Kanko's impact on the Rangers was immediate during his first season with the team.  He enjoyed a 60 point season good for second on the team, only trailling Derek Roy in scoring.  He joined up with fellow rookie: Michael Richards on the Rangers number two line, and was flanked by fellow countryman: Petr Hemsky who also hailed from the Czech Republic.  One thing which became very apparent about Mr. Kanko very early during his OHL career was that he was not going to fit the mould of the traditional European hockey player.  Kanko was in your face, hard hitting and has always played in the corners with the best of the league.

Deceiptively small, Kanko nearly weighs in a 200 pounds, making him extremely strong on his skates, he goes through checks and often other bodies on the ice.  After the 2002-'03 season Petr was awarded the team spirit award, despite language barriers Kanko is a very vocal individual.  He also surprisingly despite giving away several inches in height to most OHLers does not shy away from the rough stuff and actually handles myself extremely well in fights.

Kanko was drafted by the LA Kings after his rookie season in the third round, the Kings have high hopes for the speedy winger.  Petr Kanko was selected to play in both the 2002-'03 Hershey All-Star series as well as this year's All-Star classic game being held in the newly rennovated Peterborough Memorial Center.

Petr Kanko's finest and most dissapointing moments of his junior career occured in back-to-back playoff games in the 2003 conference finals against the Plymouth Whalers.  In game 6 of the series with the Rangers facing elimination infront of a sold-out crowd at the Compuware Sports and Entertainment Center in Plymouth Kanko dug deep and led the Rangers to a 7-4 victory on the strength of his three-goal performance.  Only nights later the scene of the series shifted back to Kitchener at the mid-way point of the game Kanko was assessed a match penalty for slew-footing, which also resulted in a one-game suspension.  The Rangers managed to kill the Whalers powerplay and eventually went on to win the game.