Velociraptor
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Pete Peeters, G
Position: Goaltender
HT/WT: 6'0", 185 lbs
Catches: Left
Nickname: "Grumpy", "Grouchy"
- 1 acknowledgment for the First NHL All-Star Team (1983)
- 1-time Vezina Trophy Winner (1983)
- Won Canada Cup (1984)
- 246 wins, 155 losses, 51 ties and 21 shutouts in 489 regular season games played.
- 35 wins, 35 losses and 2 shutouts in 71 playoff games played.
Position: Goaltender
HT/WT: 6'0", 185 lbs
Catches: Left
Nickname: "Grumpy", "Grouchy"
- 1 acknowledgment for the First NHL All-Star Team (1983)
- 1-time Vezina Trophy Winner (1983)
- Won Canada Cup (1984)
- 246 wins, 155 losses, 51 ties and 21 shutouts in 489 regular season games played.
- 35 wins, 35 losses and 2 shutouts in 71 playoff games played.
Greatest Hockey Legends said:With a porous defense in front of him, Pete Peeters was peppered with pucks. But this pickle that Peeters picked turned out to be a perfect training ground. The huge workload and respectable showing earned him high praise from scouts. In 1977 he was selected 135th overall by the Philadelphia Flyers in the NHL Amateur draft.
Greatest Hockey Legends said:The Flyers must have thought they had the second coming of Bernie Parent based on the way Peeters started that year. He went 22-0-5 before losing his first game of the season on February 19th! Peeters finished the year with a record of 29-5-5 with a 2.73 GAA, earning him an All Star game nod. He was the Flyers go to guy in the playoffs as well, leading the Flyers all the way to Stanley Cup finals, only to lose on an over time goal courtesy of the New York Islanders' Bob Nystrom.
Greatest Hockey Legends said:Peeters was a tough guy to warm up to as well. Known as a grouchy guy, he was nicknamed Grumpy. He did not like the Philadelphia system of rotating goalies and at times carrying three netminders. A bit of a sore loser, he was not easy to talk to after games, especially in games that he loses.
Greatest Hockey Legends said:When Peeters was traded to Boston for defenseman Brad McCrimmon, both teams fared well in the trade, especially Boston in that first season. Peeters had perhaps his best year, playing in a career high 62 games, posting an amazing record of 40-11-9 with 8 shutouts and a NHL best-of-the-decade 2.36 GAA. At one stretch he went 31 games without a loss. Not surprisingly Peeters was awarded the Vezina Trophy as top goalie and named to the NHL's First All Star Team. Almost as impressive was the fact that Peeters finished 2nd in the entire league in Hart Trophy voting as league MVP in a time when the award was basically owned by the great Wayne Gretzky.
Greatest Hockey Legends said:He was invited to Team Canada for the 1984 Canada Cup, one of his greatest honours, but sprained his ankle. Still he was able to play in the final game against Sweden and clinch the championship. He was also the goalie in the dramatic 3-2 OT win against the Soviets. The game, considered by many to be one of the greatest of all time, wasthe highlight of his career.
Greatest Hockey Legends said:If you take the highlights of Pete Peeters career, you could mistake him as one of the greatest goaltenders of all time. He had some great highs, such as 1979-80 in Philadelphia, 1982-83 in Boston and the 1984 Canada Cup. But because of his team's frequent failures in the playoffs and the fact he rarely played 2/3rds of the schedule like most top goalies, Peeters isn't really remembered as one of the top goalies of the 1980s that he actually was.
Legends of Hockey said:To hear Pete Peeters speak is to hear the voice of a laid-back man who appreciated the sport of hockey but didn't always like the idea of it completely taking over his life.
Legends of Hockey said:His first showing in Flyer-land was adequate at best. He returned to Maine to complete the season and his career in the minors. From then on, Peeters would emerge as one of the top NHL goalies of his day.
In 1979-80, the Flyers and their goaltender got so hot that they set a league record unbeaten streak of 35 games. By season's end Peeters and his mates went toe-to-toe with the powerful New York Islanders in the Cup finals only to lose out four games to two.
Legends of Hockey said:In Beantown, Peeters got all the ice time he could handle. He found the atmosphere to be sufficiently relaxed to bring out the best in his game. By season's end, he corralled the most wins (40) and a Vezina trophy as the league's top stopper. He was voted the second-most valuable player behind Wayne Gretzky and came within one game of tying his coach, Gerry Cheever's, record of 32 straight appearances without a loss.
After such a momentous season, it became difficult for Peeters to have any hope of topping his own standard. He performed for parts of three more seasons with the Bruins but gradually lost the razor-sharp edge he'd originally brought to town.