Bob Peters

Bob Peters
Biographical details
Born	October 6, 1937; Fort Frances, Ontario, Canada
Died	December 14, 2021 (aged 84); Bemidji, Minnesota, U.S.
Playing career
1957–1958	North Dakota
Position(s)	Goaltender
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
1961–1964	North Dakota (assistant)
1964–1966	North Dakota
1966–2001	Bemidji State
Head coaching record
Overall	744–313–50 (.695)
Accomplishments and honors
Championships
	1963 NCAA National Champion (assistant); 1965 WCHA regular season champion; 1967 ICHA regular season champion; 1968 NAIA National Champion; 1969 ICHA regular season champion; 1969 NAIA national champion; 1970 ICHA regular season champion; 1970 NAIA national champion; 1971 ICHA regular season champion; 1971 NAIA national champion; 1973 ICHA regular season champion; 1973 NAIA national champion; 1974 ICHA regular season champion; 1976 ICHA regular season champion; 1977 ICHA regular season champion; 1978 ICHA regular season champion; 1979 NAIA national champion; 1980 NAIA national champion; 1982 NCHA regular season champion; 1984 NCHA regular season champion; 1984 NCAA national champion (D-II); 1985 NCHA regular season champion; 1986 NCHA regular season champion; 1986 NCHA tournament champion; 1986 NCAA national champion (D-III); 1987 NCHA tournament champion; 1991 NCHA regular season champion; 1993 NCAA national champion (D-II); 1994 NCAA national champion (D-II); 1995 NCHA regular season champion; 1995 NCHA tournament champion; 1995 NCAA national champion (D-II); 1997 NCAA national champion (D-II)
Awards
	1984 Edward Jeremiah Award

Robert H. Peters (October 6, 1937 – December 14, 2021) was a Canadian men's ice hockey coach. He was the head coach of the Bemidji State University ice hockey team from 1967 to 2001. With 702 wins, he ranks fifth all-time in career wins by a men's college ice hockey coach.

Coaching history

Peters entered the college hockey head coaching ranks in 1964 as bench boss at the University of North Dakota. During his initial campaign, Peters, the eventual Western Collegiate Hockey Association Coach of the Year, led the Fighting Sioux to a WCHA title and a third-place finish at the NCAA Championships. He coached in Grand Forks for two seasons, leading the Sioux to a 42–20–1 mark before making a career decision that would change the face of collegiate hockey.

Peters left the Division I powerhouse in 1966 and took over at Bemidji State University. Within two seasons Peters led BSU to its first national championship and set the foundation for what would become one of the most dominant programs in college hockey.

Thirty-five years later, Peters retired from coaching with one of the most impressive lists of achievements in the history of collegiate sports: 744 victories as a head coach, 702 coming at Bemidji State alone, to make Peters the first coach to win 700 or more games at a single school; 13 small-college national championships; and still-standing national collegiate records for most wins in an unbeaten season (31–0–0 in 1983–'84) and longest unbeaten streak (43 games from Nov. 8, 1983 to Jan. 1, 1985).

Peters, the only coach to lead a team to a national championship game in three divisions of college hockey and the only coach to reach the Final Four in all four divisions (Division I, II, III and NAIA), developed five NHL players and numerous Olympians and All-Americans.

A 1960 graduate of the University of North Dakota, Peters spent his collegiate days at goaltender for the Fighting Sioux. He coached at the high school level for one season before rejoining the UND staff as an assistant coach.

CHA commissioner

Retired from coaching, Peters remained heavily involved in the sport of college hockey. In 2001 he became the commissioner of the College Hockey America (CHA) conference.

In addition to appointing Peters CHA Commissioner, the athletic directors of the league's member institutions approved the recommendation by the coaches to name the regular-season championship trophy in honor of Peters as the R.H. "Bob" Peters Cup.

Contributions to college hockey

Peters' influence on college hockey also has stretched outside the arena. He has proven his administrative skills at Bemidji State by serving as athletic director and head hockey coach, and he lent service to several committees. Under Peters' guidance, BSU hockey progressed from NAIA to NCAA Division III to NCAA Division II, and in 1999, BSU elevated its hockey program to Division I. He served on championship committees for the NAIA and NCAA for over 20 years, and in 2001 was named a Hobey Baker Legend of Hockey.

Personal life

Peters died in Bemidji, Minnesota on December 14, 2021, at the age of 84.^[2]

Career statistics


Season	Team	League		GP	W	L	T	Min	GA	SO	GAA	SV%
1957–58	North Dakota	NCAA		11	9	1	1	660	14	2	1.27	.927

^[3]

