also


Preceded by
Vernon Vipers		 Royal Bank Cup Champions
1997 		Succeeded by
South Surrey Eagles
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