Owen Beck was back in Peterborough within hours of making his NHL debut with the Montreal Canadiens in a 5-0 loss to the host Ottawa Senators on Hockey Night In Canada on Saturday.
The Petes center was called up by the injury-depleted Canadiens on an emergency basis. He played just under 10 minutes and was minus-one. After the game the Canadiens reassigned Beck to the Petes and he was driven back to Peterborough by general manager Mike Oke. He was to return to the Petes’ lineup Sunday afternoon against the Hamilton Bulldogs at the Memorial Centre.
Montreal used an emergency recall agreement between the NHL and CHL to bring up Beck. The agreement allows for one player that has signed an entry-level deal to be recalled on an emergency basis in the event a team goes below 12 forwards, six defensemen or two goaltenders and already has two emergency recalls on their roster.
A player called up under those conditions may play a maximum of five games and cannot miss more than one CHL game. The NHL-CHL emergency recall may occur between Nov. 1 and March 1.
Oke said it was the first time in his 11 seasons as Petes GM he had the privilege of informing a player he was being called up to make his NHL debut. Beck had 20 family and friends in attendance and his parents and older brother were interviewed on Hockey Night In Canada.
His father Dave said Owen broke the news to them by calling to say he had to cancel dinner plans with the family on Friday night because he was going to Ottawa to make his NHL debut.
“On behalf of the Petes, I’d like to congratulate Owen on reaching this career milestone,” stated Oke. “Since joining the Petes earlier this season, Owen has shown continued progress toward his goal of playing in the National Hockey League.
“This opportunity speaks not only to Owen’s work ethic, but also to the dedication of Petes coaches and development staff, as well as James Richmond, Jeff Kyrzakos, and the entire Mississauga Steelheads organization, where Owen started his OHL career.”
Beck, 18, was born in Peterborough and grew up in Port Hope.
The six-foot, 190-pound forward was selected in the second round, 33rd overall, by the Canadiens in the 2022 NHL draft.
Beck signed a three-year entry level contract with the Canadiens on Oct. 4.
He recently captured a gold medal with Team Canada, alongside new Petes teammate Brennan Othmann, at the 2023 World Junior Championships in Halifax.
Beck was originally selected by the Mississauga Steelheads in the second round, 29th overall, in the 2020 OHL draft out of the Quinte Red Devils team which also featured Petes defenseman Donovan McCoy. He was traded to the Petes earlier this month ahead of the OHL trade deadline as the Petes stocked up for a playoff run.
He has scored 19 goals and 35 assists in 37 games played this season.
Beck had 21-30-51 totals in 68 games with the Steelheads last season, finishing fifth among OHL rookies in scoring.
Beck joins other Petes to play for the Canadiens, including Bob Gainey, Doug Jarvis, Mickey Redmond, Eric Staal and Luke Richardson.
His quick return was a bonus for the Petes as Assistant captain Chase Stillman was suspended for three games after instigating a fight late during Peterborough’s 3-0 win over the London Knights on Thursday night.
The Canadiens already had forwards Brendan Gallagher, Cole Caufield, Jake Evans, Joel Armia, Jonathan Drouin, Juraj Slafkovsky and Sean Monahan out with injuries. The Beck call-up was made after Canadiens forwards Nick Suzuki, Kirby Dach and Christian Dvorak all missed practice Friday for treatments, the Montreal Gazette reported.
With files from Reg Watson
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