When the Peterborough Petes take the ice for their 2026-27 home opener on Thursday, September 17th, there will be plenty happening inside the Memorial Centre.
The Petes will officially begin their 70th season of hockey in Peterborough, fans will get their first look at this year’s team on home ice and, just inside the building, Mark Million will be doing what he has been doing for the past four years: making sure Petes fans have plenty to choose from when it comes to showing their team pride.
Million is the Director of Merchandise for the Petes and runs the Petes Souvenir Store, a role that has brought together two things he has enjoyed for most of his life: sports and retail.
It is also a role that has some significant history behind it.
The Petes Souvenir Store dates back to 1979, when the Parnell and Rowe families were instrumental in getting it started. That was the same year the Petes won the OHL championship and captured the Memorial Cup, giving Peterborough hockey fans plenty to celebrate.
More than four decades later, the store remains a fixture inside the Memorial Centre.
“I think just in a Peterborough way, we kind of took it one step further as a group,” Million said of the store's beginnings. “We had won the year before. We’d won the OHL championship in 1979, of course. And so I think we just kept it going and turned it into something that, 45, 46 years later, is now the hallmark of the league and we’re very fortunate for the support.”
Million celebrated his fourth anniversary with the Petes this year, taking over the merchandise operation from longtime Petes employee Don Sharp, who had spent 16 years in the role.
His first day on the job was anything but quiet.
The Petes had just won the OHL championship and Sharp had already placed hundreds of orders for championship hats and T-shirts. When Million arrived, a shipment from CCM had come in late and the new Director of Merchandise found himself spending his first days helping bag and organize orders.
“We had an entire section in the back full of bags,” Million recalled.
Taking over something that had been built over decades meant Million knew there was no need to reinvent everything.
Instead, he started by talking to the people who mattered most: the customers.
“Is there something that you’d want to see? Is there something that we can do differently? What do you like about what Don has built here?” Million said.
That approach has remained a big part of how he operates the store.
“There’s no magic formula. It’s still at the end of the day, it’s still people, it’s still person to person,” he said.
For Million, that interaction is one of the best parts of the job.
His interest in retail actually goes back to Grade 10 at St. Peter’s Secondary School, where a teacher named Elio Cozzarini introduced him to entrepreneurship.
As part of the class, students also operated the school’s tuck shop, selling everything from gum to drinks, snacks and chocolate bars.
It was an early introduction to the combination of business, sales and dealing with customers that would eventually become Million’s career.
“I always loved the thrill of the chase as a sales aspect and kind of finding a way to source the product, sell it, merchandise it, all that sort of thing,” he said.
Sports were another constant.
Million knew early on that playing professionally probably wasn’t in the cards after discovering he couldn’t hit a “garden variety fastball” at 13 years old, but working in sporting goods gave him another way to stay connected to something he loved.
A job at Sport Chek led to work at National Sports, where Million credits Bruce MacDonald, Garrett Fitzgerald and Johnny Armstrong with helping him find his strengths.
“I wasn’t great on the technical aspect, but I love talking to people,” he said.
Since then, Million has worked a variety of sales jobs, including two stints as a realtor and time with SVP Sports. Now, after four years with the Petes, that experience has translated into an operation that recently received some major recognition.
Million was named the Ontario Hockey League’s Retailer of the Year for 2026.
He is quick to point out that the award belongs to more than just him.
“There are 19 other men and women in the OHL that are doing a terrific, terrific job,” Million said. “So I’m the holder of the award for this year.”
He also knows the award comes with a challenge to keep improving.
“It does mean that I will try everything in my power to continue to grow the brand,” he said.
That includes bringing the Petes into more places around the community.
Million teased upcoming third-party retail activations that will see Petes merchandise sold in local stores, something he sees as a natural extension of what the team is all about.
“We’re a community-based club. We should be out in the community doing these things,” he said.
There is plenty coming to the Petes Souvenir Store this season as well.
Fans attending Thursday’s home opener will find brand new merchandise, including products from Bardown and a selection of hats from ’47 Canada. But Million says fans shouldn’t expect to see everything at once.
The store will continue rolling out new products throughout the season, giving fans something different to discover as the year goes along.
And if you miss something on opening night, Million and the store will be keeping fans informed through the store’s Instagram account with their “Friday what you missed out on Thursday night” updates.
Million has also embraced the fact that the store has become about more than simply buying a shirt or a hat.
He describes it, jokingly, as being a little bit like Cheers, where regulars come through the door, talk Petes hockey, check out the latest merchandise and sometimes just talk sports.
“They’re walking in off the street,” Million said. “They want to talk Petes hockey, they want to talk about the new gear, they want to see what’s good, they want to talk Blue Jays baseball, and I’m here for it. I love that.”
That connection with fans is also why Million continues to welcome suggestions about what the store should carry.
“If you’ve got something to sell me, show it to me,” he said. “If you’ve got an idea of something that we could sell, let’s have a chat.”
For someone who started developing an interest in entrepreneurship while running a high school tuck shop, it is a pretty fitting place to find himself more than 30 years later.
And on Thursday, September 17th, Million’s OHL Retailer of the Year award will have a place of honour at the Memorial Centre as the Petes begin their 70th season.
The award, which Million jokingly refers to as “Roy,” will be on display in the Hall of Fame for fans to see during the home opener.
But Million has already made it clear he does not want to stop there.
“I’m going to hold the award for this year, but I do want to repeat,” he said. “I want to be the first person to repeat. And if I repeat, then that means that we’ve done a great job.”
For Million, though, that work is bigger than one person or one award.
“Dylan Hilton’s here. He’s done a great job. Our business staff has continued to do a great job on sellouts and activations and creating community partnerships,” he said. “I’m just a small cog in that wheel and I’m very fortunate that people continue to support Petes hockey and find value in the things that we’re trying to sell.”
With a new Petes season about to begin, there will be plenty of hockey to talk about.
And, if you stop by the Petes Souvenir Store, probably a few things worth talking about before the puck even drops.
