Duke returns to Wheat Kings with new pro attitude

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This article was published 14/10/2016 (3451 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

If Reid Duke couldn’t play hockey at the professional level this season he wanted to return for his overage campaign with the Brandon Wheat Kings.

The six-foot, 190-pound forward from Calgary had to settle for Plan B.

Duke was returned to the Western Hockey League club from the AHL’s Hartford Wolf Pack on Monday and made it back to the Wheat City in time to dress from Brandon’s home game against the Portland Winterhawks the following evening. He had a goal and two assists in a 7-6 loss.

As much as he would have liked to begin a professional career, Duke remains positive about being back in Brandon.

“It was my goal to stick and play pro this year but if there was any team I’d go back to, it’s this team. I’m excited to be back and play here with these guys,” Duke said after Thursday’s practice, the team’s last before tonight’s game against the Prince Albert Raiders (2-5-0-0) at Westman Place at 7:30.

“The coaches are great and I have so many good friends on this team that it’s a really good fit and I’m excited to be back with these guys.”

Duke had high hopes of turning pro this season and went through a wild ride the last few months.

The Minnesota Wild decided not to sign Duke, their sixth-round draft pick in 2014, in June and he wasn’t selected in this year’s draft. He went to the Montreal Canadiens’ development camp in July before being added by the New York Rangers and joining their training camp in the fall.

New York sent him down to Hartford, where he was among the team’s final cuts.

Although his ride this past year could have been devastating for Duke, he isn’t giving up his dream on becoming a professional.

“One thing I’ve learned over the last couple of years is not be deterred by any negative feedback that can break you down,” he said. “I had an interesting situation with Minnesota and then I was at Montreal’s camp and New York’s camp. I’ve learned to take that with a grain of salt and keep working to get better.

“Obviously it’s unfortunate that I didn’t stick in Hartford but with all of that happening it just clears my goal for what I want to do this season and hopefully play pro next season.”

Duke’s goals for this season are to help the Wheat Kings (2-3-1-0) improve and have a successful followup season to their WHL championship run last year. He sported an ‘A’ on his shoulder in his first game back with the team and will be stressing the most important lesson he learned from his time with NHL and AHL clubs to his teammates: how hard you have to work.

Being around people who are playing hockey to support their families showed Duke that you can always push yourself harder and he knows if guys let up in practices and games, then it can start a downward spiral on their careers and for the team.

Wheat Kings coach David Anning has noticed Duke’s new attitude and likes what he’s seen since the Calgarian returned to the team.

“He’s come back looking like a pro,” Anning said. “I think he’s now realized how you have to play and when you get to be around the pro game for as long, as he was, you pick up on their work habits and how they carry themselves and how they work at it in practice day in and day out.

“He’s had strong work ethic here in the couple of practices we’ve had him and in the game I thought he had good pace to his game and I thought he was working hard. Those are all positive and encouraging and we expect him to be a contributor.”

Both Anning and Duke agree this home-and-home set with the Raiders, which wraps up with a game in Prince Albert on Saturday, is huge to get the Wheat Kings on track. They know the team needs to cut down on penalties and Anning wants to see a faster game on the ice.

Duke isn’t deterred by Brandon’s slow start to the season either.

“I’m really excited. It was the same thing that happened last year,” he said. “We had such high hopes and didn’t have a great start, but that didn’t really matter later on in the year. I think we’re just working some things out, guys have been in and out of the lineup and I’m sure if we get some consistency here and get into a groove that things are going to be fine for us.”

ONE-TIMERS: D Kale Clague (lower-body injury) practised with the team for the first time on Thursday in a non-contact jersey. He was injured while with the NHL’s Los Angeles Kings and hasn’t played for Brandon this season. Anning was encouraged by what he saw but will take it day-to-day with him … The Wheat Kings will have live updates of the Toronto Blue Jays’ game throughout today’s contest as well as having Game 1 of the ALCS on all concourse monitors and at Hockey House before and during the Wheat Kings’ game … Brandon will sport classic 1990s-style jerseys on Nov. 4 when it hosts Seattle. The white jerseys with black piping and gold trim, which were worn from 1986 to 2002, will be auctioned off during the game with proceeds going to the Brandon and District United Way.

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