Jimmy Peters Jr.

Jimmy Peters Jr. was the son of Jimmy Peters Sr. who managed to win three Stanley Cup's with the Detroit Red Wings and Montreal Canadiens during the 1940's and 50's.

Neither Jimmy Jr. or his father were stars in the NHL. Young Jimmy was not a great skater but he was a hard working player who never complained although being bounced around CHL, AHL and WHL for many years. He was also a smart player who often was used in shorthanded situations.

Jimmy Jr. was a very shy and soft-spoken person who never had anything bad to say about anybody. He came out of the juniors from the Hamilton Red Wings (OHA) where he posted a fine 101 points (36 goals and 65 assists) in only 51 games during his last season there (1964-65). He then played sporadically for the Detroit Red Wings between 1965-68, appearing in only 54 games, with most of them (45) coming during the 1967-68 season. Only days prior to the opening game of the 1968-69 season he was traded to the Los Angeles Kings for Hall of Fame goalie Terry Sawchuk.

In LA he saw a lot more ice time and was a regular penalty killer on the team. He had 10 goals and 25 points in 1968-69 and a career high 15 goals (24 points) the following season. He didn't make the team the following two seasons and spend his time in the minors playing for the Springfield Kings (AHL), Denver Spurs (WHL) and Seattle Totems (WHL). He played for Los Angeles during the entire 1972-73 season, but after that he was going up and down between the NHL, WHL, CHL and AHL.

He had two solid seasons with Springfield Indians (AHL) and Forth Worth Texans (CHL). But at that time it was obvious that he wouldn't earn a spot on any NHL team so he decided to hang em' up 32-years old in 1976.

In 309 NHL regular season games he had 36 goals and 73 points and 2 more points in 11 playoff games.

Jimmy Jr. won't go into the history books as one of the better players but his quality as a person ranks him as one of the best. Larry Regan, once the GM of the Los Angeles Kings said about Jimmy Jr.

"About the only player I know who would admit a goal had gone in for his team after a referee ruled it a score might be Jimmy Peters Jr."

One summer he toured the western United States in an old bus together with an evangelist talking to young people about staying away from drugs etc. It was something that he chose to do instead of taking a nice sunny vacation as most others did or would have done.

Peters went on to coach at Northern Arizona University and Rennselaer Polytechnic Institute. He then became an athletic director at a prep school in Vermont. Between jobs he also served as a substitute teacher in Michigan while working at golf courses.