Head coaching record

Statistics overview
Season	Team	Overall	Conference	Standing	Postseason
North Dakota Fighting Sioux (WCHA) (1964–1966)
1964–65	North Dakota	25–8–0	13–3–0	1st	NCAA consolation game (win)
1965–66	North Dakota	17–12–1	13–9–1	2nd	WCHA second round
North Dakota:		42–20–1	26–12–1
Bemidji State Beavers (ICHA) (1966–1978)
1966–67	Bemidji State	13–5–1	10–2–0	t-1st
1967–68	Bemidji State	16–8–0	6–6–0	–	NAIA national champion
1968–69	Bemidji State	23–2–0	11–1–0	1st	NAIA national champion
1969–70	Bemidji State	24–3–0	10–2–0	1st	NAIA national champion
1970–71	Bemidji State	20–7–1	10–1–1	1st	NAIA national champion
1971–72	Bemidji State	13–12–1	5–6–1	–
1972–73	Bemidji State	23–6–1	8–4–0	t-1st	NAIA national champion
1973–74	Bemidji State	20–10–1	9–3–0	1st	NAIA runner-up
1974–75	Bemidji State	13–15–0	2–10–0	–
1975–76	Bemidji State	22–9–0	8–4–0	1st
1976–77	Bemidji State	24–4–3	9–3–2	1st
1977–78	Bemidji State	25–5–1	11–3–0	1st	NAIA runner-up
Bemidji State:		236–86–9	99–45–4
Bemidji State Beavers (NAIA Independent) (1978–1980)
1978–79	Bemidji State	27–2–0			NAIA national champion
1979–80	Bemidji State	24–8–0			NAIA national champion
Bemidji State:		51–10–0
Bemidji State Beavers (NCHA) (1980–1982)
1980–81	Bemidji State	24–7–0	8–4–0	–
1981–82	Bemidji State	25–5–1	16–3–1	1st	NAIA runner-up
Bemidji State:		222–68–9	129–42–7
Bemidji State Beavers (NCHA (D-II)) (1983–1984)
1983–84	Bemidji State	31–0–0	18–0–0	1st	NCAA national champion
Bemidji State:		31–0–0	18–0–0
Bemidji State Beavers (NCHA (D-III)) (1984–1992)
1984–85	Bemidji State	27–6–2	14–3–1	1st	NCAA runner-up
1985–86	Bemidji State	25–9–1	12–6–0	t-1st	NCAA national champion
1986–87	Bemidji State	22–12–1	12–7–1	3rd	NCAA Frozen Four
1987–88	Bemidji State	24–11–3	15–6–3	2nd	NCAA Frozen Four
1988–89	Bemidji State	19–13–4	11–8–1	3rd	NCAA Frozen Four
1989–90	Bemidji State	15–11–2	11–11–2	5th
1990–91	Bemidji State	21–6–3	17–4–3	t-1st
1991–92	Bemidji State	16–9–5	9–8–3	4th
Bemidji State:		169–77–21	101–53–15
Bemidji State Beavers (NCHA (D-II)) (1992–1999)
1992–93	Bemidji State	24–7–0	14–6–0	2nd	NCAA national champion
1993–94	Bemidji State	21–9–3	12–6–2	3rd	NCAA national champion
1994–95	Bemidji State	24–7–2	16–3–1	1st	NCAA national champion
1995–96	Bemidji State	16–9–4	13–5–2	2nd	NCAA runner-up
1996–97	Bemidji State	25–7–2	14–5–1	2nd	NCAA national champion
1997–98	Bemidji State	22–10–2	14–6–0	3rd	NCAA runner-up
1998–99	Bemidji State	17–13–0	10–6–0	3rd
Bemidji State:		149–62–13	93–37–6
Bemidji State Beavers (CHA) (1999–2001)
1999–00	Bemidji State	13–20–1	8–8–1	3rd	CHA third-place game (win)
2000–01	Bemidji State	4–26–4	4–12–3	6th
Bemidji State:		17–46–5	12–20–4
Total:		744–313–50
National champion Postseason invitational champion Conference regular season champion Conference regular season and conference tournament champion Division regular season champion Division regular season and conference tournament champion Conference tournament champion

^[4]

External links

^ Bob Peters Coaching Record at collegehockeynews.com
^ "Bemidji State's Bob Peters, who won 13 national hockey titles, dies at 84". Star Tribune. 15 December 2021. Retrieved 16 December 2021.
^ "2013–14 North Dakota hockey media guide". ISSUU.com. Retrieved 2014-08-10.
^ "2012–13 Bemidji State hockey media guide" (PDF). Bemidji State Beavers. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2014-08-12. Retrieved 2014-08-10.

Awards and achievements
Preceded by Al Renfrew	WCHA Coach of the Year 1964–65	Succeeded by John MacInnes
Preceded by Mike Gibbons/Peter Van Buskirk	Edward Jeremiah Award 1983–84	Succeeded by Rob Riley
Preceded by Bob Johnson	Hobey Baker Legends of College Hockey Award 2001	Succeeded by Sid Watson

[1] Bob Peters Coaching Record at collegehockeynews.com

[2] "Bemidji State's Bob Peters, who won 13 national hockey titles, dies at 84". Star Tribune. 15 December 2021. Retrieved 16 December 2021.

[3] "2013–14 North Dakota hockey media guide". ISSUU.com. Retrieved 2014-08-10.

