In 2002, the Brampton Capitals once again were the Buckland Cup champions. After defeating the Wellington Dukes to win the OPJHL crown, the Caps failed to win the Dudley Hewitt Cup for a berth in the Royal Bank Cup. A year later, the Wellington Dukes rebounded their OPJHL final defeated from 2002 and won the 2003 Buckland Cup 4-games-to-2 over the Aurora Tigers. The Dukes ventured to Fort Frances, Ontario for the Dudley Hewitt Cup. After defeating the SIJHL's Fort Frances Borderland Thunder 7–1, they lost to the NOJHL's North Bay Skyhawks 2–1. The Dukes came back and defeated the SIJHL's Thunder Bay Bulldogs 7–4 to earn a berth into the DHC semi-final. In the semi-final, they defeated the Borderland Thunder 4-2 and then defeated North Bay 4–0 in the final to win the Central Canadian crown. The Dukes then moved on to Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island for the Royal Bank Cup 2003. The Dukes lost their first game 4–1 to the SJHL's Humboldt Broncos and lost again in their second game 7–1 to the AJHL's Camrose Kodiaks. It was do-or-die time for the Dukes, and they stepped up to the plate by defeating the host Charlottetown Abbies 1–0 in overtime and the QJAAAHL's Lennoxville Cougars 5–2 to gain access to the semi-final. The Dukes lost a tight 3–2 game to Humboldt in the semi-final to end their national championship hopes.