Andrew Peeke Returns to Sunrise – This Time with Boston Bruins

Peeke grew up idolizing players such as Ed Jovanovski and Stephen Weiss, and said it was hard not to root for the Panthers as they made their march to the Stanley Cup Final last year.

It should be noted that Peeke was not a member of the Bruins at the time.

“I have been going to games here since I was 6 months old,” said Peeke, who left South Florida before he would have attended Stoneman Douglas High to help further his hockey career at a prep school in Connecticut.

“Being from a place like Florida or Arizona, a non-traditional hockey market, having something like that was pretty special. Obviously all of my friends and family grew up as Panthers fans so to be able to experience that, know that will help the game in Florida was tremendous. To see how hockey was scarce down here and now it’s growing … having a run like that really tops things off.”

Peeke’s ties to South Florida are pretty long.

He started playing hockey in Coral Springs on a team with fellow NHLer Jakob Chychrun — on a team coached by Jeff, who now works on the Florida television broadcasts.

He played on a number of junior teams in the area including the Jr. Panthers, and ended up being captain at Notre Dame.

After three seasons of playing with the Irish, he turned pro and joined the Blue Jackets who made him a second-round pick in 2016.

Peeke made his NHL debut in Columbus on Dec. 5, 2019; he played in his second game two days later in Sunrise.

Instead of taking his rookie solo warm up lap in his first NHL game, he did it in his second on his “home” rink in Sunrise.

Now, this is more of a business visit what with the Bruins standing.

Still, it’s always cool to come home.

“The game has grown here much more obviously with the Panthers being who they are,” Peeke said. “There are more rinks being built here and that is awesome to see.”