Hurricanes sign Petersen

The Lethbridge Hurricanes signed their first player of their picks from the 2023 WHL Prospects Draft on Thursday.

The Canes 23rd overall pick, Chase Petersen, was signed to a Western Hockey League Scholarship and Development Agreement.

“We think Chase Petersen is going to be a really good Hurricane for a long time,” said Hurricanes GM Peter Anholt.

“You know he’s a big, strong kid that has a lot of potential. He’s going to play in a real good league next year (Moose Jaw midget AAA) as a 15-year-old and a big centre icemen that has a lot of upside.

And you know, coming out of Mossbank, (and) out of a town where we had Tanner Nagel from, you know that he’s (got) great character and we’re really excited about him.”

The Canes had known about Mossbank Sask. product through head scout Rob MacLachlan.

“And you know, Rob’s family lives in Mossbank too,” he said.

“So we’ve known this situation really closely for a long time. So this isn’t a surprise to us.”

Anholt said he’s a real good athlete.

“He’s running the 400 (metre) in the provincials in Saskatchewan (yesterday) and he’s doing shot put ... in provincials. So we’re talking about a player that’s a real good athlete and a big strong kid. You know we think that the upside is huge for him.”

The 6’0, 172-pound forward had 69 points to lead the Swift Current Broncos U15AA team last season, as well as finishing first in playoff scoring.

This is the Hurricanes second transaction of the week after trading forward Tyson Laventure to the Swift Current Broncos on Monday.