Aaron Luchuk is one of three Kingston players with Memorial Cup-winning goals
The Windsor Spitfires suffered a crushing first-round defeat at the hands of the London Knights in the 2017 OHL playoffs. It was a grueling series and London emerged victorious with a 3-2 win in the seventh game.
For most coaches, that would signal the time for players to hang up their skates, enjoy some golf and do some off-ice fitness training.
Not Rocky Thompson. He had an Ace up his sleeve. Windsor was hosting the Memorial Cup tournament that year, which gave the Spitfires an automatic berth. Thompson had revenge on his mind.
“After the loss, he worked us really hard,” recalls Kingston’s Aaron Luchuk. “There were a lot of brutal early-morning training sessions. We didn’t play a single game for 44 days – just practice, practice, practice.”
The Windsor squad was plagued by injuries all season, with Luchuk being one of the few players to stay healthy. The post-playoff break allowed those who were hurt to heal.
Three other teams qualified for the Memorial Cup event by winning their respective leagues – the Erie Otters, Saint John Sea Dogs and Seattle Thunderbirds. Windsor won all three games in the round robin to earn a spot in the final game against Erie.
In that deciding game, the score was tied 3-3 heading into the third period. At 5:07 minutes, Luchuk fired a shot past Erie goaltender Troy Timpano.
“I was lucky enough get good wood on it and find a hole,” he says. “I kind of went black after that and don’t remember much.”
The Otters fought back for the remaining 15 minutes, but couldn’t get the equalizer.
Windsor emerged victorious despite the fact that Erie had all three of the top scorers in the tournament. Alex DeBrincat, Dylan Strome and Taylor Raddysh would all go on have solid NHL careers.
“It was the highlight of my life in hockey,” says Luchuk. “Definitely the biggest goal I have ever scored.”
In the century-long history of the Memorial Cup, no team has ever lost in the first round of the playoffs and gone on to capture the trophy - until Windsor did in 2017. The Spitfires also won back-to-back titles in 2009 and 2010.
After the grueling training and earning the Memorial Cup title, the teammates bonded. Kingston’s Gabe Vilardi, a star with the Winnipeg Jets, was on the Windsor squad.
“Going through all that we became brothers and will be connected for the rest of our lives,” Luchuk says of his teammates.
With his Memorial Cup-winning goal, Luchuk joined a pair of other Kingston players who achieved the same feat. In 1972, Gary MacGregor notched the winner for the Cornwall Royals. And Doug Gilmour popped one into the net in 1981, also with Cornwall.
“It’s a cool thing to share with other players from Kingston, including MacGregor and Gilmour.”
He got his start in hockey when his dad, Greg, laced up his skates at the age of two. His mother, Louise Chatterton, enrolled him in the Church Athletic League. As a teenager, he was drafted by the Spitfires and spent four years with the squad before being traded to the Barrie Colts.
Following his junior career, Luchuk went undrafted. He eventually signed a three-year entry level contract with the Ottawa Senators in December 2017. It was worth a total of $2.8 million.
He never played in the NHL. He started his pro career with the Brampton Beast of the East Coast Hockey League and then moved to the Belleville Senators of the American Hockey League.
Then Covid hit the world in early 2020. The ECHL was operating with a reduced schedule and he signed on with the Orlando Solar Bears for the 2020-21 season. He later skated in Europe, where he had to adjust to a different style of hockey.
“In Europe, they play more of a puck possession game, rather than the dump and chase we use in North America.” While he says the experience was fantastic, he and his wife Kyleigh grew homesick and decided to come back.
Since returning from Europe in 2023, Luchuk has skated for Orlando. He’s the franchise all-time leader in goals and points and was named to the Eastern Conference all-star team last year.
The following year he and Kyleigh welcomed their first child. Last summer, Kyleigh was a tennis instructor with the Kingston Tennis Club on Napier Street. However, this year they will be staying close to home as they are expecting their second child.
“I wish we could be back in Kingston this summer. I am so proud to be from Kingston – it’s one of the great cities in the world.”
- Photo courtesy of the Orlando Solar Bears