Born April 14th 1946 in Langley Park County Durham, Peter Johnson enjoyed a not inconsiderable playing and coaching career in the hockey hotbed of Northeast England.
Peter Johnson started playing hockey at the age of twelve, making his mark for the Durham Leopards before graduating to the senior Durham Bees team under coach, and now fellow Hall of Famer, Bill Booth. He made his senior debut away at the Southampton Vikings on October 27th aged just sixteen.
The following season he, along with the rest of the team, moved to Whitley Bay as ice hockey returned to the Hillheads rink. Away from home, the team was simply known as “the Wasps,” and ‘Jonker’ as he was known was to score the winning goal in a famous victory over the Brighton Tigers in the south coast resort.
Although Durham did not enjoy great success in the sixteen years of the Northern League, which began in 1966, Peter Johnson’s steady contribution was recognised with three consecutive nominations to the All Star B-team between 1970-72. On his debut for England against Scotland in 1969, he marked the occasion with a goal and he made many appearances against the ‘auld enemy,’ eventually captaining the team in 1974. He also appeared for Great Britain in the Pool C world championship tournaments in 1971 and 1973, totalling 8 points from 4 goals and 4 assists in a total of 14 games.
In 1977 he went to work for a while in Saudi Arabia, which meant he played only six times for the Wasps over the next two seasons. On his return to Britain, he dropped from his customary right wing spot to play on defence and was selected to play for England as a blueliner.
In 1983 he was a member of the Wasps team in the first Heineken Championships, staged at Streatham and captained the side a year later at the inaugural Wembley weekend. Alongside him that weekend on the Wasps team were his two teenage sons, Stephen and Anthony.
Before he retired from playing, ‘Jonker’ had already turned his hand to coaching having guided the Durham Mosquitoes to the English Junior League title. He was voted “Coach of the Year” in 1985/86 after taking the Wasps to the Heineken League title. In 1986 he was appointed the first coach to a Great Britain under-16 team and he also served as an assistant coach to the GB under-21 squad.
Peter Johnson packed away his kit and hung up his skates in 1985 having posted the following career statistics:- GP 444 Goals 509 Ass 424 Pts 933 PIM 925
In the same week that Peter Johnson was inducted into the British Ice Hockey Hall of Fame, his twenty-year old son Anthony was named “Young British Player of the Year.”
Compiled with research, provided by Martin C.Harris – April 1989.
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