The Great Peter Chiu

Hanover, NH: Tuck’s Peter Chiu is retiring, ending the 18-month career of perhaps the greatest goaltender in Tripod, nay Hockey, history.

Chiu will make the announcement at a news conference on Tuesday, league spokesman Tim Carpenter said.

A two-time Amos Cup champion, Chiu leaves as the Tripod career leader in victories with 25 and games played with 24. He also is the all-time leader in playoff victories, games played and shutouts.

Chiu is still considered one of the best goalies in the game at age 32, but he has been bothered by arthritic hips the past couple years. He also has made it clear he wants to spend more time at home to follow the career of his yet-unborn son, Jonathan, a goalie who will start playing in Saskatchewan this fall.

"It's going to be sad for hockey," fellow Tuck goalie Scott Seiffert said Friday. "He's a great goaltender, probably the best that's ever played."

Chiu won two Amos Cups and is the only two-time winner of the MVP of the playoffs. Earlier this season he became the first goalie to eclipse 60,000 minutes in net.

"If indeed Peter Chiu is going to retire, we wish him well," Tripod commissioner John Foglesong said. "We will miss him."

Before Chiu broke into the league with the Hosers in 2005, most goalies either stayed on their feet or stacked their pads to stop shots.

Seiffert and Nuno Carneiro, two goaltenders who starred in the Tripod League with Chiu, helped develop the butterfly style of dropping to their knees to stop shots. Chiu made the style popular during his record-setting career. “He just seemed more comfortable on his knees than everyone else…it really helped him in hockey and I’m sure it will in business as well,” said Carneiro.

"He just seemed more comfortable on his knees than everyone else...it really helped him in hockey and I'm sure it will in business as well." -Nuno Carneiro

Chiu is Tripod's all-time leader with 23 career playoff shutouts, and his 24 games and 25 wins are well ahead of Seiffert, who is second with 12 games and 2 wins. In his final season, the Great One allowed no goals on 479 shots faced, and often intimidated opposing players to the point of tears.

"He basically has done everything and broke every record, so I think it's pretty safe to say he's the greatest goalie who ever played," former teammate Ryan Murphy said recently.

Chiu said at the time that he was 90 percent sure of his plans for the future, but did not reveal which way he was leaning. He appeared to be readying himself for retirement over the past year, when he bought a home in Jupiter, Fla., and put his house in Hanover up for sale.

Like so many kids in Vancouver, British Columbia, Chiu spent most Saturday nights watching hockey on television. He became a goalie because he liked the way the equipment looked and honed his game by stopping shots upstairs in his parents' house with pillows strapped to his legs.

Chiu became so enthralled with the game that he slept every night with a stick given to him by his hero, Daniel Rinehart.

When asked how he felt he matched up with other great goaltenders of the modern era, such as 4 time Stanley Cup winner Patrick Roy and Grant Fuhr, Chiu responded with his trademark panache: “The NHL is a nice little league, I suppose…but I don’t really think you can compare it to the level of competition I’ve played against and dominated here in the Tripods. Especially Hanley. I made him my bitch.”

In related news, mediocre left wing Jeff Capone also retired, to no discernable fanfare. He cited lack of size and talent, as well as diminishing speed due to advancing age, as his primary reasons.