Going Back There Again

Maroon sweater on a brown dog... truly an outstanding combination.

First things first... this week is gonna fly by. Between the unexpected circus that is the silly little thing called my daytime job and four consecutive evenings at either the Coliseum or the AJL, this might be The! Busiest! Week! of the year. I'm taking ten seconds to figure out if I'm coming or going and I might need a compass and GPS to even do that!

However, there is one thing I will make a point to do this coming Saturday. I will catch as much of CBC's Hockey Day in Canada as I can. Usually, I don't make much of a deal out of it, although it has been a delight to see two great MHL towns in Campbellton and Summerside play host to the festivities in recent years. This year the host is Peterborough, Ontario. That's actually a pretty large host community by HDIC standards and one that certainly wouldn't stand out at first glace to most Maritimers. For myself however, there is something special about where Ron and Don and family will be setting up shop at week's end.  

First off, it's where I was born. Ironically, that falls more into the category of "interesting coincidence" than "profound symbolism" for me personally. I've not been a Peterborough resident - and have not returned - for almost 31 years (and anyone who knows me can probably do the math and figure out I was still learning the more technical aspects of refining my motor skills at that time - a challenge I still face today, ironically). When I was in town, one of the main employers in was 3M, the OHL Petes were fresh off a run of three straight league titles and I remember absolutely none of it. However, as someone who feels that where you are born is an important place even if it's mostly just for personal historical purposes, it is admittedly pretty cool to say that my birthplace is about to put on a party of this magnitude.

Second, and this is truly first, their aforementioned junior hockey team has always been something kind of special for me. Ironically, place of birth has nothing to do with it. I became a casual Petes fan back in the spring of 1996. It was the team's 40th Anniversary and they were hosting the Memorial Cup. The Quebec representatives were the Granby Predateurs. I honestly don't know where to begin when counting the reasons why a then 15 year old me - who was a newcomer to the realm of junior hockey fandom - had a strong dislike for the Preds. Part of it was the fact that they were good (and the Alpines team I cheered for was bad... and bankrupt), part of it was the cast of players who I just found largely unlikable. Another factor was their coach - Michel Therrien - who I'm still trying to shake all these years later (at least he's in Montreal instead of Fredericton... now that was a little too close for comfort). Even the Morrissette brothers, the team's highly dubious ownership, was another reason to be less than enamored of the club. People who assault officials in arena parking lots tend to not reek of class. Below is taken from the book "The Memorial Cup" in reference to the Laval Titan's opening game of the 1994 tournament (the family held/holds a stake in that team as well):

"Things did get painful after the game, however, as referee Luc Lachapelle suffered face and head cuts when the window of the car he was riding in was smashed in the Colisée parking lot. According to Lachapelle, the damage was done by Titan general manager Jean-Claude Morrissette's fist. The next day, Morrissette resigned, and a CHL disciplinary committee fined the Titan $10,000, barring Morrissette from the Colisée de Laval for the rest of the tournament. The QMJHL later suspended him from all league activities with any team for the 1994-95 season."

Morrissette came back to the Q in time to join the Predateurs in 1995-96 in an advisory role.

So yeah, I was a pretty big fan of Zac Bierk and Cameron Mann for about a week or so. Unfortunately, the Petes lost in the finals to that same Granby team. Although I was not a fan of that particular squad, the fact that they led the Q to their first Memorial Cup title in 15 years (and first for a Quebec based franchise in 25 years) certainly put a feather of respectability in the league's cap.

Fast forward ten seasons... and the Petes were front and center for me once again. This time, the venue was the Moncton Coliseum and the event was the 2006 Memorial Cup. The Petes were considered the underdogs by many going into the tournament. Many were surprised they even got out of the "O" alive (although a sweep of the London Knights in that year's final isn't the exact definition of "just hanging on"). They proved - for a game, at least - why they belonged at the tourney, defeating the Quebec Remparts 3-2 in the week's opening match (a game cited a few days ago on this blog in the form of recent Bruins call-up Jamie Tardif, who scored a big third period goal in that contest for the OHL champs). From that point on, the Petes - led by Jordan Staal and Steve Downie - simply ran out of gas, losing to Moncton and Vancouver in the round robin and being forced into the tie-breaker game against the WHL champion Giants. The bottom truly fell out that afternoon as Vancouver spent about half the game on the powerplay, Gilbert Brule and Cody Franson feasted on ample time with the man advantage and the Giants won easily, 6-0, to advance to the semi-finals. This would prove to be the last game behind the bench for legendary junior coach Dick Todd, capping off 14 successful seasons over two separate stints with the Petes.

You can read more about Todd and the rest of the history of junior hockey in Peterborough in Ed Arnold's outstanding book "Hockey Town". The Petes have a pretty fascinating history - one that dates back to 1956 - and has been home to many outstanding hockey people. They are all documented in this tome. From Scotty Bowman and the Plager brothers, to the incomparable Roger Neilson (who was instrumental in Dick Todd ever being in Peterborough in the first place, ironically) and the days of Mickey Redmond and Bob Gainey, through to the more modern days of the franchise involving Mike Keenan, Steve Larmer, Steve Yzerman, Mike Ricci and Chris Pronger among others, Hockey Town covers it all in great - but not overbearing - detail. As a person who will read almost anything hockey related, I stumbled upon this book a year or two after the Petes made their appearance at the Memorial Cup in Moncton. It was yet another occasion where, for reasons completely unrelated to what should be the most obvious one, Peterborough reeled me in. It will probably do the same one more time this weekend.

It just goes to show that sometimes, "going home" takes you to a place that you don't remember... but never seem to be able to forget, either.