A Jr Hockey Powerhouse - Rebuilding the Peterborough Petes

[CanuckJohnny]

wow, cardiac kids. way to go.

[jmetrow]

Well, the Petes came into the Memorial Cup as OHL Champions in the Regular and Post Season and failed to find their footing. Throughout the tournament, the team went 1-2 with the lone victory coming against the host Brandon Wheat Kings. Given that the top three teams move into the knockout round of the tournament, this would usually be enough to move on, but Brandon managed to win a game as well and got an overtime point while both Moose Jaw and Gatineau won two games each, leaving Peterborough packing. Despite the disappointing finish, the Petes are well stocked going into next year as nearly all the key contributors will be coming back. Players leaving this season are Shawn Spearing, Aidan Campbell, and Kallaway Mercer who are aging out and Justin Dezotte and Jack Beck who have signed NHL contracts. However, the core of Musty and the Misa brothers will be returning barring a stellar performance in NHL training camps.

[jmetrow]

The Petes had a very busy offseason thus far. Some major free agent signings of two 18-year-olds who played for Flint last year in defensive defenseman Michael MacLean and forward Ty Petrou, 17-year-old Hugo Hell who was a Swedish Import from last year's draft, overager Oliver Smith, Matthew Matich who is an 18-year-old 5-star prospect who played for the 67's last year, and 19-year old Anthony Lavoie who is by far the best player signed but was traded to Oshawa for the #1 overall pick in the OHL draft in which the Petes drafted Ryan Roobroeck. The 15-year-old is already OHL ready and was by far the best player in the draft. The Petes also acquired the #1 pick in the CHL import draft from the Generals for Eli Sebastian, allowing them to draft Linus Erikson, a 17-year-old 5-star prospect from Sweden who already has a 16 role rating as a counter-attacking forward. In the rest of the OHL draft, the Petes took Rickey Elphinstone with the 20th overall pick who is a 5-star prospect who will take a year or two before he can contribute properly. In the second round, the Petes selected Chris McFadden of Millbrook, Ontario, who has a 15-role rating as a goon and not much else. In the NHL draft, Quentin Musty was drafted sixth overall to the LA Kings, Luke Misa went 9th overall to the Vegas Golden Knights, Callum Ritchie went 118th overall to the Edmonton Oilers, Jackson Parsons went 171st overall to the Dallas Stars, Hugo Hell went 172nd overall to the San Jose Sharks, Tristan Bertucci went 187th to the Tampa Bay Lightning, Matthew Mayich went 201st to the Calgary Flames, and Cameron Mercer went 203rd to the Dallas Stars. The Petes were tied with the Swift Current Broncos for most players selected in the draft.