The Peterborough Petes were the start of a long career in hockey for Jeff Crisp despite the fact that he never played a game.
As the son of a former NHL player and coach, Terry Crisp, hockey has always been a huge part of Jeff’s life.
“That’s where I kind of got the base for my love of hockey,” Jeff said. “My dad and his friends were kind of the people that were around me and the people that I looked up to more so when he was coaching than playing.”
Terry played for the Boston Bruins, St. Louis Blues, New York Islanders and Philadelphia Flyers, winning back-to-back Stanley Cups with the Flyers in 1974 and 1975.
Terry retired from playing just two games into the 1977 season and became an assistant coach for the Flyers. Terry also coached for The Calgary Flames from 1987 to 1990 leading them to their only Stanley Cup in franchise history in 1989. He also served as the inaugural coach for the Tampa Bay Lightning. After retiring from coaching Terry worked as a broadcaster for the Nashville Predators from 1997-2021.
Jeff was too young to really remember when his father won back-to-back cups with the Flyers, but he was a teenager in Calgary when his father won as a coach with The Flames.
“The whole city was abuzz,” Jeff said. “It was nice to see him kind of get to the top of his profession with his players and people he was surrounded with, (Cliff) Fletcher and Al Coates, it was just an amazing thing. It was an amazing experience that those guys went through and I got to be in the front row for.”
Jeff attended the University of Calgary and his first job out of university was with the Petes as a marketing director. He was one of only three people in the Petes’ office, with the other two being Jeff Twohey and Cathie Webster. Due to the office being so small Jeff got to try a little bit of everything including ticket sales, sponsors, game night events and school events.
“As far as a first job it was a great base for the rest of my career,” Jeff said. “Learning about all those different aspects of the Petes, the organization and just the learning experience that was in my early 20s was valuable for the rest of my life.”
The most notable thing that Jeff learned in his time with the Petes was how to scout from Jeff Twohey and Norm Bryan. This led to Jeff’s career in NHL scouting that began with his hometown Calgary Flames from 1999-2003.
Jeff then went on to scout for the Anaheim Ducks from 2003 to 2016, winning a cup with the team in 2007. Jeff shared that Stanley Cup with Petes alumni Chris Pronger and Shawn Thornton along with Peterborough’s own Corey Perry.
“We all had the Petes connection and we were proud to win it together, my little piece as a scout and their big piece as players,” Jeff said.
Jeff also served as a scout for the Buffalo Sabers from 2016-2020.
Jeff currently scouts for The NHL’s newest team, the Seattle Kraken. Western Canada is his primary responsibility. However, he does travel to other parts of the world to compare their talent to that out west.
Twohey and Bryan instilled the importance of not only looking for good players on the ice but also players who are good people off the ice.
Jeff lives in Calgary with his wife Trish and together they have two sons Tom, 20, and Kale, 18, who are lifelong Ducks fans.
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