Peter Zezel (April 22, 1965 – May 26, 2009) was a Canadian professional ice hockey centre who spent 15 seasons in the National Hockey League from 1984 to 1999.
Early life
Zezel was born and raised in Scarborough, Ontario. Zezel was an alumnus of Birchmount Park Collegiate Institute. His father Peter Zezel Sr. immigrated from Srb (near Gračac), Croatia, Yugoslavia in 1947. When Zezel Sr. arrived in Canada, he anglicized his family name from Žeželj. Zezel requested the team donate his salary to the Canucks for Kids Foundation but Burke paid the remainder of Zezel's contract ($110,000) to him and made a charitable donation in the same amount, and appeared as striker in three exhibition games for them in 1982. He never appeared in an official NASL game. In 1984, he played in the National Soccer League with Toronto Italia.
In May 2010, the Soccer Hall of Fame & Museum Board of Governors selected Zezel as the first recipient of the Brian Budd Award.
Personal life
Hollywood used Zezel’s hockey skills in a small role in the 1986 film Youngblood. In retirement, he coached minor hockey teams in the Toronto area, and also operated a sports camp in Markham, Ontario that focused on improving the hockey and soccer skills of young players while having fun. Zezel underwent chemotherapy and had his spleen removed as part of his treatment.
Shortly after his splenectomy, Zezel began complaining of serious headaches. Roughly twelve hours later, he once again underwent surgery, during which time surgeons had found hemorrhaging in his brain. He slowly lapsed into a coma, and was placed on life-support once his organs began to fail. As Zezel wanted to donate his organs, his family made the decision to remove him from life support so that the organs might be preserved. Zezel died on May 26, 2009, with the service taking place at the All Serbian Saints Serbian Orthodox Church in Mississauga.
Zezel was laid to rest in Pine Hills Cemetery in Scarborough.
In July 2014, a street in a new development in Scarborough was named Zezel Way to honour Zezel.
Career statistics
{| border="0" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="0" style="text-align:center; width:60em"
|- bgcolor="#e0e0e0"
! colspan="3" bgcolor="#ffffff" |
! rowspan="99" bgcolor="#ffffff" |
! colspan="5" | Regular season
! rowspan="99" bgcolor="#ffffff" |
! colspan="5" | Playoffs
|- bgcolor="#e0e0e0"
! Season
! Team
! League
! GP
! G
! A
! Pts
! PIM
! GP
! G
! A
! Pts
! PIM
|-
| 1981–82
| Don Mills Flyers AAA
| Midget
| 40
| 43
| 51
| 94
| 36
| —
| —
| —
| —
| —
|- bgcolor="#f0f0f0"
| 1982–83
| Toronto Marlboros
| OHL
| 66
| 35
| 39
| 74
| 28
| 4
| 2
| 4
| 6
| 0
|-
| 1983–84
| Toronto Marlboros
| OHL
| 68
| 47
| 86
| 133
| 31
| 9
| 7
| 5
| 12
| 4
|- bgcolor="#f0f0f0"
| 1984–85
| Philadelphia Flyers
| NHL
| 65
| 15
| 46
| 61
| 26
| 19
| 1
| 8
| 9
| 28
|-
| 1985–86
| Philadelphia Flyers
| NHL
| 79
| 17
| 37
| 54
| 76
| 5
| 3
| 1
| 4
| 4
|- bgcolor="#f0f0f0"
| 1986–87
| Philadelphia Flyers
| NHL
| 71
| 33
| 39
| 72
| 71
| 25
| 3
| 10
| 13
| 10
|-
| 1987–88
| Philadelphia Flyers
| NHL
| 69
| 22
| 35
| 57
| 42
| 7
| 3
| 2
| 5
| 7
|- bgcolor="#f0f0f0"
| 1988–89
| Philadelphia Flyers
| NHL
| 26
| 4
| 13
| 17
| 15
| —
| —
| —
| —
| —
|-
| 1988–89
| St. Louis Blues
| NHL
| 52
| 17
| 36
| 53
| 27
| 10
| 6
| 6
| 12
| 4
|- bgcolor="#f0f0f0"
| 1989–90
| St. Louis Blues
| NHL
| 73
| 25
| 47
| 72
| 30
| 12
| 1
| 7
| 8
| 4
|-
| 1990–91
| Washington Capitals
| NHL
| 20
| 7
| 5
| 12
| 10
| —
| —
| —
| —
| —
|- bgcolor="#f0f0f0"
| 1990–91
| Toronto Maple Leafs
| NHL
| 32
| 14
| 14
| 28
| 4
| —
| —
| —
| —
| —
|-
| 1991–92
| Toronto Maple Leafs
| NHL
| 64
| 16
| 33
| 49
| 26
| —
| —
| —
| —
| —
|- bgcolor="#f0f0f0"
| 1992–93
| Toronto Maple Leafs
| NHL
| 70
| 12
| 23
| 35
| 24
| 20
| 2
| 1
| 3
| 6
|-
| 1993–94
| Toronto Maple Leafs
| NHL
| 41
| 8
| 8
| 16
| 19
| 18
| 2
| 4
| 6
| 8
|- bgcolor="#f0f0f0"
| 1994–95
| Kalamazoo Wings
| IHL
| 2
| 0
| 0
| 0
| 0
| —
| —
| —
| —
| —
|-
| 1994–95
| Dallas Stars
| NHL
| 30
| 6
| 5
| 11
| 19
| 3
| 1
| 0
| 1
| 0
|- bgcolor="#f0f0f0"
| 1995–96
| St. Louis Blues
| NHL
| 57
| 8
| 13
| 21
| 12
| 10
| 3
| 0
| 3
| 2
|-
| 1996–97
| St. Louis Blues
| NHL
| 35
| 4
| 9
| 13
| 12
| —
| —
| —
| —
| —
|- bgcolor="#f0f0f0"
| 1996–97
| New Jersey Devils
| NHL
| 18
| 0
| 3
| 3
| 4
| 2
| 0
| 0
| 0
| 10
|-
| 1997–98
| Albany River Rats
| AHL
| 35
| 13
| 37
| 50
| 18
| —
| —
| —
| —
| —
|- bgcolor="#f0f0f0"
| 1997–98
| New Jersey Devils
| NHL
| 5
| 0
| 3
| 3
| 0
| —
| —
| —
| —
| —
|-
| 1997–98
| Vancouver Canucks
| NHL
| 25
| 5
| 12
| 17
| 2
| —
| —
| —
| —
| —
|- bgcolor="#f0f0f0"
| 1998–99
| Vancouver Canucks
| NHL
| 41
| 6
| 8
| 14
| 16
| —
| —
| —
| —
| —
|-
| 2002–03
| Cambridge Hornets
| OHASr
| 8
| 5
| 4
| 9
| 0
| —
| —
| —
| —
| —
|- bgcolor="#f0f0f0"
| 2003–04
| Cambridge Hornets
| OHASr
| 18
| 7
| 17
| 24
| 16
| —
| —
| —
| —
| —
|-
| 2004–05
| Cambridge Hornets
| MLH
| 4
| 0
| 6
| 6
| 2
| —
| —
| —
| —
| —
|- style="background:#e0e0e0;"
! colspan="3" | NHL totals
! 873
! 219
! 389
! 608
! 435
! 131
! 25
! 39
! 64
! 83
|}
References
External links
- Profile at hockeydraftcentral.com
- Peter Zezel at the Canadian Soccer Association