THE CANADIAN PRESS
Michael Peca spent five seasons with the Buffalo Sabres and built lasting relationships with Curtis Brown, Jay McKee and Marty Biron. When he moved on to Long Island, Jason Blake soon became one of his best friends.
In fact, it’s a pattern that followed him through each of his six stops over 13 seasons in the NHL.
And on the day he officially announced his retirement from hockey, it wasn’t particular wins or losses he was left reflecting on, but all the people he met along the way.
"I made so many friendships in the game that I can’t imagine my life today having not met the hundreds or more people that I’ve come across," Peca said Tuesday from his home outside of Buffalo. "That’s really what defines our lives — the people that you meet and the people that you keep close to. That’s life in a nutshell and I’m very, very fortunate."
Jeff O’Neill, Darcy Tucker, Fredrik Modin and Ryan Smyth are also among the guys he became close with, although Peca concedes that he considers "almost everyone" he played with a friend.
The 35-year-old spent his last two seasons with the Columbus Blue Jackets and was left unsigned in the summer. He received some interest from Western Conference teams, but was reluctant to move far from his family’s home base.
An opportunity in the East fell through just before the start of training camp.
"I wasn’t going to uproot my family again," said Peca. "If I was going to play again, it was going to be somewhere close enough to Buffalo that they can drive in from time to time or I could drive back. I didn’t want to put my kids in a new school again.
"I was very selective, maybe so selective to the point that realistically I knew that there probably wouldn’t be an opportunity."
Peca won gold with Team Canada at the 2002 Olympics and was part of two Stanley Cup finalists — the 1999 Buffalo Sabres and 2006 Edmonton Oilers.
Interestingly, the near-misses mean more to him than his experience at the Games in Salt Lake City. He’s honoured to call himself an Olympic champion, but nothing quite matched the feeling of a serious playoff run.
"Even though the Olympic gold medal was the one where I was fortunate enough to be successful, the Stanley Cup runs were actually more fruitful for me from the emotional standpoint," said Peca. "This is guys that have slugged it out for five-six months and now we’ve got to go another two months together to try and accomplish the greatest prize."
Peca’s teams fell just short both times. The Sabres lost Game 6 in triple overtime to Dallas on the controversial goal by Brett Hull, while the Oilers dropped Game 7 in Carolina.
Three more wins and he’d have two championship rings and his named etched into the oldest trophy in North American professional sports.
However, that isn’t something he dwells on.
"I don’t for one second look back and regret anything that happened," said Peca. "There’s no doubt that I go can go through different situations in my career that I wish turned out differently, but they all happened for their own certain purpose. And I don’t regret anything for one second."
Peca began his NHL career with the Vancouver Canucks and would go on to make stops in Buffalo, Long Island, Edmonton, Toronto and Columbus — a total of 864 regular-season games that included 176 goals and 465 points.
A physical player and skilled penalty killer, he was considered one of the league’s best two-way centres in his prime. Peca was twice awarded the Selke trophy as the NHL’s top defensive forward.
He’s now coaching his nine-year-old son Trevor’s hockey team. One thing he won’t miss about playing in the NHL is being away from the family, which also includes wife Kristin and daughter Emily.
"Travelling and not seeing your family every day is certainly one of them," said Peca. "To know that I don’t have to go away for three (days) here, four (days) there, a week here. It makes everything so much less stressful."
There were a number of injuries to deal with over the years: a broken cheekbone, injuries to both knees, concussions, groin strains and a fractured tibia, to name a few.
The one that concerned him most was the tibia, which he suffered in December 2006 while playing for the Maple Leafs. He’s happy to report that it no longer affects him today.
"I play tennis three days a week and I pound on it pretty hard," said Peca. "It’s really no issue at all. Fortunately, I’m able to do just about anything I want."
His retirement announcement was fairly understated — a simple email distributed by the NHL Players’ Association. There was no big press conference or a teary-eyed goodbye.
"I’m not sad by any means," said Peca. "Several months ago, I came to the decision I wasn’t going to play anymore. Today’s really just a day that I made a public statement. For me, it was so every time I run into old friends, they quit asking me if I’m done or not.
"Now they’ve got the answer. It’s kind of like a mass email."
