Petersen trick leads Solar Bears into first

ORLANDO, Fla. – Two seasons ago, Nick Petersen introduced himself to the ECHL by averaging a little over a point per game with the Wheeling Nailers. His play earned him a lengthy stay in the AHL last year, but with the NHL lockout playing havoc with rosters, he’s back in the ECHL and back in a big way.

Thursday night, Petersen continued his torrid scoring pace with a hat trick to lead the Orlando Solar Bears to a 5-3 win over the South Carolina Stingrays at the Amway Center. It was the first three-goal game for the Solar Bears since joining the ECHL. The victory allowed Orlando to climb to the top of the South Division over the Stingrays and idle Florida. Petersen scored in each period, running his consecutive game scoring streak to five games while pushing him to the top of the scoring leaders with 12 points. He has had at least two points in every game for the expansion Solar Bears who have now won three games in a row. “The points have been coming easy, but you’ve got to work hard to get your points. You’ve got to focus. You’ve got to work on the easy things and then the points will come,” Petersen said after his latest effort. “Things are going good right now, but I have to keep plugging away because we need to get w’s (wins).” Petersen’s night was a tour-de-force of his talents. His first period goal was a perfect tic-tac-toe passing play, as teammates Michael Wilson and Mathew Sisca set him up for a one-time blast from the high slot. In the second period, he stole the puck at center ice, drove hard into the Stingrays end, and ripped a wrist shot to the top corner on the stick side of goalie Shawn Hunwick. The hat trick goal came when Petersen took a pass from Rob Mignardi and used his speed to turn a defenseman to set up a quick little backhander from in front. Orlando head coach Drake Berehowsky could not say enough good things about the way Petersen has played thus far at both ends of the ice. “He’s a very dynamic player. Now it seems he wants to play both ends of the rink. He’s coming back and tracking hard,” Berehowsky said. “When I talked to Jim Mill (in Houston), everybody knew that he was an offensive threat. We’ve got to teach him how to play both ends of the rink in a 200-foot game. He’s coming along and he’s doing a great job. He’s working hard and he wants to improve every night.” Early on, the Solar Bears power play was the key. Given a two-man advantage against a team (South Carolina) that had given up three power play goals to Florida on Wednesday, Orlando cashed in on both ends. The first was a brilliant passing play that led to a backdoor goal by captain Ryan Cruthers, who has a five-game scoring streak of his own. 45 seconds later, Olivier Fortier deflected a shot by Wilson past Hunwick for his first goal of the season. The two power play goals in four chances by the Solar Bears brought their season total to five goals in 22 attempts, a 22.7 percent success rate. Berehowsky gave credit to assistant coach Matt McIlvane for the way the man-advantage units have performed. “Matty’s done a great job (with the power play). We’ll go over it and make adjustments. He had a meeting this morning with the guys and we talked about some of the things (then) they practiced it for a few minutes this morning,” Berehowsky said. “Any time you can practice it and just kind of tweak it in little areas – just little tiny areas – it always helps.” The quick start and Petersen’s first of the night offset a big performance by South Carolina’s Shawn Weller in the opening stanza. He had a pair of goals, one coming off a deflection of a Kevin Quick shot and the other finishing off an odd-man rush, to keep the Stingrays in the game in the first period. Tyler McNeely scored a two-man advantage goal for South Carolina early in the third to cut the Orlando lead to 4-3 before Petersen finished off what he believes was his fourth career hat trick. Petersen led the Solar Bears with seven of the team’s 40 shots on net – the third time Orlando has registered at least 40 shots on net this year. He had a couple of chances to add to his total, a testament to the sixty-minute attitude he and his teammates have been coached to play with. “When it’s going in, you want to keep going, keep plugging away because things are happening on a good night like that,” he said. “For me, I just kept going after that. You get a little motivation then you get some confidence to put the puck in the net. That’s what you have to build off after that first one.” Contact the author at don.money@prohockeynews.com
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