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Peter Joseph Ferraro was
born in Port Jefferson, New York, on January 24, 1973, just one minute after
his identical twin brother, Chris. Peter grew up in Sound Beach, New
York, a small town on Long Island. He first put on skates when he was six
years old, and knew right from the start that he wanted to be a professional
hockey player. He played through the ranks of youth hockey, and
attended Tabor Academy in Marion, MA in 9th and 10th grades. He then attended
Dubuque Senior High School in Dubuque, Iowa, for his two remaining years of
high school, while further excelling in hockey, playing for the Dubuque
Fighting Saints and Waterloo Black Hawks in the USHL.
The summer before entering college, Peter was drafted by the New York Rangers
as their first pick (24th overall). He played in the World Juniors
Championships in 1992, and was named a World Junior Championship All-Star,
along with fellow American Mike Dunham, Michael Nylander of Sweden, Alexei
Kovalev of the CIS, Scott Niedermayer of Canada, and Janne Grönvall of
Finland.
Peter entered the University of Maine in the autumn of 1992, where he, his
brother Chris, and teammates Paul Kariya, Mike Dunham, Garth Snow and the
rest of the UMaine Black Bears won the NCAA Championship in the Spring of
1993. He majored in Business, but graduating from UMaine with a degree
in said major wasn't in the cards for Peter. His love of and
dedication to hockey and desire to make it in the big leagues was beginning
to become a reality.
He left college after only one year to play for the United States National
Team, and participated in the 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, Norway,
scoring 6 goals for Team USA. Peter says that it was the most memorable
time of his career, and an incredible honor to represent the United States in
the Olympic Tournament.
Between the 1994-95 and 1997-98 seasons, Peter bounced around the minor pro
leagues, playing for the Atlanta Knights, the Binghamton Rangers, and the
Hartford Wolf Pack in their inaugural season. During those three seasons,
he amassed 103 goals and 225 points in 216 games played.
Peter's early AHL career had some nice highlights. He is tied with two
others for holding the record for most power play goals scored in one season
(27), a feat he accomplished in just 68 games during the 1995-96
season. He also holds the record for most shots on net in one season
with 392. He was fourth overall in the AHL's scoring in 1996, twelfth
in 1997. He was a First Team All-Star in 1996-97, and was also on the
All-Star team the following year. He was named the Sher-Wood AHL Player of
the week on January 22, 1997.
He was called up to play with the New York Rangers three times, the first for
five games, where he tallied one assist on brother Chris' first NHL goal. The
second time was for two games in the 1996-97 playoffs, and the last for
a single game last season. The 1997-98 season was a bit of a
rollercoaster. He split his time between the New York Rangers and
Pittsburgh Penguins organizations. When he was called up to the parent
clubs, he tallied 7 points in 30 games played between the two.
The rest of the 1997-98 season, he spent with the Hartford Wolf Pack,
gathering 17 goals and 40 points in just 36 games with the AHL team.
He signed with the Boston Bruins as a free agent on July 22, 1998. Other than
the latter half of the 1997-98 season, coming to the Bruins marked the first
time in Peter's career that he has not been in the same organization as his
twin brother, Chris. Chris signed with the Edmonton Oilers over the summer
of 1998, and mostly played with their minor league affiliate, the Hamilton
Bulldogs. Peter misses being constant teammates with his twin a great
deal, and hopes that they'll be reunited somewhere down the road in their
careers.
At training camp, he proved his talent and his diligent work ethic fit
perfectly with Pat Burns' style of coaching, winning himself a spot on the
roster. Although Peter was reassigned to the Providence Bruins to play
in early March of 1999, he was called back up to Boston for the parent club's
final regular season game (against the Flyers in Philadelphia). He was
returned to Providence, and was an offensive force for the Providence Bruins,
helping them offensively and defensively in their quest for the Calder
Cup. So outstanding was his play throughout the P-Bruins' Calder Cup
run, he was named the Calder Cup Most Valuable Player. He recently
signed another contract with the Bruins (early in year 2000), so it's
expected he'll be in a Black and Gold uniform for at least another season.
