Top-tier teams need a top-tier arena

The 2023 OHL Champion Peterborough Petes got their welldeserved heroes’ welcome from 300 supporters at the Peterborough airport on Saturday — although they would rather have been arriving home with the Memorial Cup

The Petes made it to the semifinal of the national major junior championship in Kamloops, B.C., where they looked to be out of gas any number of times, then put their heads down and fought back.

Sitting on the playoff bubble almost to the end of the regular season, they finished with 74 points, 33 back of the Ottawa 67’s, one of the teams they upset on the way to the OHL title.

That 74-point total was the lowest for an OHL champion in 42 years. They lost their first two games of the three-game Memorial Cup round-robin, then rallied to two consecutive do-or-die wins to reach the semifinal.

Through it all the players, coaches and management delivered a consistent message: They believed in one another, always, no matter how bleak their situation might have looked to anyone outside that tight group.

They hadn’t been together for long. Winning in major junior, where top players usually turn pro and move on at 18 or 19 and rosters are hard to keep together, often means trading for star players when the alignment looks promising.

It’s a tricky proposition, one the Petes did not have success with in the recent past.

This season they got it right.

Four of their top five scoring forwards during the playoffs were picked up in a series of trades that began in November with the acquisition of Brennan Othmann.

Avery Hayes, Owen Beck and Connor Lockhart were the others — all established stars who cost the Petes most of the young prospects and draft picks that would have stocked the cupboard for the future.

What that means for next year is not clear. If Othmann et al are judged by their NHL teams to be ready for professional hockey — NHL or minor leagues — the Petes will likely struggle. If some come back, they have the chance to contend again.

It’s much different with Peterborough’s other storied sports franchise.

The Peterborough Lakers just started their lacrosse season in search of a record fifth consecutive national championship, and record 19th overall.

The Mann Cup winners can count on most of their roster returning. And they have been able to depend on a deep pool of local talent over the decades — Bobby Allan, Jon Grant, Jon Grant Jr., Tracy Kelusky and now Sean Evans were each, in their time, among the very most talented players in the world.

The teams share a common home, the Memorial Centre.

The nearly 70-year-old arena was good to the Petes this year — they were 10-1 at home during the playoffs — but both teams would like it replaced.

When the Lakers signed a new five-year lease earlier this year, Mayor Jeff Leal said he hopes to begin construction of a proposed new 5,800-seat arena and entertainment complex in the coming four years.

While that’s possible, no site has been chosen and the city would need significant funding help for the roughly $100-million cost.

The Petes did their part for the sales pitch this year, selling out the 4,000-seat Memorial Centre during the playoff run and creating real excitement across the entire region.

Hats off to the entire organization. Whatever the future brings, this has been a season to remember.

The nearly 70-year-old arena was good to the Petes this year — they were 10-1 at home during the playoffs — but the Petes and Lakers would like it replaced