Feb. 16, 2015
NOTRE DAME, Ind. – For the first time since December of 2012, Hockey East has a repeat solo recipient of its Defensive Player of the Week award as Notre Dame freshman goaltender Cal Petersen defended that honor today.
The last player to so much as have shared the award in consecutive weeks was Petersen’s Notre Dame goaltending predecessor Steven Summerhayes who won the award on Feb. 17, 2014, and then shared it with Doug Carr of UMass Lowell on Feb. 24, 2014. The last outright recipient in consecutive weeks was UMass Lowell netminder Connor Hellebuyck on Dec. 10-17, 2012.
Petersen earned this week’s honor by stopping all 38 shots he paced in a 2-0 shutout win over No. 10 Providence College on Friday night, lifting the Irish to victory on an evening when the Friars outshot the Irish 38-19. It was the third shutout of Petersen’s freshman season, the most by a freshman Notre Dame netminder since David Brown also had three in 2003-04.
The Friars finally cracked Petersen 5:16 into the second period of Saturday night’s 3-2 Friars win. The goal snapped a personal shutout streak of 137:53 for Petersen which extended back into the previous weekend’s series at Maine, a performance which also earned Petersen Hockey East’s weekly defensive accolade. Petersen would stop 70 of 73 shots this weekend against Providence.
Over the past two weekends, Petersen has stopped 113 of the 117 shots he has faced for a .966 save percentage. He has yielded four goals in 204:09 of action for a 1.18 goals against average.
Petersen and the Irish will be tested again this weekend as Notre Dame heads east to face No. 2 Boston University. The Terriers lead Hockey East, and rank second in the nation, scoring 3.75 goals per game.