SALT LAKE CITY — "I love hockey. I was a hockey fan. I played high school hockey. I just really wanted to find a way to stay around the game," said John Peters, the Philadelphia Flyers' assistant equipment manager.
The Bountiful native and Viewmont High School alumnus was willing to do whatever it took to get to the NHL.
"It actually all started here, working at the Delta Center when I was in high school... A manager that used to work at the Delta Center, that my boss at the time was friends with, his son was an NHL equipment manager," said Peters. "[They] gave me an hour-long conversation and basically said, 'You've got to work for free for a few years,' so I just started Googling hockey equipment manager job opening and I found one with the Arizona State University club hockey team."
At 19 years old, Peters moved to Arizona to begin chasing his dream.
"I was the equipment manager for the hockey team. I was driving the Zamboni at an ice rink and working at a hockey pro shop," Peters said.
After four years in the Grand Canyon state, he got his break with the San Jose Barracuda, spending one year in the American League and getting called up to the San Jose Sharks.
"It was really cool too because there were 3 or 4 players that I was pretty close with on the Barracuda, that next year got called up to the Sharks as well. It was like we all got the call-up together kind of thing. It was a lot of fun," said Peters.
After spending five years with the Sharks, a bigger role in Philadelphia opened up. It was an opportunity he couldn't pass up.
"I called my boss in San Jose and just asked for permission like, 'Hey, would you mind if I applied for this job in Philadelphia? I have a chance to be the number two guy.' He said, 'I'll call their head equipment manager right now," Peters said.
The Bountiful native now has nine years in the NHL and 10 years of pro hockey experience.
"It's a lot of pressure, it's very intense, but it's so much fun and being able to see the best players in the world, up so close, doing their thing," Peters said. "It's so cool and so cool to be a part of."
He added, "There's so many different moving parts that if you want to work in sports. There's a ton of opportunities."
As a Utahn, he's proud to see hockey in the Beehive State.
"I didn't think it would ever happen, that Utah would get an NHL team, but it's so cool to see, not only that, but it's cool to see youth hockey start to get big in Utah, more rinks opening, more opportunities, more teams. I think it's so cool just to see the sport start to take off here," said Peters.
