As the rumor mill swirls, the owner of the Wellington Dukes is staying firm in his commitment to Prince Edward County and the Quinte region.
Dukes owner Ken Clement and the organization confirmed that the team is not up for sale, despite some comments made by a Prince Edward County Councillor at a Committee of the Whole meeting last week.
Clement assured to InQuinte.ca on Tuesday that there have not been any groups or individuals that have gotten in touch with him selling in recent months.
“No one has approached me about selling the team. I’ve never said anything about selling the team. There’s no thought process about selling the team,” he stated.
This isn’t the first time in recent years about the ownership status of the Dukes.
Two years ago, after trades of several players made by former Dukes head coach and general manager Derek Smith to the arch-rival Trenton Golden Hawks, Clement said he was approached by a group outside the County to move the team out of Wellington, but he didn’t not take the offer.
“I was never serious about selling it, as evidenced of what I did after Derek left,” he said.
“That would have been the time to do it when your whole team gets decimated like that. Why wouldn’t you sell it right there? But we didn’t sell it.”
Clement did acknowledge the costs associated with running a Junior A hockey team are becoming more unsustainable, including billeting, ice rentals for practices and games, bussing and other factors.
“I think, short of 750 paying fans every night and 1000 in the playoffs, it’s tough to make a go of it with the costs of running the team going up,” he said, adding the losses are in the hundreds of thousands of dollars ranged.
He said he hopes to forge a stronger connection with County Council moving forward to help pull off some ideas he has.
Clement is a former junior hockey player that was a teammate of current Dukes head coach/GM Kent Lewis in British Columbia and a current businessman.
Following a four-game sweep suffered in Round 1 of this year’s Buckland Cup Playoffs, the Dukes are looking forward to plenty of off-season activities.
These include summer kids’ camps, orientation camps and community involvement.
Clement also teased about some former Dukes that the organization has lined up to return to help with the team.
The Dukes have just completed 36 seasons in Wellington, all of which featured them making postseason appearances.