Penn State men’s hockey goalie Peyton Jones pens goodbye letter to ‘Hockey Valley’
It was senior night in Pegula Ice Arena and Peyton Jones’ tribute video played over the video board. Jones skated from the bench to his net in front of The Roar Zone — the Penn State student section — and saluted them.
That small moment would end up being one of his final in a Penn State uniform.
Despite Penn State winning the game against Minnesota in thrilling fashion and later clinching the program’s first regular-season Big Ten title along with home ice advantage throughout the Big Ten Tournament, this would be the last game where Jones would wear a Penn State uniform.
Jones, who was the primary starter for all four of his years in State College, had the final moments of his college career cut short due to the coronavirus pandemic, and on Thursday, he said his goodbyes to the Penn State hockey community.
The netminder published a letter simply called, ‘Thank You, Penn State.”
“Penn State has become my family. As I look back on my four years, I can’t help but just smile,” Jones wrote in the opening of his letter.
He continues by talking about how he fell in love with the game of hockey and how it all started when he was 2 years old and his dad’s friend offered them tickets to a Philadelphia Flyers game.
Jones then talks about two lessons that he learned early in his life: “Work hard in everything and never ever quit.”
The Pennsylvania native talks about how he watched his parents work long hours growing up, instilling in him a lesson “on what it takes to be successful.”
Jones also says that growing up just 25 minutes northeast of Philadelphia instilled in him a love of sports, and left him with an easy decision to come to Penn State.
“When Penn State announced that the hockey program would become Division I, I saw an opportunity to be able to represent my city and state at the Division I collegiate level,” Jones said in the letter. “Hard work, passionate fans … I knew I had to be a part of it. Fast forward a few years and I got a call from Coach (Guy) Gadowsky that made my dream come true.”
Jones was a part of a historic run at Penn State, one that saw the program claim its first Big Ten Tournament championship, first Big Ten regular season championship, first NCAA Tournament appearance and first NCAA Tournament win. Jones was in the net for all of those milestones.
Jones played in 131 games over his four-year career and had a career save percentage of .907.
But according to Jones, it’s not those historical feats that he’ll miss most.
“While I’m proud of all of these accomplishments, what I’ll hold close to my heart even more are the stories and memories created over the last four years,” Jones said.
Then Jones delves into some of these memories, many involving former Penn State goalie Chris Funkey, who Jones said this year called him before every game to wish him luck.
Jones shares stories of the team watching random movies in the team lounge, charter flights where everyone had to sit in the same seat, beating Liam Folkes in the Madden video game, and finally the pranks.
He concludes the letter by thanking the various people who make the Penn State hockey program what it is.
Jones also offers one last message to the rest of his senior class:
“To my senior class, although we never got to finish what we started, I am so proud of all that we have done in our time here.”
The letter in its entirety can be found here.
This story was originally published March 26, 2020 at 3:27 PM.
