Former Peterborough Petes Owen Beck and James Guo Win Memorial Cup, Beck Named Tournament MVP

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Former Peterborough Petes Owen Beck and James Guo can add a ‘Memorial Cup’ to their hockey resume as they won the tournament with the Saginaw Spirit in a 4-3 win over the London Knights on Sunday night.

Beck winning the OHL Championship with the Petes during the 2022/23 OHL season. Photo by Samantha Bianco.

Beck was named tournament MVP and awarded the Stafford Smythe Memorial Trophy with four goals and one assist in the tournament. He scored the game’s first two goals and helped Saginaw become the first American-based Ontario Hockey League team to win the Memorial Cup.

“It's something nobody's ever going to take away from us,” explained Beck.

Beck’s first goal came in the opening period just after nine minutes into the game. He took the faceoff in Knights zone and a battle ensued for the puck. Beck was able to corral it and with traffic in front, beat former teammate and Peterborough Pete goaltender Michael Simpson as he went top shelf, bar down with his shot to make it 1-0 for Saginaw.

His second goal came on the power play in the final minute of the frame. Saginaw had been given a five-minute man advantage after a Landon Sim check to the head major penalty.

The Spirit wasted little time scoring as Beck got a pass at the faceoff dot from teammate Josh Bloom and one-timed it past Simpson in the top corner for a 2-0 lead.

Beck was traded to the Spirit for three draft picks and forward Aiden Young on Jan. 8 as part of the Petes rebuild.

He was originally acquired from the Mississauga Steelheads in exchange for Jack Van Volsen, Justin DeZoete, Peterborough’s second and third-round picks in 2025, Erie’s second-round pick in 2025 and Peterborough’s fourth-round pick in 2026 on Jan. 7 last year.

Guo logged one assist in the tournament en route to his Memorial Cup championship.

He was drafted 74th overall in the 2021 Ontario Hockey League Priority Selection.

The Woodbridge native was traded to Saginaw and the Petes’s 2023 sixth-round pick for Cam Gauvreau, the Spirit’s fourth-round pick and Windsor’s 2025 third-round pick in 2025 in January of last year.

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