[4] "2012–13 Bemidji State hockey media guide" (PDF). Bemidji State Beavers. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2014-08-12. Retrieved 2014-08-10.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

v t e North Dakota Fighting Hawks men's ice hockey
Formerly the North Dakota Flickertails and North Dakota Fighting Sioux
Venues	Winter Sports Building (1936–1972) Ralph Engelstad Arena (old; 1972–2001) Ralph Engelstad Arena (new; 2001–present)
Head coaches	Joe Brown (1929–1932) Noland Franz (1932–1933) Buck Cameron (1935–1936) John Jamieson (1946–1947) Don Norman (1947–1949) Fido Purpur (1949–1956) Al Renfrew (1956–1957) Bob May (1957–1959) Barry Thorndycraft (1959–1964) Bob Peters (1964–1966) Bill Selman (1966–1968) Rube Bjorkman (1968–1978) John Gasparini (1978–1994) Dean Blais (1994–2004) Dave Hakstol (2004–2015) Brad Berry (2015–present)
Seasons	1929–30 1930–31 1931–32 1932–33 Program Suspended (1933–34) 1935–36 Program Suspended (1936–37 through 1945–46) 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50 1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–00 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24 2024–25
Conference affiliations	Western Collegiate Hockey Association (WCHA) (1951–1958, 1959–2013) National Collegiate Hockey Conference (NCHC) (2013–present)
Rivalries	Denver Minnesota Wisconsin
All-time leaders	Statistical leaders Greg Johnson (272 Points) Ben Cherski (131 Goals) Karl Goehring (80 Wins)
National championships	1959 1963 1980 1982 1987 1997 2000 2016
Frozen Four appearances	1958 1959 1963 1965 1967 1968 1979 1980 1982 1984 1987 1997 2000 2001 2005 2006 2007 2008 2011 2014 2015 2016
NCAA Tournament appearances	1958 1959 1963 1965 1967 1968 1979 1980 1982 1984 1987 1990 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2021 2024
Conference Tournament titles	WCHA: 1967 1968 1979 1980 1987 1997 2000 2006 2010 2011 2012 NCHC: 2021
Hobey Baker winners	Tony Hrkac (1987) Ryan Duncan (2007)
Mike Richter winners	Zane McIntyre (2015)
University of North Dakota Grand Forks, ND

v t e Bemidji State Beavers men's ice hockey
Playing venues	Bemidji Sports Arena (1947–1949) Lake Bemidji (1949–1950) 17th Street Rink (1959–1960) College Rink (1960–1967) John S. Glas Field House (1967–2010) Sanford Center (2010–present)
Head coaches	Jack Aldrich (1947–1948) Eric Hughes (1948–1950) Vic Weber (1959–1964, 1965–1966) Wayne Peterson (1964–1965) Bob Peters (1966–1982, 1983–2001) Mike Gibbons (1982–1983) Tom Serratore (2001–present)
Seasons	1947–48 1948–49 1949–50 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–00 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24 2024–25
Conference affiliations	ICHA (1966–1978) NCHA (1980–1999) College Hockey America (1999–2010) WCHA (2010–2021) CCHA (2021–present)
Culture & lore	North Star College Cup
All-time leaders	Statistical leaders Mike Alexander (252 Points) Mark Eagles/Rod Heisler (100 Goals) Blane Comstock (70 Wins)
National championships	NAIA: 1968 1969 1970 1971 1973 1979 1980 D–III: 1986 D–II: 1984 1993 1994 1995 1997
Frozen Four appearances	2009
NCAA Tournament appearances	2005 2006 2009 2010 2021
Conference Tournament titles	CHA: 2005 2006 2009
Bemidji State University Bemidji, MN

Biographical details
Born	(1937-10-06)October 6, 1937^[1] Fort Frances, Ontario, Canada
Died	December 14, 2021(2021-12-14) (aged 84) Bemidji, Minnesota, U.S.
Playing career
1957–1958	North Dakota

Position(s)	Goaltender
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
1961–1964	North Dakota (assistant)
1964–1966	North Dakota
1966–2001	Bemidji State

Head coaching record
Overall	744–313–50 (.695)
Accomplishments and honors
Championships
1963 NCAA National Champion (assistant) 1965 WCHA regular season champion 1967 ICHA regular season champion 1968 NAIA National Champion 1969 ICHA regular season champion 1969 NAIA national champion 1970 ICHA regular season champion 1970 NAIA national champion 1971 ICHA regular season champion 1971 NAIA national champion 1973 ICHA regular season champion 1973 NAIA national champion 1974 ICHA regular season champion 1976 ICHA regular season champion 1977 ICHA regular season champion 1978 ICHA regular season champion 1979 NAIA national champion 1980 NAIA national champion 1982 NCHA regular season champion 1984 NCHA regular season champion 1984 NCAA national champion (D-II) 1985 NCHA regular season champion 1986 NCHA regular season champion 1986 NCHA tournament champion 1986 NCAA national champion (D-III) 1987 NCHA tournament champion 1991 NCHA regular season champion 1993 NCAA national champion (D-II) 1994 NCAA national champion (D-II) 1995 NCHA regular season champion 1995 NCHA tournament champion 1995 NCAA national champion (D-II) 1997 NCAA national champion (D-II)
Awards
1984 Edward Jeremiah Award