Peterborough Petes Mourn the Loss of Alumnus Brent Pope

The Peterborough Petes are mourning the loss of alumnus Brent Pope, who after battling with cancer, has passed away at 49 on Tuesday.

Pope debuted with the Petes that had NHLer Mike Ricci and Petes assistant coach Andrew Verner on hte same roster. Photo courtesy of the Peterborough Petes.

Pope spent parts of two seasons with the Petes from 1989-'91. He has been with the Hamilton Dukes, Guelph Storm and Ottawa 67’s over a four year Ontario Hockey League (OHL) career. In UK Ice Hockey from 1996-2017, he sever as a as a player, coach, managing director and broadcaster in the United Kingdom.

Pope was drafted by the Petes in the third round of the 1989 OHL Priority Selection from the Grimsby Peach Kings Jr. C Hockey Club. He debuted with the Petes during the 1989-90 season for 31 games.

The defenceman had seven assists in his rookie season in the OHL. He had three goals and 11 assists in just 29 games the following year before moving on to his hometown Hamilton Dukes. Pope played in 213 games, scoring 29 goals and 84 assists for 113 points in his OHL career.

Pope spent time in the AHL and ECHL before moving to England after his OHL career. Most of his English career was spent with the Cardiff Devils, where he played and served as head coach and managing director. 

He turned to broadcasting afterwards, serving as one for BBC Sport at the 2006 Turin, 2010 Vancouver and 2014 Sochi Olympic Winter Games, covering hockey. He also worked for the Olympic Broadcast Service, covering multiple sports at the London 2012 Olympic Games. Following that, he served as Head of English Commentary for the Champions Hockey League from 2014-17.

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