History of the Peterborough Petes
The Peterborough Petes, formerly the Kitchener Green Shirts, were officially born in Peterborough on October 1, 1956 as a farm team for the NHL’s Montreal Canadiens. They played their first game on November 4, 1956, against the Toronto Marlies, with the team’s first win occurring at the newly built Peterborough Memorial Centre on November 8, 1956 against the St. Catharines Tee-Pees.
They became known as the Peterborough Petes Hockey Club in 1966-67, but still adorned TPT on their sweaters, being sponsored by the Toronto Peterborough Transport Company. It was not until the 1974-75 season that fans saw the birth of the official “Petes” wearing the maroon and white and dropping the TPT and Montreal Canadiens colours.
Throughout team history, Peterborough has enjoyed much success, which has helped to put Peterborough and the Petes on the map throughout the hockey world and paved the way for many legends. The Petes are nine-time OHL Champions, have the most Memorial Cup appearances for a franchise (9), and the most Memorial Cup final game appearances (6), both CHL records. As a franchise, The Petes have missed the post season just 8 times (1961-62, 1975-76, 2003-04, 2006-07, 2010-11, 2011-12, 2012-13 and 2017-2018). The Peterborough Petes won the Memorial Cup Championship in 1979 with a team coached by Gary Green.
To date, one of the most significant accomplishments for the Petes, their fans, members of the organization, and the City of Peterborough was hosting the Memorial Cup tournament in 1996 while celebrating the franchise’s 40th anniversary in the league. The club set standards achieving a 100% sell-out in each tournament game (4,429).
The Peterborough Petes have played 65 Ontario Hockey League seasons and are the oldest continuously operating franchise in the OHL. For a small community, Peterborough has become recognized globally as being a “Junior Hockey Factory”. The city has produced more National Hockey League players (150+) than any other junior team in the world. Notable alumni include Zack Kassian, Zach Bogosian, Eric & Jordan Staal, Chris Pronger, Steve Yzerman, Bob Gainey, Mike Ricci, Tie Domi, Nick Ritchie, Steven Lorentz, and Nick Robertson. The franchise has also been home to notable coaches/managers including Scotty Bowman, Roger Neilson, Mike Keenan, Gary Green, and Dick Todd. Dick recorded 500 career victories faster than any other coach in Major Junior A hockey at the time, accomplishing the milestone in just 813 games.