The Petes study intently, in 2005. (Photo: Tyler Anderson, National Post)

In the modern, monetized world of high-level hockey, where every inch of open space is a billboard waiting to be sold, there are not many fan experiences left like the Peterborough Memorial Centre. It is an old, proud and stubborn barn.  

The building even has a distinct smell on nights the Peterborough Petes play; the air filled with notes of hot dogs, beer and history.  

Character, unfortunately, does not pay the bills.  

It is a small rink, and not easily adaptable to the needs of modern facilities that make their money on more than just hockey. The Petes have made it their home for 70 years, and their former president is suggesting they cannot afford to make it their home for much longer.  

In an interview with the Peterborough Examiner, Dave Pogue suggests the team will not be able to survive in town without a new facility in the near future.  There is a proposal on the table for a multi-purpose 5,800-seat venue downtown. 

“If it doesn’t happen, the Petes are in trouble because we won’t be in the league. Not here anyways,” Pogue tells the Examiner. “The league and commissioner have made it pretty clear all facilities have to be up to a certain standard. That standard continues to increase for player experience and we’re not up to that standard.” 

The city has long weighed a replacement venue, but it has never come close to breaking ground. Pogue suggested OHL commissioner Bryan Crawford is applying pressure on the city to get the new facility approved.  

“(Crawford) said, ‘I’m here to tell you, you need to if you hope to keep the Petes in Peterborough because the Memorial Centre isn’t to the standards the OHL expects and all teams are going to be held to that standard,’” Pogue tells the Examiner.  

There is a lot going on here: It is true the Petes play in an ancient facility while the NCAA is throwing money at new recruits, and while several OHL rivals upgrade their facilities. It is also true, though, that threatening to relocate a franchise unless the public offers money might be the oldest trick in the book for league executives.  

If you have a subscription to Metroland Media, you can read the whole story right here.

This feels like a surprising piece of Canadian hockey trivia: Kingston, Ont., has never been represented in the Memorial Cup.  

For all its history, and for all the players it has delivered to the NHL, the city has never once been on the national stage for junior hockey. (Kingston has won a provincial title, but it was back before anyone reading this newsletter was born, in 1911.) 

That wait will continue for at least a little while longer, after Kingston was passed over — alongside the Niagara region — for the chance to host the 2027 Memorial Cup. Kitchener and Guelph were selected to advance their respective bids.  

“Kingston has had an Ontario Hockey League franchise dating back to 1973 and has yet to win an OHL championship to qualify for the Memorial Cup tournament," Gare Joyce writes in the Kingston Whig-Standard. "And as tough to swallow for fans in the market is that the major-junior power brokers have never seen fit to stage the tournament in the city.” 

Kingston loaded up at the trade deadline last season, only to be eliminated in seven games by Barrie in the second round of the OHL playoffs.  

“The sighs and grimaces this week must give way to reality," Joyce writes. "For the near future, the Frontenacs will have to earn their championships the old-fashioned way and without any help from executive fiat." 

You can read the whole story right here.

Sam O’Reilly works in about as close as you can here. (Photo: Bob Davies)

After helping the London Knights win the Memorial Cup in June, winger Sam O’Reilly did not play another game all summer. This is not unusual for adults who win the Stanley Cup — or for adults who win their local beer league, for that matter — but it can be odd for prospects. 

Summer is when prospects appear in showcases and international tournaments. O’Reilly, for example, missed out on the world junior summer showcase event in Minnesota.  

Why?  

He wouldn’t say, exactly. At least not during his conversation with London Free Press reporter Ryan Pyette.  

O’Reilly said he got “a little thing done on my body,” which kept him on the sidelines.  

The procedure did not keep him entirely out of the spotlight, though. O’Reilly was taken 32nd overall by the Edmonton Oilers in the 2024 NHL Entry Draft, but was traded to Tampa over the summer for forward Isaac Howard. 

“I haven’t been to Tampa yet but they all got in touch with me and they’ve been good to me," he tells Pyette. “They were really welcoming. You don’t really think about being traded from the team that drafted you, but it’s a business and that type of stuff happens.” 

You can read the whole story right here.

This man may not be in the OHL for much longer: Jussi Ahokas, leading the Kitchener Rangers, for now. (Photo: Derek Ruttan, London Free Press)

Jussi Ahokas is a 44-year-old coach from Finland who has been making a name for himself with the Kitchener Rangers. How much of a name? Enough to land multiple job interviews in the NHL, according to Josh Brown, the OHL reporter with the Waterloo Region Record.  

He reported Ahokas has interviewed with undisclosed NHL teams over each of the last two summers. One team was reportedly interested in talking to him at length about an opening as an assistant coach this year.  

“It got quite far along,” Ahokas tells Brown. “My dream has always been to coach in the NHL.” 

Ahokas is heading into his third season with the Rangers, and there is reason to believe he might not be around for many more. He led a young Kitchener roster to a 100-point season last year, advancing all the way to the conference championship before losing to the high-flying London Knights.  

“You have to come to North America if you want to someday coach in the NHL,” Ahokas tells Brown. “You have to come here and do well and then you get those interviews.” 

If you have a Metroland subscription, you can read the whole story right here.  

(Photo: Mark Malone, Chatham Daily News)

The OHL pre-season: Prime time to work on your playoff headlock technique.

Windsor's J.C. Lemieux and Saginaw's Jacob Cloutier work on their wrestling strategies during a pre-season game at Chatham Memorial Arena in Chatham, Ont.