EVERETT — The chances to play are few and far between when you back up Everett Silvertips goaltender Carter Hart.
It’s a position that requires great mental toughness. A backup has to be prepared and ready, knowing he can be called on at any moment, yet is much more frequently relegated to standing by the team bench and opening the door for teammates coming off the ice.
Such has been the lot of Mario Petit’s life for most the past season-and-a-half. The last month, however, he has been the man between the pipes with Hart away competing for Team Canada at the World Junior Championship.
Everett Silvertips G Mario Petit from Everett Herald on Vimeo.
Hart is due back Friday when the U.S. Division-leading Silvertips visit the Kamloops Blazers at 7 p.m. Petit is likely headed back to his regular role as the backup, but Petit once again proved a more-than-adequate caretaker as he hands the reins back to Hart.
“It’s felt phenomenal to play in front of such a good group of guys,” Petit said. “I’ve just been trying to do my best to win games and give my team a chance to win.”
Petit backstopped the Silvertips to a 5-2-1-1 record during Hart’s absence as Everett earned 12 out of a possible 18 points in the standings to maintain its division lead and remain in the hunt for the Scotty Munro Trophy for the WHL’s best regular-season record.
So far this season Petit has a 9-2-2-1 record with a .905 save percentage and a 2.60 goals-against average. Hart returns with a record of 16-3-4-0, a .928 save percentage and a minuscule 1.85 GAA.
“They’re slightly different goalies,” Everett head coach Kevin Constantine said. “That’s true anywhere you look in the game. They’re a little different in how they approach the game and make saves. But we’ve been able to get wins and get points, and that’s important for us.
“Look at Mario’s record. He’s got a lot of points in the games he’s played for us so that’s good.”
Petit, a native of Ile-des-Chenes, Manitoba, was largely untested for much of the 2015-16 regular season. He had appeared in just 11 games with five starts when Hart went down with a lower-body injury with four games remaining in the regular season.
After compiling a 1-2-1 mark in those final four regular-season games, Petit dominated the reeling Portland Winterhawks by winning the first three games of Everett’s surprising four-game sweep in the first round of the playoffs.
Petit’s performance included a shutout in the opener followed by a one-goal performance in Game 2. He earned WHL Goaltender of the Week honors and then won Game 3 in Portland before Hart returned to clinch the sweep in Game 4.
Petit was able to draw on that confidence when handed the net in mid-December when Hart left for Team Canada training camp.
“I think it helped a lot, especially since last year I didn’t play too much except when Hartsy got injured,” Petit said. “But yeah I think it carried over to this year and helped me a lot.”
Petit saved his best performance for Wednesday when he saved all 18 shots he faced in Everett’s 5-0 win over Spokane to snap a two-game losing streak. He was in line for the shutout, but was pulled with about seven minutes to play to give affiliate goalie Dorrin Luding his first action after spending the past month with the team.
“I felt really good to start off with, but I think the key today was the boys came out to play straight from the start and they made it easy for me,” Petit said after Wednesday’s game. “I didn’t really have many big saves to make — maybe two scoring chances that were really good on (Spokane’s) part, but the boys came out to play and we got a big win.”
Constantine prefers not to make goaltending decisions too far in advance. But with 34 games looming in the next 66 days don’t be surprised if Petit gets a few more chances before the end of the regular season.
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