PECA BRINGS TO CANADIENS A SPEEDY, IN-YOUR-FACE GAME THAT’S A PERFECT FIT
Matthew Peca has played only two games with the Canadiens, but has already become a favourite with the French media in Montreal.
There are only five francophones on the Canadiens roster — Jonathan Drouin, Phillip Danault, Charles Hudon, Xavier Ouellet and Nicolas Deslauriers, who is injured — so the options are limited when it comes to interviews that can run on French TV without needing subtitles. Paul Byron is comfortable doing interviews in French, but not as comfortable as Peca.
While Byron went to French immersion school when he was growing up in Ottawa and has a francophone wife, Peca attended full French school from kindergarten through high school, at École Secondaire Catholique Jeanne-Lajoie in Pembrooke, Ont., and he spoke French at home with his mother Ginette. His father, Frank, is English. But the fact he’s bilingual isn’t why the Canadiens signed Peca as a free agent this summer after he spent most of last season with the AHL’s Syracuse Crunch, posting 13-33-46 totals in 63 games. In 10 games with the Tampa Bay Lightning — who selected him in the seventh round (201st overall) at the 2011 NHL Draft — the 5-foot-9, 182-pound centre posted 2-3-5 totals.
Peca said there were about a dozen NHL teams that expressed interest in him during the summer, but only two or three who had what he called “full interest” and the Canadiens were one of them, offering him a two-year, one-way contract worth US$2.6 million.
“At the end of the day, this was a pretty easy call for me,” Peca said after practice on Tuesday in Brossard. “Just a little bit of everything. I was interested and was happy with the direction the team was taking after a tough season. I knew everyone was going to be hungry and they were going a little younger, a little faster, so it’s definitely something I wanted to be a part of. “They just stressed that they wanted to play a more fast-paced game, a little more relentless kind of in-your-face hockey,” the 25-year-old added. “So when they told me that, I was pretty excited, because that’s kind of what I pride myself on — being hard to play against and playing fast. So I knew, system-wise, it was going to be a good fit for me.” Peca has taken the fourth line centre spot between Charles Hudon and Andrew Shaw. After two games, he’s still looking for his first point and is minus-1 while averaging 10:54 of ice time and winning 41.7 per cent of his faceoffs.
“I consider myself a two-way centre,” he said. “Someone who can compete in all situations at both ends of the rink. I do the little things. I take pride in blocking shots, winning faceoffs. I understand the role that I’m playing right now on the team, so I just want to make sure that those little things are good and hopefully goals and stuff will come.”
The Lightning drafted Peca after he posted 26-46-72 totals in 50 games with the Pembroke Lumber Kings of the CCHL during the 2010-11 season.
“I was a small guy,” he said. “I needed time to develop as a player and as a person when I was 18. Honestly, I was surprised that I even got picked in the first place.”
Peca then spent four seasons at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Conn., which started its varsity hockey program in 1975 and didn’t join Division 1 of the NCAA until 1998. During his time at Quinnipiac, Peca became captain of the Bobcats, posting 42-101-143 totals in 157 games, and helped lead them to three straight NCAA Tournament appearances, losing 4-0 to Yale in the 2013 championship game. He became the first Quinnipiac alumnus to score an NHL goal while with the Lightning.
“It was still pretty new in the Division 1 role when I went there and it was kind of the same vibe I had choosing Montreal,” Peca said. “It was a program that was struggling to find its identity and they wanted to go faster and play a more fast-paced game. When I went on my visits there, I felt pretty comfortable with the coaching staff and what they expected of me and the players. So that decision was pretty easy at the end of the day.”
Now Peca is happy to be with the Canadiens, playing in the NHL on the first one-way contract of his career and getting to use his French at the same time. He’s still living at a hotel near the Canadiens’ practice facility, but plans to start looking for a place of his own. He has yet to be recognized as a Canadiens player away from the rink.
“I’ve been trying to do my best to explore the city,” Peca said. “It’s awesome and I’ve heard nothing but good things. But I’m still a bit of a tourist.
“It’s been awesome,” he added. “Can’t complain. One of the best organizations in the world, getting a chance to play in the NHL — so it’s been great so far.”