Peter Lee (born January 2, 1956 in Ellesmere, England) is a retired professional ice hockey player who played 431 National Hockey League games with the Pittsburgh Penguins.

[edit] Playing career

Lee enjoyed a stellar junior career with the Ottawa 67's of the Ontario Hockey League, where he became one of the few junior players to record more than 400 career points in the CHL. He was awarded CHL Player of the Year in 1975–76. He set the OHL career scoring record with 213 career goals—a record that lasted for 33 years, until March 8, 2009, when John Tavares scored his 214th to surpass Lee.

After setting a new league record with 81 goals in 1975–76, Lee was chosen in the first-round of the 1976 NHL Entry Draft (12th overall) by the Montreal Canadiens. Though he would spend two seasons with their farm team, the Nova Scotia Voyageurs, Lee never played for the Canadiens. On November 29, 1977, Montreal traded Lee, along with Peter Mahovlich, to the Pittsburgh Penguins in exchange for emerging star Pierre Larouche and the rights to forward Peter Marsh.

Lee was a fine offensive addition to the Pens and was a key playmaker on the powerplay. He reached the 30-goal mark twice and scored a personal best 64 points in 1980–81 playing on a line with Greg Malone and Rod Schutt. Unfortunately, the Penguins were not a successful team at that time, and Lee only played 19 playoff games during his five and a half years with the organization. He finished his NHL career with 245 points in 431 games.

Following the 1982–83 season, Lee left North America to play for Dusseldorfer EG of Germany. He scored at least 20 goals in 9 seasons with the club before retiring in 1997.

[edit] Coaching career

Lee replaced legendary coach Brian Kilrea behind the Ottawa 67's bench in 1994–95, but a dismal performance by the team prompted Kilrea to return and replace him for the 1995–96 campaign. He would return to Germany the following season and briefly resurrected his playing career.

Currently Peter Lee is the head coach for the very successful Eisbären Berlin in the DEL Bundasliga in Germany. "I went to Germany for a couple months (in 1983)," Lee said. "It's 2009 and I'm still here."

[edit] Career statistics

[edit] External links

• Peter Lee's career stats at The Internet Hockey Database