Posted: Fri May 19, 2006 1:47 pm
Jamie Tardif knows it's something special to pull on the Peterborough Petes jersey.
The oldest continuously operating franchise in the Ontario Hockey League - second only to the Regina Pats in Canada - has eight Memorial Cup appearances and six Memorial Cup finals on its resume. Both are Canadian Hockey League records.
The team has also graduated a record number of players to the NHL (140 plus).
And as club celebrates its 50th anniversary this season, what better way to celebrate than to win the Memorial Cup for the first time since the Petes' first - and only - Canadian championship in 1979.
"Any time you put on that jersey you are representing so many guys in the NHL. You watch the NHL on TV and you hear about former Peterborough Petes. This is the first time any of us have got this far in our OHL careers, so we want to do very well," Tardif, the Peterborough captain and overage forward, said yesterday after a practice at the Moncton Royale Coliseum.
"This year alone the Petes have honoured so many guys. Larry Murphy, Chris Pronger, Bob Gainey. They've all been honoured with banners in the rink and seeing those guys around makes you feel really proud to put on that jersey. It's my fifth season here and I couldn't have asked for a better situation."
OHL champion Peterborough, which opens the Memorial Cup tonight against Patrick Roy's Quebec Major Junior Hockey League runner-up Quebec Remparts at 8 p.m. at the Coliseum, earned a ticket to Moncton after sweeping the defending Memorial Cup champion London Knights in the OHL final.
Petes are back at the Memorial Cup for the first time since 1996 when they lost in the final to the Granby Predateurs at home in Peterborough.
Dick Todd knows a lot about the Petes' history.
He started with Peterborough as a trainer in the 1970s and served as its head coach from 1980-1993. Todd returned to the Petes bench in 2004-05 after an 11-year absence.
"I think the players, when they get to Peterborough and see a board that shows the number of players who have graduated to the NHL, understand the history and tradition that goes with the Petes," said Todd, who also won a Stanley Cup as an assistant coach with the New York Rangers.
"Getting back to the Memorial Cup again is a quite a feat for our organization. It's a proud organization coming from a small community."
Peterborough, which finished No. 10 in the year-end CHL rankings, is known as a veteran, all-around team with strong goaltending from off-season acquisition David Shantz, an experienced blueline and a talented group of forwards led by two names familiar to NHL fans - Daniel Ryder, younger brother of Montreal Canadiens forward Michael Ryder, and Jordan Staal, younger brother of Carolina Hurricanes star Eric Staal.
"I think we're a really well-balanced team. In every area we have a lot of great players, we're really deep and that's helped us in the playoffs," said Staal, ranked second in the final 2005-06 Central Scouting Bureau North American rankings for players eligible for the 2006 NHL draft.
"We're kind of known as a well-balanced organization with a strong history and we're really proud of that. Hopefully, we can show that to the fans around here."
Petes went 47-16-2-3 in the regular season, good for second overall in the OHL behind London. They started the playoffs slow, needing six games to dispose of the Ottawa 67's in the first round, but then went on a tear. They swept the Sudbury Wolves, eliminated the Barrie Colts in five games and then turned back London in four straight to punch their ticket to Moncton.
Peterborough finished with a 16-3 playoff record and won all eight of its overtime games.
"I think right from Day 1 early in the season when we went on a long winning streak that we felt pretty good about ourselves, but from Christmas on we weren't as consistent as we had been, so it created a few doubts," Todd said.
"The players overall - I sensed - had a confidence level that when the chips were down and when they started the playoffs that they were prepared for it and didn't feel that they weren't the best team and they proved that in the playoffs."
The November acquisition of Steve Downie, who left the Windsor Spitfires early in the season after a fight with a teammate but was a key player on Canada's world junior gold medal championship team over Christmas, paid off. Downie contributed 21 points in 19 playoff games for the Petes.
Downie helps lead a Peterborough offence that is headlined by Ryder, Tardif, Staal, Jordan Morrison and Liam Reddox.
The blueline is anchored by veterans Trevor Hendrikx and Aaron Dawson. Shantz has been stellar in goal with a 2.61 goals against average and a .925 save percentage.
