The Peterborough Petes defeated the London Knights before a sold-out hometown crowd at the Memorial Centre on Sunday night (May 21), winning the OHL championship and the J. Roberston Cup for the 10th time in the team’s history, and the community is invited to celebrate along with the Petes on Monday afternoon in downtown Peterborough.
The Petes, who won the game 2-1 to take the best-of-seven series in six games, also defeated the London Knights in their last OHL championship 17 years ago, when they swept the Knights in four games to advance to the Memorial Cup where they placed fourth.
A community celebration of the Petes’ historic win will take place on Victoria Day from 3 to 6 p.m. at Quaker Foods City Square in downtown Peterborough, the same location as the community watch party for Friday’s game five in London, which the Knights won forcing a sixth game in Peterborough.
At Sunday night’s game, goalie Michael Simpson led the way to Peterborough’s victory by stopping 36 of 37 shots.
The game remained scoreless in the first period, with Petes rightwinger Avery Hayes opening the scoring in the second period. London tied it up in the second period before Petes forward Tucker Robertson scored what would be the Petes’ winning goal. After the game, Michael Simpson was awarded the Wayne Gretzky Trophy as the 2023 OHL Playoff’s most valuable player.
As OHL champions, the Petes qualify to compete for the 103rd Memorial Cup in the Canadian Hockey League national championship series, which they have won once in 1979. The series begins on Thursday (May 25) in Kamloops, B.C., with the national championship game scheduled for Sunday, June 4th. Along with the Petes, the Kamloops Blazers, the Seattle Thunderbirds, and the Québec Remparts will be vying for the cup.
The Petes’ first game takes place at 6 p.m. on Saturday (May 27) at the Sandman Centre in Kamloops against the Western Hockey League champion Seattle Thunderbirds, who won the Ed Chynoweth Cup for the second time since 2017 by defeating the Winnipeg ICE in five games on Friday night.
Fans can catch the Memorial Cup games on OHL Live, TSN, Freq 90.5, Oldies 96.7, and Classic Rock 107.9. Those who are interested in travelling to Kamloops to cheer on the Petes will have to make their own arrangements, with the Petes strongly encouraging fans to arrange tickets through the Sandman Centre or other official sources as capacity is limited at the Sandman Centre.
A community celebration of the team’s victory takes place from 3 to 6 p.m on Monday at Quaker Foods City Square in downtown Peterborough where the Petes will display the J. Roberston Cup.
A 16-foot screen will be set up by Porter Sound to highlight the season’s best plays and there will be official championship merchandise, face painting, and opportunities for food and refreshments from local vendors.
The formal program begins at 3:45 p.m. with remarks from dignitaries, players, staff, and executives, official championship merchandise, face painting, and opportunities for food and refreshments from local vendors.
The event will include an official championship photo of the entire Petes team with community members, so fans are encouraged to wear maroon and white. While the event is free, parking will be extremely limited as a large crowd is anticipated.
The Peterborough Petes – pride of the #OHL in 2023!#OHLChampionship | @PetesOHLhockey pic.twitter.com/hxJfoM968N
— Ontario Hockey League (@OHLHockey) May 22, 2023