He is a key defensive forward, and his speed and willingness to play
tough in the corners has created some stellar opportunities for putting some
points on the board for him as well as his linemates. He is able to
play any of the three forward positions, and both Pat Burns and Peter
Laviolette have inserted him into several different line combinations, and
used him on both the power play and penalty kill.
The 1999-2000 season was a mixed bag for Peter. He spent nearly the
entire season with Providence, with the exception of two emergency call-ups,
for two games in mid-November and the last three games of the regular
season. Just after the November call-up to Boston, he was named
Sher-Wood AHL Player of the week on November 15, 1999. In mid-December,
it was announced that Peter was voted in as a starter for the AHL All-Star
Classic. He has also struggled with injuries, suffering a severely
bruised side in the season's first home game, then a badly sprained ankle in
early December that caused him to miss seven games. He returned to the
line-up the day after Christmas, 1999, but reinjured the ankle, which held
him out of the line-up for another seventeen games, including the AHL
All-Star Game in mid-January. In late March 2000, Peter missed another
three games when he suffered a mild concussion after a collision with a
teammate during a team practice the day prior to a game day. During the
Calder Cup playoffs, Peter missed one game due to another mild concussion.
Even with the rash of injuries, there have definitely been some good things
happening for Peter. He was reunited with his twin brother in
November, when the NY Islanders (whom Chris had signed a contract with during
the summer of 1999) loaned Chris to the Providence Bruins. While they
didn't get a plethora of chances to play together in games (due to Peter's
ankle injury and Chris' eventual recall by the Islanders and subsequent
assignment to the IHL's Chicago Wolves), it was amazing to see the two of
them in action, as each knew exactly where the other would be whenever they
were on the ice at the same time. In early December, Peter joined
forces with Tommy Petteruti, and the partners opened Petteruti's Seafood in Providence.
The business fared well for awhile, but eventually, the seafood store was
closed down. During the latter part
of the 1999-2000 season, Peter signed the option year on his contract with
Boston, which kept him in the Bruins organization for another season.
As expected, Peter was left unprotected in the 2000 Expansion Draft, but he
was not chosen by either of the new teams (Minnesota Wild and Columbus Blue
Jackets).
Peter was sent to Providence early on during Boston’s 2000-2001 training
camp, and fared well throughout the season.
He was named the Met Life Player of the Month in December, 2000. Peter was named to the AHL All-Star game,
which took place in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, Pennsylvania in mid-January. He won the Accuracy Shooting event in the
All-Star Skills Competition, and added a goal and two assists in the All-Star
Game the next day. Once again, he led
the team in scoring during the regular season, finishing with 71 points
overall. He was second overall in
team scoring (8 points) in the playoffs, beaten out of the top spot by linemate
Eric Manlow.
Peter signed a 1-year contract with the Washington Capitals on July 19,
2001.
When asked to name off a few things that have meant a lot to him, he
mentioned playing in the Olympics, winning the NCAA Championship, scoring his
first NHL goal, and assisting on his brother's first NHL goal in Chris' first
NHL game. He enjoys the lifestyle and pace of the NHL quite a bit, as
the NHL is a better, stronger, and faster league than the minor pro leagues.
While hockey is Peter's first love, and he has never really given much
thought to any other career, he's mentioned that he thinks it would be cool
to be an actor. Some of the things he enjoys doing when he's not busy
with hockey games and practices are working out, going to movies, other
sports, and just relaxing at home a lot.
Other than Chris, Peter has three siblings; two older brothers, Mike and Joe,
and a younger sister, Michelle. His family, including his mother,
Diane, and his father, Peter, is in the sporting goods industry, maintaining
a link on the business end to the hockey playing twins.
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