Peters in the pipes
Midget AAA Hurricanes goaltender and Hitmen call-up pressed into action at the Enmax Centre
Brayden Peters figured he would spend the night working the gate, albeit in a familiar arena. It took all of 15:36 for the 16year-old goaltender from Taber to realize his night’s plans were about to change.
A recent call-up for the Calgary Hitmen, Peters was in the team’s lineup as the Hitmen paid a visit to the Enmax Centre to face the Lethbridge Hurricanes in Western Hockey League play Wednesday night.
At first, it seems as though Peters’ family and friends would have to be content watching him from the bench as Hitmen goaltender Carl Stankowski got the start.
But when the Hurricanes jumped out to a 3-1 lead a little past the 15-minute mark of the first period, Stankowski got the hook and suddenly Peters was making an unexpected hometown appearance in front of 4,347 fans.
Two early shots got past him as Canes captain Jordy Bellerive and Taylor Ross upped Lethbridge’s lead to 5-1 after the first.
For the final 40 minutes, however, only one more shot got past Peters as the Hitmen’s fifth-round pick in the 2017 WHL bantam draft stopped 20 of 23 shots.
“It was really cool,” said Peters, who wasn’t tagged for the loss and keeps his WHL record of 1-0-0-0 intact after getting his first career win last month. “I had tons of family and friends come in and I saw them at warm up. I wasn't really expecting to get into the game and when it happened, the first thing I thought about was all of my family and being able to play in front of them in pretty much my home city.”
It’s not Peters’ first call up to the Hitmen this season, having spent a bit of time in Calgary prior to Christmas.
“It's great getting to know the team better and bonding more like a family,” he said. “Everyone is really close and we’re all teammates and family out there on the ice. It just helps being more familiar with everybody and getting to know the game more.”
Last month in Swift Current, Peters got the start against the Broncos and parlayed that into his first career win, stopping 30 shots in a 6-2 Hitmen win.
What’s better, there were probably an equal amount of familiar faces in the stands in Swift Current as there were at the Enmax Centre Wednesday night.
“It was great,” said Peters. “I probably had about 15 (members) of my family drive five hours (to Swift Current )out from Taber to watch the game. I had nerves going into that one, not as bad as this one, but but I felt like I settled into that one quite quickly. It was great to get it under my belt and move on and try to get some more games."