Former Flyer Peter Zezel Dies
By Wyatt Earp | May 27, 2009
Wow, I didn’t even know he was sick - and that is not a sarcastic remark. I really liked the guy.
Zezel was a terrific player in his day, and played on some fantastic Philadelphia Flyers teams in the 80’s. During his 15-year career, he played 873 games, scored 219 goals and 389 assists for 608 points. He also accumulated 435 penalty minutes.
Oh, and every female Flyers fan wanted to be Mrs. Peter Zezel at one point or another.
Terrible news out of Toronto: Former Flyer Peter Zezel has died in a hospital as a result of a rare blood disorder.
Multiple reports indicate that Zezel had fought the disorder, hemolytic anemia, for the last decade, but that he was thought to be coping well in recent years. His family made the decision to turn of life support this afternoon.
Zezel was drafted by the Flyers in 1983 and was a very popular player, especially among the females in the stands, when he played here from 1984 to 1989. In that time, he and his young teammates made two trips to the Stanley Cup finals under coach Mike Keenan. He was one of the faces of that popular young group that never was quite able to knock down the door.
The end of Zezel’s career told you something about the man. He was in Vancouver and requested a deadline trade to the East so that he could be near a young niece who was dying of cancer. Instead, he was traded to Anaheim and promptly retired.
Now, this. Zezel was only 44 years old. (H/T - The Philadelphia Daily News)
Such a sad story. I know Flyers fans everywhere are mourning the loss of a great hockey player and a better human being. Please pray for his family.
Topics: Ice Hockey |
May 27th, 2009 at 12:27 pm
Sad and a bit bizarre. Then, I know somebody who cut herself, went to get it stitched up and didn’t bother to pick up the antibiotics on the way home. Over the weekend, she collapsed in her home and they found her dead when she didn’t show up at work on Monday, from blood poisoning.
On a more cheery note, guess who’s going to the Stanley Cup finals?
May 27th, 2009 at 1:33 pm
Prof - How ’bout dem Pens!!!
May 27th, 2009 at 6:38 pm
So sad. Athletes seem to get frozen in time, the way you once witnessed their abilities at play. I remember watching him play at a charity softball game at my high school.
Too young.
May 28th, 2009 at 4:14 pm
I was so heartbroken when I heard the news about Peter Zezel. He was my favorite player for a very long time and, like you, I didn’t even know he was sick.
R.I.P. Peter
BTW, I was one of those faithful Flyers fans that wanted to be Mrs. Peter Zezel.
May 28th, 2009 at 8:41 pm
Zezel was class on and off the ice.
Why is it that on the general scale of pro athletes, hockey players tend to rank highest in class away from the competitive arena?
It can’t be because so many are Canadian… or could it?