Pettersen went the extra mile for a shot at the NHL

His name, officially, is Mathias Emilio Pettersen.

But when he arrived in South Kent, Conn. — home of the Selects Hockey Academy — from Oslo at 14 years old, immediately it was shortened.

“I go by Emilio in the states and Matteo when I’m home,” said Pettersen, the Calgary Flames sixthround (167th overall) selection at the 2018 NHL draft. “It’s just kind of something that happened when I got to the states. Everyone was calling me Emilio and I just went with the flow.”

Speaking in flawless English, the 18-year-old explained how a kid who grew up in Norway, a country that has less ice surfaces than the city of Stockholm, managed to get recognized and chase his dream.

Just type Pettersen’s name into a YouTube search and you’ll see how.

In 2010, his dad posted a video of Pettersen as a 10-year-old sniper wheeling around and scoring goals. The clip has received more than 430,000 views and garnered some interest from bird dogs in the U.S.

“The first video was just my dad putting something out there — I had some pretty goals or whatever,” Pettersen said. “And it kind of became a hit — everyone was watching it. Some coaches from the states from prep school were excited to see what I could do and brought me over to a couple camps.

“They just wanted me and I ended up at South Kent. But those videos kind of helped me. People don’t just go to Norway to scout.” No kidding.

When you consider Mats Zuccarello and Andreas Martinsen were the only two players from Norway in the NHL last season, the chances are low.

“We have a lot of good hockey communities, but just the amount of rinks we have compared to other countries, the interest just isn’t as big,” Pettersen said. “I just think we have a lot to learn from other countries before the interest increases.”

Peterson arrived this week in Calgary for the first time and was put through the paces during Flames fitness testing on Thursday. The prospects hit the ice on Friday throughout the weekend and will compete in a scrimmage on Sunday.

At five-foot-10 and 170 pounds, Pettersen is focused on working on his leg strength this summer and has been working out with two of Norway’s top skiers at a facility similar to Calgary’s WinSport, a tech-savvy training centre.

It’s worth a shot. Aksel Lund Svindal captured gold in the men’s downhill at the 2018 Olympics, while Kjetil Jansrud won a silver medal in the same event and also captured bronze in super- G.

“They train a lot of legs and their core is just unbelievable,” Pettersen said. “They have to with all the turns and power that they need. I figure let’s see what we can do. I wanted to to see how they trained and learn from it. (My leg strength) isn’t as good as theirs, but it’s getting there.”

Intent on becoming an NHL hockey player himself, Pettersen has persisted.

Skating for the Muskegon Lumberjacks of the United States Hockey League last season, he scored 14 goals and added 32 assists in 60 games and is headed to the University of Denver this fall to play NCAA hockey.

“I thought a way to start that journey would be to move to the United States,” Pettersen said. “It kind of worked out. I played well a couple of years and here I am.”