Silvertips acquire goaltender Lasse Petersen from Spokane

Published 9:10 pm Monday, July 11, 2016

EVERETT — The Everett Silvertips have one of the best goaltenders in major junior hockey in Carter Hart.

Still, a little depth isn’t a bad thing, and to that end the Tips added another backup netminder Monday when they acquired Lasse Petersen from the Spokane Chiefs for a sixth-round pick in the 2017 Western Hockey League bantam draft.

Petersen, 19, fashioned a 12-7-1 record with a 2.99 goals-against average, an .891 save percentage and three shutouts in 25 appearances with Spokane and Calgary last season. He joins Hart and incumbent backup Mario Petit in the Silvertips’ goaltending corps.

Everett also acquired the rights to 18-year-old goalie Austin McGrath from Edmonton in May, and the organization also holds the rights to 2015 eighth-round draftee Zach Bennett.

The 6-foot-2, 176-pound Petersen was born in Denmark where his father, Erik, played professional hockey. Despite being born in Europe, Petersen does not count as one of Everett’s two European-born players because the family moved to Manitoba when Erik Petersen was named general manager and head coach of the Swan Valley Stampeders of the Manitoba Junior Hockey League.

Petersen played every minute in net as he led Denmark to the gold medal at the U-18 World Juniors in 2015. He also competed for the Danish team at the U-20 World Juniors in Finland last winter.

He appeared in all six games of Spokane’s loss to the Victoria Royals in the WHL playoffs in March and earned first-star honors with a 44-save performance in Game 5.

Hart, a second-round pick of the Philadelphia Flyers in this year’s NHL draft, is among the favorites to be named to the Team Canada squad that will compete at the World Junior Championships in Montreal and Toronto in December and January. That means whichever goalie backs up Hart almost certainly will see significant minutes.

Follow Jesse Geleynse on Twitter @jessegeleynse.