60 years, for Petes sake


By
September 18, 2015

Peterborough Petes, a storied Ontario Hockey League franchise that exudes history, will be celebrating their 60th anniversary this 2015-2016 season.

The Petes, who came into existence in 1956, have an illustrious history that includes nine OHL championships and one Memorial Cup title. The Petes lone Memorial Cup crown came in 1979.

From a Sault Ste. Marie standpoint, defenceman Mike Martone played for the Petes for four seasons from 1994 until 1998 — and was a key part of their 1996 OHL championship, scoring the winning goal in the seventh-and-deciding game of the league finals.

The friendly, likeable Martone, who also served as a captain for the Petes, returned to Peterborough after his professional hockey playing days were over for a career as a school teacher.

The Petes have produced a record number of National Hockey League players, including Hall-of-Famers Bob Gainey and Steve Yzerman. And Hall-of-Fame coaches Scotty Bowman and Roger Neilson are among those who have coached OHL championship teams in Peterborough.

Other future NHL coaches who coached the Petes with success include Gary Green, Mike Keenan and Dick Todd.

Besides the aforementioned Gainey and Yzerman, those who starred with the OHL Petes who went on to play in the NHL with distinction include forwards Tie Domi, Doug Jarvis, Mickey Redmond, Mike Ricci, Eric Staal and Jordan Staal, defencemen Chris Pronger and goalies Greg Millen and Ron Tugnutt. Millen finished his OHL career as an overager with the Soo Greyhounds in 1978.

And former Petes right winger Jody Hull is about to enter his third full season as Peterborough’s head coach.

Regular season and playoffs included, the now-46-year old Hull played in 900 NHL games as a right winger.

Hull has led the Petes into the playoffs in each of the past two seasons. They advanced to the second round of the Eastern Conference playoffs in 2013-2014 and lost in the first round to the eventual champion Oshawa Generals in 2014-2015.

Peterborough secured the eighth-and-final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference in 2014-2015 and Petes general manager Michael Oke told HockeyNewsNorth.com that he sees the team finishing in the “middle-of-the-pack” of the standings in 2015-2016.


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