The new face behind the Wellington Dukes bench will in fact be an old one.
Former assistant coach Ryan Woodward succeeds his long time friend and mentor Marty Abrams as the Dukes Coach and General Manager. Abrams abruptly left the Dukes after 16 seasons 3 weeks ago to join the rival Trenton Golden Hawks.
With training camp just over a month away there isn’t much time to set the roster however Woodward says he’ll be ready.
Woodward says there is lots to do in the next few weeks.
Woodward served as Coach and General Manager of the Picton Pirates which won the Ontario Junior “C” Hockey championship in 2013. He says that experience will serve him well with the Dukes.
Ryan Woodward was a co-captain of the Dukes in the early 2000’s winning an OJHL championship and Dudley-Hewitt Cup in 2003. He was hired to coach the NOJHL’s Timmins Rock in May but left the team a few days later.
