May 23, 2014
Colorado Springs, Colo. – Incoming Notre Dame freshman goaltender Cal Petersen (Waterloo, Iowa) has been selected to receive the Dave Peterson Goalie of the Year Award that is presented annually to the top U.S. goaltender at the international, professional, collegiate or junior level by USA Hockey.
Dave Peterson was the head coach of the head coach of the 1988 and 1992 United State’s Men’s Olympic Hockey teams, as well as being an innovator in goalie training and development. The award has been presented in his honor annually since 1998.
Petersen, who will begin his Notre Dame career in June, will be honored at USA Hockey’s 2014 Annual Congress that will be held June 4-7 at the Hotel Elegante in Colorado Springs. He will receive the Dave Peterson Award presented by Bauer Hockey on June 4 at the Annual Night of Tribute Awards Dinner.
“Cal’s story will be told in Waterloo for a long time,” said Black Hawks’ head coach P.K. O’Handley.
“A few years ago, he was a young man who wanted to be a Black Hawk and make a difference for this organization. Cal did the work he needed to do to improve his natural abilities and made sacrifices that paid off. He has made himself into one of the best young goalies in the country.”
The 6-2, 172-pound netminder is coming off his final season of junior hockey with his hometown team, the Waterloo Black Hawks. This season, Petersen led Waterloo to a 44-11-5 overall record and the USHL’s Anderson Cup title as the regular-season champions. He tied for the league lead in wins (27) and finished in the top 10 among USHL goaltenders in goals-against average (2.50), save percentage (.915) and minutes played (2,228:40). He was selected to the USHL all-star game and was a second team all-USHL selection for the season.
In the postseason, the 19-year old Petersen led Waterloo to the Clark Cup Finals where the Black Hawks fell to the Indiana Ice, three games to two in the series. In the playoffs, Petersen played in all 12 games, going 8-4 with a 2.37 goals-against average and a .928 save percentage. He stopped 188-of-201 shots in the five games, including a 41-save performance in game five’s 3-2 loss.
In international play, Petersen was 3-0-0 for the U.S. Junior Select Team on the way to a first-place finish at the 2013 World Junior A Challenge in Yarmouth, Nova Scotia.
For his career in Waterloo, Petersen was 51-19-5 with a 2.74 goals-against average and a .910 save percentage with five shutouts. His 51 career wins is a franchise record for the Black Hawks during their years as a junior hockey franchise.
He was selected in the 2013 NHL Entry Draft by the Buffalo Sabres in the fifth round, 129th overall. During the 2012-13 season he was a teammate of current Irish freshman Vince Hinostroza (Bartlett, Ill.) and helped that Waterloo squad to the USHL’s Clark Cup finals against Dubuque.
Petersen played in the 2011 Ivan Hlinka Tournament where he was a teammate of Hinostroza and current Irish defenseman Justin Wade (Fr., Aurora, Ill.).
With the graduation of senior goaltender Steven Summerhays, Petersen will team with current Irish freshman goaltender Chad Katunar (Victoria, B.C.) to form Notre Dame’s goaltending duo for the 2014-15 campaign.