Granville Raper 1982 - 1983
Playing Participant in the Legends of Peterborough event March 16th 2008

Granville “Granny” Raper will not be a name known to many of the current Peterborough hockey fanbase but Granny was actually the player who started it all.

Based in Bradford and a regular with the Bradford Bulldogs side, Granny made the trip down to Peterborough’s new rink in late 1981 at the invite of the rink engineer who was commuting down from Bradford to look after the new ice. He was suitably impressed and immediately saw the opportunity to introduce ice hockey to the city and that is exactly what he did …… initiating early training sessions, both on the new ice-pad and even on the flooded and frozen Whittlesey washes !

Granny played in all of Pirates earliest games and was a regular throughout that first season, after which he spent many seasons helping to establish further layers of development and recreational hockey in the city. Today, you can still catch Granny burning up the ice with the Peterborough Phoenix and his infectious love for the game remains every bit as strong today as it was twenty six years ago.

The spark that Granny provided set early fires raging that still burn strongly today so every Peterborough hockey fan owes a very special welcome when he skates out on 16th March.