Local Journalist Tells the Untold Stories of the 1973-74 Peterborough Petes In New Book ‘The First Ones’
/Untold stories of the 1973-74 Peterborough Petes, Team Canada’s first team to compete in the first World Juniors held in Russia, are being told by local journalist Ed Arnold and his book, ‘The First Ones,’ to be released this weekend.
Jason Russelle, Russelle Toyota general Manager (left) and Ed Arnold, Author of ‘The First Ones’ (right). Arnold had written Peterborough’s Perfect Season: With Benny and his Jets in May of last year
The announcement was made on Tuesday afternoon at Russelle Toyota where Arnold unveiled the paperback on the team’s 50th anniversary.
The book tells the journey of the Petes with coach Roger Neilson in December of 1973 but also through the perspective of those involved.
According to Arnold, the World Juniors were never officially sanctioned and recognized until 1977. He continues to explain that very little information was available online about the tournament.
“The IIHF (International Ice Hockey Federation) has nothing on this tournament. You can go on the Internet; all you'll find are summaries of the games and who the players were,” explained Arnold. “The Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto has literally nothing but a couple of newspaper articles. Hockey Canada has no archive has nothing at all so digging up that information was a matter of finding these players.
The front and back of the paperback book. Photo courtesy of Ed Arnold.
