Matthew Peca entered this campaign with 20 total National Hockey League games under his belt. The Montreal Canadiens center has played in nearly double that amount this season alone.
Selected in the seventh round (200th overall) of the 2011 NHL draft by Tampa Bay, Peca made his big-league debut and registered one goal and an assist in 10 contests during the 2016-17 campaign with the Lightning. In the same amount of games last season with the Bolts, he totaled five points (2-3—5).
He signed with Montreal as a free agent in the summer and, as of March 11, has 10 points (3-7—10) in 38 matches this season.
And none of his NHL success to this point would’ve been possible if not for the four years, 2011-15, he spent developing at Quinnipiac University.
“Once I started playing college hockey, I felt like I came into my own and started to understand what it takes to develop,” Peca, 25, said. “You understand that the more work you put in, the more prepared you’re going to feel. You learn how to balance school, hockey and life. It’s a combination of having fun and being responsible.”
When Peca scored his first NHL goal on Jan. 3, 2017, versus the Winnipeg Jets, it marked the first time in hockey history that a Quinnipiac alum recorded a goal in The Show. It was a long time coming for the school’s hockey program, which turned Division 1 in 1999.
“The program started to pick up a couple years before I had gotten there,” Peca said. “Guys who were there before me had also gotten the chance to play in the NHL. Goals aside, we are getting a lot of alums in the mix now, which is really good, and there’s going to be more to come.”
Peca, 5-9, 182 pounds, knew during his teenage years that he was going to need some time to develop physically and mentally, which is one reason why the Petawawa, Ont., native chose to play for an American university instead of suiting up for a Canadian Hockey League club.
“It had everything to do with the kind of player I was,” Peca reminisced. “My game needed to mature, and I thought the college route was the best one for me. I definitely credit a lot of the success I’ve been able to have in the NHL to college. It wasn’t until my college years that I really felt that I could be an NHL player. I played Junior A hockey (with the Pembroke Lumber Kings), so I hadn’t had the sample size that I would’ve liked playing against bigger guys. When I went to college and had some success, that was my eye-opening moment of how close I was, but also how far I was and how much more work there was to put in.”
When it was time to commit to a school, selecting Quinnipiac rates as one of the simplest decisions of his life.
“It was a combination of everything,” Peca stated. “It was a relatively small school. I was happy with the program they had there. I was comfortable with the coaching staff. I knew I was going to play a lot. At the end of the day, it was a really easy decision.”
Of all the lessons Peca learned under the tutelage of head coach Rand Pecknold and his staff, he said what stands out most “is how well prepared they were for anything.”
He elaborated, “A lot of time and energy went into making sure the guys were on the same page, buying into a certain identity and a certain system, and that trickled down to all the players on and off the ice. The culture that Coach Pecknold set in place was the biggest thing.”
Part of that culture was making sure everyone came to the rink ready to work every day.
“It didn’t matter how you felt, who we played, the players we lost, everything was approached the same way, as perfectly as you could possibly do it,” Peca said. “He really stressed that as part of his program – making sure everything is the same every day. We did that as a group, and we were successful. As I’ve grown up, I’ve tried to do that as a person and as a player.”
The Bobcats’ preparation and approach to each day nearly paid off in a big way in Peca’s sophomore season, 2012-13, when they advanced to the NCAA national championship game. And although they lost to Yale, the run remains a vivid highlight for Peca.
“We knew how good we were, but we didn’t let it get to our heads,” he remembered. “We prepared the same way for every single team; it didn’t matter if they were ranked or not, or teams that we had beaten in the past. It didn’t matter. We were focused all season. We stayed pretty level, and that was the difference. Sometimes when teams start to play well, you kind of get ahead of yourselves, and if you start to play bad, you kind of get lost. For us, nothing really felt out of place.”
In the midst of their run, Peca recorded the fastest hat trick in NCAA history when he notched a natural hat trick in 3 minutes, 12 seconds, in the NCAA East Regional final versus Union. He downplayed its significance on account of the “short memory” that he and his club needed to have in order to keep advancing.
“Those nights happen,” Peca said. “And then we went to the Frozen Four, and I don’t think anybody really cared, right? We came to the rink like we always would, played really well against St. Cloud, and obviously didn’t get the result we wanted against Yale. All in all, it was an awesome experience and we learned a lot.”
The biggest lesson he learned was how hard it is to turn the page because of college hockey’s short season.
“When you don’t get the result you want, you have to wait a while,” Peca explained. “Returning for our junior year, we understood how hard it was to get there (to the NCAA title game). We didn’t perform in our league playoffs as well as we would have liked, but we responded, our culture grew and got better, and the incoming freshmen had outstanding seasons that year, too.”
Peca remained with the Bobcats for his senior season, seeking to continue to upgrade his game.
“I didn’t think I was ready after my junior year,” the left-handed shooting forward said. “I also had shoulder surgery that summer, so I didn’t think it was the smartest play for me to try and make an NHL camp after not doing a whole lot for six months. Plus, your degree is pretty important.”
Peca totaled 143 points (42-101—143) in 157 contests with the Bobcats, and although he never won a championship at college, the waiting game for the school didn’t last long. In 2015-16, the first season following his departure to the pros, Quinnipiac captured its first ECAC championship. It was its second conference title and first since the 2001-02 campaign when it won the MAAC.
Of course, Peca felt immense pride.
“It was amazing,” he said. “I watched the game and the run they went on to the Frozen Four again (Quinnipiac lost in the 2016 NCAA championship game to North Dakota.). It was something the program deserved and desperately needed at the same time. It was a proud Bobcat moment for me even though I wasn’t there.”
And right now, the Bobcats are equally proud of Peca, as the school’s ace alum lives out his dream of playing in the NHL.
